Defense and McKenna Larsen led the Oconto Falls High School girls basketball team to a 44-25 victory over Peshtigo to win the WIAA Division 3 regional championship Saturday in Oconto Falls.
The top-seeded Panthers (20-3, 13-3 Bay) raced to an 18-8 lead in the first quarter thanks to Larsen, a 5-foot-7 senior guard who scored 12 of her game-high 19 points in the period.
The Panthers’ defense took over from there, holding the third-seeded Bulldogs (21-4, 15-1 Marinette & Oconto) to just five points the next two quarters and 17 the rest of the way.
“Defensively, we’re playing well right now,” Oconto Falls coach Mike Kaczmarek said. “We’re starting to figure out what it takes to play on the defensive side of the ball.”
The Panthers advanced to the sectionals for the first time since 2011.
“It’s something that we started the season as a goal that we wanted to accomplish,” Kaczmarek said. “The first goal that we wanted to reach, we reached on Saturday. It does feel good.”
The Panthers will play Fox Valley Lutheran, which defeated Freedom 51-34 Saturday, in a sectional semifinal Thursday in Pulaski. The Foxes (23-1, 16-0 Eastern Valley) won the Eastern Valley Conference title this season and have lost only to Green Bay Notre Dame.
“They’re just like New London,” Kaczmarek said, referring to the Bay Conference champions. “We’ve faced this type of team two times this year. We have to match their intensity and their effort for 32 minutes. That’s what we’re preaching all week.”
Larsen went over 1,500 career points with her performance Saturday. Fellow senior Carly Lemke chipped in 10 points. Elizabeth Manns had six.
Amanda Majewski led Peshtigo with 11 points.
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