Girls Basketball: Oconto Falls stumbles in clash with Freedom

Panthers unable to halt first-half run
By: 
Morgan Rode
Sports Editor

OCONTO FALLS — The Oconto Falls High School girls basketball team gave ranked Freedom all it could handle in the opening minutes, but the No. 2 ranked team in Division 3 pulled away for a 68-22 win on Thursday.

Despite knowing the tall test that awaited, Oconto Falls came into the North Eastern Conference matchup confident and playing with lots of energy.

Freedom opened the game on an 8-0 run, but Oconto Falls continued to battle.

Sophomore Alexis Euclide got the hosts on the scoreboard with a pair of free throws with 15:04 remaining in the half.

After a Freedom free throw, Oconto Falls got field goals from seniors Kari Albrecht and Natalie Brauer to get within three points.

The visitors extended their lead with a couple of free throws but continued to be stifled by the Oconto Falls’ defense otherwise, so the team called timeout with 11:20 to play in the half.

In the next two minutes and 20 seconds, Freedom scored seven points to go up 18-6 and force a Panthers’ timeout.

Oconto Falls wasn’t able to slow the run, as the Irish ended up scoring 30 of the half’s final 34 points to take a 39-10 lead into halftime.

“It was more they were just outplaying us,” said Euclide on what happened during the big run. “They were beating us defensively, beating us offensively. We weren’t getting in gaps, we weren’t being where we were supposed to be. We needed to play basketball the way we knew and not worry about how much they were beating us by.”

The Panthers continued to battle in the second half, but were unable to put together a big run to challenge Freedom’s lead.

Oconto Falls coach Mike Kaczmarek Jr. loved the effort his team showed in the contest, despite what the scoreboard showed.

“We worked hard. We battled through adversity early and the kids never gave up and they worked for all 36 minutes,” Kaczmarek said.

The coach said he was pleased with the defensive effort but that the team had work to do on the offensive end moving forward.

Albrecht ended up leading the Panthers in scoring with six points. Sophomore Hailey Peitersen added five points, including a tough 3-point play in the second half.

“We knew it was going to be tough and we knew we had to come out physical, but we learned that we have to stay positive the whole game, no matter what the score is. We just have to play our game, play the best we can and work together as a team,” said Albrecht.

Oconto Falls will look to bounce back in a home game against Fox Valley Lutheran on Tuesday.

Freedom 39 29 — 68

Oconto Falls 10 12 — 22

Freedom (68): Kelly Garrett 0-0 3, Sage Greiner 2-2 5, Cameron Evers 1-2 1, Carly Peters 0-0 2, Gabby Johnson 0-1 14, Karissa Wurster 1-1 3, Haylie Weyenberg 2-2 7, Callie Genke 0-0 16, Taylor Haase 1-2 7, Mackenzie Hennes 1-1 3, Jadyn Feucht 0-0 2, Megan Alexander 5-6 5.

Oconto Falls (22): Natalie Brauer 2-4 4, Morgan Helmle 2-2 4, Hailey Peitersen 3-3 5, Paige Applebee 0-0 3, Kari Albrecht 0-0 6.

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