Shooting propels Tri-County past Wildcats

Gresham was successful in slowing down the scoring Tri-County’s Amber Baehman, but the Penguins’ high-powered offense got contributions elsewhere in a 75-40 victory on the road Tuesday.

Brooke Hopkins posted 21 points, Caitlin Eisner added 17 and Andrea Boyd tallied 12 for undefeated Tri-County. Baehman was held to a season-low eight points, but she was able to find open teammates to hit shots as the defense collapsed on her.

“Unfortunately, they are an extremely talented team, and other girls stepped up and killed us,” Gresham head coach Vaughn Miller said. “In the high post, she’s a playmaker. Our goal was definitely to keep the ball out of her hands as much as possible. She hit a lot of nice passes for layups, which is tough.”

Baehman, who came into the game averaging nearly 20 points per game, excelled both passing and on defense.

“The more we can use Amber in different spots, the better the team becomes because then you can facilitate everybody,” Tri-County head coach Michael Vesperman said.

Tri-County jumped ahead 12-2 before the Wildcats got their offense going. Mackenzie Hoffman hit a 3 with 13:34 left in the first half before Meckenzie Roe and Kamille Davids scored on back-to-back possessions to pull Gresham within four.

Jensen then scored nine consecutive points for Gresham, including a 3-pointer that created the smallest margin of the game, three points, just over halfway through the opening half.

“They wanted this game. They weren’t afraid of this team,” Miller said. “They weren’t afraid to go out and get them, and Sydney was the leader of that mindset. She was the first one that told me she felt really good and she wanted to go get it tonight.”

The Penguins finished the final 5:30 of the first half on a 14-2 run, but the Wildcats (5-12, 3-10 Central Wisconsin Conference-10) scored seven of the first eight points of the second half to bring the deficit back to 10 with 15:34 left in the game.

Tri-County (17-0, 14-0 Central Wisconsin Conference-10) then went on a 17-0 run over a span of seven minutes, aided by three straight turnovers and fastbreak opportunities to pull ahead 60-33 and close out the game.

“They are an excellent shooting team, and we knew it,” Miller said, “but man, inside-out, they’ve got it all.”

Tri-County (75)

Baehmen 4 0-0 8; Dickinson 1 0-0 3; Rodriguez 3 0-0 6; Buechner 0 1-2 1; Boyd 5 0-0 12; Sachs 0 1-4 1; Hopkins 8 0-0 21; Kramer 0 0-1 0; Eisner 6 5-8 17; Craig 2 0-0 6.

Gresham (40)

Jensen 5 4-6 15; Arndt 1 0-0 3; Ferguson 1 2-2 4; Roe 1 0-1 2; Hoffman 1 0-0 3; Davids 3 5-6 13.

Tri-County 42 33 — 75

Gresham 25 15 — 40