Chris Caporale, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Shawano Community High School sophomore Tori DePerry drives to the basket against the Northland Pines zone. DePerry scored a team-high 22 points in a 74-62 home loss Tuesday.
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Shawano Community High School sophomore Carrie Young attempts a baseline jumper over Northland Pines’ Cassie Gauthier (32) and Hadley Kruse (24).
Shawano could not find a way to slow down visiting Northland Pines in a nonconference meeting Tuesday.
The Eagles rebounded well and forced Shawano into difficult passes while tallying 38 points in the first half and another 36 in the second as Shawano lost at home, 74-62.
“Our second-chance points has been a crutch and a problem for us all year,” Shawano head coach Ryan Koenig said. “We have to fix the rebounding and we have to fix the turnovers, and we’re going to be just fine and we’ll get back to the winning streaks, but right now, we’re just not doing that.”
Northland Pines senior Lexi Smith scored 11 points in the opening six minutes before Shawano went to double-teaming her for the remainder of the first half and to open the second half.
Junior forward Hadley Kruse then stepped up, scoring 11 points in the first half and 14 total. Cassie Gauthier added six points, and Shannon Clark posted five points.
“Tonight, the other girls did a nice job stepping up,” Northland Pines head coach Larry Bergum said.
The Hawks kept pace with the high-scoring Eagles, as four different players scored in double figures, led by Tori DePerry’s 22 points. Hailey Buschman tallied 12 points, and Brandi Gueths and Kayla Ward each recorded 10 points.
“I was happy with the offense all night. When you score 62 points, you should win ball games,” Koenig said. “The offense isn’t the problem. Right now, it’s the defense and the rebounding is our problem, and the girls know that. They’ve got to focus in on that.”
Shawano (8-6, 4-4 Bay Conference) relied on DePerry to shadow Smith four minutes into the second half to put more pressure on the other Eagles’ players, which worked in stretches. The Hawks, who trailed by eight at halftime, got within six points on two separate occasions, but each time, Northland Pines (10-4, 3-2 Great Northern Conference) had an answer.
“We didn’t let Shawano make a run. I thought that was the biggest thing right there,” Bergum said. “They limited the damage and kept their composure against the press.”
Smith closed out the game with eight points in the final 3:30 to keep the lead in double digits.
Gueths pulled down seven rebounds, and Ward had six rebounds, but with the taller team, Koenig expected better rebounding numbers from his club, which has lost four out of its last five games.
“We’re struggling to do it consistently right in practice, and that’s the issue. Hopefully they understood from the postgame speech that going forward,” Koenig said. “We’ve got to re-focus in and then have a really good second half here.”
Northland Pines (74)
Clark 2 1-2 5; Millis 1 0-0 2; Kowalski 2 2-2 4; L. Smith 16 5-7 37; Kruse 5 3-6 14; J. Smith 1 0-0 2; Gauthier 3 0-0 6; Garling 1 2-4 4.
Shawano (62)
Klemens 2 0-0 4; Buschman 5 0-1 12; To. DePerry 7 7-9 22; Ward 4 1-2 10; Wynos 1 0-0 3; Young 0 1-2 1; Gueths 3 4-6 10.
Northland Pines 38 36 — 74
Shawano 30 32 — 62