Led by senior McKenna Larsen’s 25 points, the Oconto Falls High School girls basketball team beat Bonduel 52-40 in a nonconference game Friday night in Bonduel.
“It was a well-played high school basketball game,” Oconto Falls coach Mike Kaczmarek said. “Bonduel has a very nice team.”
The Panthers (15-2, 10-2 Bay Conference) came out roaring, building a 16-point lead in the first quarter, but allowed Bonduel (14-4, 9-2 Central Wisconsin Conference-8) to get back into the game in the third quarter.
“We came out flat,” Bonduel coach Missy Dowden said. “We decided to pick up the defense in the second half … and away we went.”
Trailing 38-36 to start the fourth quarter, Bonduel twice tied the game, but a pair of baskets, one by Larsen and another by Elizabeth Watzka, gave the Panthers a four-point lead they would maintain until pulling away in the final minutes.
Oconto Falls hit six of 10 free throws and senior Carly Lemke added another basket down the stretch.
Larsen scored 16 of her 25 points in the first half. Watzka added 10 points for Oconto Falls.
Bonduel stayed in the game with a string of five 3-pointers in the first half and eight in the game. Jennifer Dowden, a 6-foot junior forward who led the team with 19 points, scored three.
“What they have, and we don’t even have this in the Bay Conference, is their length,” Kaczmarek said. “Their zone, with (Alexa) Reinke and Dowden, we’re not used to that length.”
The Oconto Falls junior varsity lost to Bonduel 47-25.
Oconto Falls (52)
Watzka 3 4-6 10, Lemke 3 3-4 9, Manns 2 0-0 6, Larsen 10 3-5 25, Helmle 1 0-0 2
Bonduel (40)
Dowden 7 2-2 19, Reinke 2 0-0 6, Weier 2 0-1 4, Zernicke 3 0-0 9, Sorenson 1 0-0 2
Oconto Falls 19 9 10 14 — 52
Bonduel 11 9 16 4 — 40
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