Chris Caporale, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Bowler High School junior guard Reanne Kietlinski runs a fastbreak in the first half of the Panthers’ road victory over Menominee Indian. Kietlinski scored a game-high 27 points.
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Menominee Indian High School senior Autumn Chevalier passes the ball past the outstretched hand of Bowler’s Jodi Wolf in the second half of MIHS’s 51-28 loss at home Thursday.
A sluggish start for the Bowler girls basketball team finally ended as junior guard Reanne Kietlinski scored five points in the final 15 seconds of the first half to double up Menominee Indian at the break.
The run continued in the second half, as Kietlinski scored a game-high 27 points, allowing Bowler to coast to a 51-28 road victory in Central Wisconsin Conference-10 action Thursday.
“We lost focus completely, just didn’t know time. Crowd was yelling to shoot it, got a little flustered and threw the ball away and then didn’t hustle back on defense,” Menominee Indian head coach Chris Rice said of the end of the first half. “Just two lack of focused plays at the end of the half that came back to be huge.”
Leading 24-12, Bowler scored eight of the first 10 points in the second half before Kietlinski went back to work.
Kietlinski made a layup, a 3-pointer and a free throw in just under 4 minutes as the Panthers took a 23-point lead. Taylor Matsche posted four points down the stretch to aid the Panthers.
“We didn’t play particularly well tonight. We did enough to win, but we didn’t play well,” Bowler head coach AJ Miller said. “We turned it over way too much in transition. That’s our bread and butter. If we run, we blow teams out of the water, and we’ve got to do a little better job rebounding and finishing off some of these good plays.”
Senior forward Brooke Breitrick, who joined Matsche in foul trouble for the majority of the second half, added eight points for Bowler.
“When they are both on the floor, we run away from teams,” Miller said of his senior duo. “We rebound well, we push the ball well. It’s a big catalyst for how good we can be.”
Kietlinski got going early for the Panthers (9-4, 7-2 CWC-10), knocking down her first 3 just 13 seconds into the game and another nearly 8 minutes later as Bowler pulled ahead 12-9. Kayla Pecore added a jumper before Kietlinski scored eight of Bowler’s final 10 points of the first half.
The Eagles moved to a box-and-one defense to slow Kietlinski to open the second half, but plays from Jodi Wolf, Pecore and Matsche forced Rice to switch back out of it.
“I wanted to go to a box-and-one to keep the pressure on her and try to make the other players step up on their team, which they did,” Rice said. “Overall, their players stepped up and helped Reanne out, so we couldn’t really stay in the box-and-one too long.”
Menominee Indian (4-8, 2-5 CWC-10) got eight points from Alyssa Corn and another five from both Kendra Webster and Faith Munson. Webster pulled down six rebounds for the Eagles.
It was Munson who worked the high post against both of Bowler’s zones, the 2-3 and 1-3-1, finding Corn for some open baskets.
“It’s something we’ve been looking for all season, but we haven’t really been doing it, and it’s been a stressed point in practice. But tonight, I was very happy,” Rice said. “She did exactly what she was asked of and it really sucked their defense in and got Alyssa some looks.”
Bowler (51)
E. Wolf 1 0-1 2; Matsche 3 0-2 6; Kietlinski 8 7-9 27; Breitrick 4 0-0 8; J. Wolf 1 0-2 2; Pecore 2 1-2 6.
Menominee Indian (28)
Chevalier 1 0-0 2; Webster 2 0-0 5; Wilber 2 0-1 2; Waupoose 1 1-2 4; Corn 3 2-3 8; Munson 2 0-0 5; Martin 0 2-2 2.
Bowler 24 27 — 51
Menominee Indian 12 16 — 28