Chris Caporale, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Bonduel High School senior Danee Collier dribbles past Wittenberg-Birnamwood’s Emily Norrbom in the first half of Bonduel’s 53-50 overtime loss at home Monday.
The Bonduel girls basketball team used a 23-8 run over the final 8 minutes and 30 seconds, capped by Brynn Reinke’s 3-pointer with 8 seconds left, to take undefeated Wittenberg-Birnamwood into overtime at home Monday.
However, the Chargers shot well enough from the free-throw line in the extra period to emerge with a 53-50 win in Central Wisconsin Conference-8 action.
“We just dug ourselves too deep,” Bonduel head coach Jerry Reinke said. “We dug a deep hole and it was tough to get out of it.”
Wittenberg-Birnamwood played without its starting point guard, Kirsten Clark, for the final 14 minutes after she injured her right knee while driving to the basket on a fast break with the Chargers leading by nine points.
“I’m just proud of those girls for hanging on, because that’s what we were doing, just hanging on,” Wittenberg-Birnamwood head coach Mike Balliett said. “We had some growing pains there for a while where we made some crucial mistakes because players were in positions we weren’t used to being in.”
Wittenberg-Birnamwood built its lead to 13 with 8:32 remaining after senior Taylor Nier scored two of her game-high 23 points. Bonduel closed regulation with its run by forcing turnovers and getting out in transition for easy baskets.
With Clark on the bench, the Chargers could not handle the length and speed of Emily and Hayley Sorenson, along with the quickness of Danee Collier.
Wittenberg-Birnamwood, which entered the week ranked ninth Division 3 in The Associated Press prep basketball poll, turned the ball over 20 times in the game.
“We could put a little more pressure on them and got a few more layups off of our pressure, whereas when she’s in the ball game, it might be different than what it was,” Reinke said.
Collier hit a game-tying layup off a turnover with just 56 seconds remaining in regulation.
Emily Norrbom knocked down two free throws to pull Witt-Birn ahead by two with 52 seconds remaining. Collier made one of two free throws following an offensive rebound, but two more free throws by Paige Norrbom extended the Chargers’ lead to three before Bonduel sophomore Brynn Reinke hit a 3-pointer with 8 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
Nier gave the Chargers (13-0, 7-0 Central Wisconsin Conference-8) the lead for good when she made a layup and got fouled with 90 seconds left in the overtime period. Emily Norrbom added a free throw, but a layup with 12 seconds left by senior Kailee Pedersen brought Bonduel back within one.
Alexis Balliett nailed both of her free-throw attempts with 7 seconds remaining, and Bonduel’s attempt at the buzzer fell short.
The Chargers now must wait to see the severity of Clark’s injury.
“If we’re not going to get her back, it’s huge. If we do get her back, I still think it’s big because at least they’ve been there,” Mike Balliett said. “If we get put in that situation again or we get put in a situation where somebody can’t come back or falls out earlier or something like that, then we’ve been through that adversity.”
Corrissa Konkol joined Nier in double figures for the Chargers with 13 points and 14 rebounds.
Each of the Sorensons tallied 10 points for Bonduel (11-4, 5-3 CWC-8), and Becca Carpenter contributed 12 rebounds and nine points.
The Bears committed 17 turnovers.
Wittenberg-Birnamwood (53)
Verkuilen 1 0-0 3; P. Norrbom, 1 2-2 5; Clark 1 0-0 2; Balliett 0 2-6 2; E. Norrbom 1 3-5 5; Nier 11 1-6 23; Konkol 4 5-7 13.
Bonduel (50)
Collier 3 3-8 9; H. Sorenson 5 0-0 10; E. Sorenson 5 0-0 10; Reinke 2 0-0 5; Wudtke 1 1-2 3; Pedersen 1 2-4 4; Carpenter 4 1-4 9.
Wittenberg-Birnamwood 27 19 7 — 53
Bonduel 13 33 4 — 50