Adjustments push Eagles by Gresham

It took a halftime adjustment for the Menominee Indian High School girls basketball team to completely take over Tuesday’s Central Wisconsin Conference-10 matchup with Gresham.

The Eagles, using cutters to the high post, found open shots and passing lanes in the Gresham zone, creating a 12-2 run in the opening six minutes of the second half and ultimately a 50-22 victory.

“Flashing to the high post is something we saw against them in the first half, and we went and talked about it at halftime,” Menominee Indian head coach Chris Rice said. “It really was the difference in the game. Once we started doing that, we started opening up the second half.”

Rice said the Eagles, who won their sixth straight game, came out sluggish against Gresham. They jumped out to an 8-3 lead, but Gresham kept the deficit around 5 points for the majority of the half before Eagles junior Kendra Webster’s 3-point play closed out the half.

“In the first half, they played physical. They matched the physicality,” Gresham head coach Vaughn Miller said. “That’s why we were in the game, despite shooting terrible, despite still being flat.”

Junior Makena Arndt hit two first-half 3-pointers to keep the Wildcats in the game, but behind her, the offense was struggling. Arndt shot just under 50 percent from the field for the game, but connected on three of her five 3-point attempts for a team-high 9 points.

Arndt has hit multiple 3-pointers in five consecutive games for the Wildcats.

“She’s definitely is a naturally gifted shooter. She has beautiful touch, beautiful release,” Miller said. “I definitely would like to see her get more touches. Right now, she’s a little standoffish with pulling the trigger. She’s the kind of shooter that whenever she gets a second to breathe, you want her taking the shot.”

In the second half, Menominee Indian (15-4, 12-3 CWC-10) switched from zone to man-to-man defense, which Rice believes helped energize the girls.

“I really liked when we switched to it, that our intensity picked up more than just helpside,” Rice said. “We had to move a lot more.”

Menominee Indian allowed just 9 second-half points and outscored Gresham 22-2 over a span of 10 minutes and 31 seconds.

Once Gresham (6-11, 3-11 CWC-10) made the adjustment to a box-and-one defense to slow down Eagles senior Ania Smith, Rice liked how other players stepped up, specifically senior Kelsey Corn, who finished with a game-high 14 points.

Taylor Mahkimetas tallied 8 points to go with seven assists and seven steals.

“You want other players to step up,” Rice said, “and that’s what we’ve been looking for.”

Smith added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Eagles.

Gresham (22)

Jensen 1 1-2 3, Arndt 3 0-0 9, T. Hoffman 2 0-0 4, Otradovec 3 0-0 6.

Menominee Indian (50)

Chevalier 1 0-0 2, Webster 3 1-1 8, Mahkimetas 4 0-1 8, Munson 1 0-1 3, Waukau 1 0-0 2, Corn 4 6-6 14, Smith 3 7-8 13.

Gresham 13 9 — 22

Menominee Indian 21 29 — 50