Panthers run past Little Chute in NEC girls basketball opener

Basketball is a game of runs, and the Oconto Falls Panthers took that to heart against the Little Chute Mustangs on Nov. 21.

Looking to secure a North Eastern Conference opening victory against the rebuilding Mustangs, Oconto Falls went on a pair of runs that not only blew the game open, but put the game away.

Leading 30-15 at the half, the Panthers opened the second half on a run that saw them outscore the Mustangs 19-1 to begin the half. In total, the Panthers outscored Little Chute 33-6 in the second half as they opened up NEC play with a dominating 63-21 victory.

Not only was their second half run impressive, but it wasn’t the only run for Oconto Falls, as their offense got things rolling midway through the first half and never looked back.

Surprisingly, it was the Mustangs that opened the game with more energy as Addison Daelke connected on five of the first seven points for Little Chute, while Elliana Martin added the other two. That saw the Mustangs open up a 7-4 lead.

That was when the Panthers took over as their relentless full-court pressure defense forced the Mustangs into a bevy of turnovers and helped the Panthers get out and run their fast-break offense.

In total, Oconto Falls used an 11-0 run to take over the game with Rylie Shallow coming through with six points during that run to give the Panthers the lead for good. From there it was the size of Amber Otto taking over down low as the Panthers opened up the 15-7 lead.

Following a quick put back bucket from Martin, the Panthers used another run, this one fueled by their defensive pressure, to open things up even further. This time it was a 13-0 run led by Madeline Maloney who scored the final nine points of that run to give the Panthers a 28-12 lead.

On the verge of getting blown out, Daelke managed to keep things a bit closer by knocking down consecutive 3-pointers late in the first half only to have Kathryn Raddatz come away with another steal to close out the half with the 30-15 lead.

The defensive pressure continued to lead to turnovers for the Mustangs to begin the second half with Kyndra Staidl and Shallow coming away with three steals to open the second half. That ignited another 9-0 run to begin the half and extended the Panthers lead to 39-15.

Things only got worse from there for the Mustangs as their lone point of the second half came from the free throw line while the Panthers offense continued to have their way on the defensive end. At one point in the second half, the Panthers outscored the Mustangs 27-3 to help open up the 57-18 lead despite using an unusual style of offense to get the job done.

With a running clock now taking place, the Panthers offense continued their relentless attack with Josie Holtz knocking down a pair of triples to extend the lead to 63-18 and capped off what was a 33-3 run. Grace Jansen added a 3-pointer with less than 20 seconds to go to cap off the scoring, but it was nowhere near enough.

With the win, Oconto Falls improves to 2-0 on the season and 1-0 in NEC play, while the Mustangs fall to 0-3 and 0-1 in NEC play.