Seymour outpaces Shawano in Bay Conference face-off

Seymour’s 10 3-pointers lifted them to a 68-34 victory and Bay Conference lead over the Shawano girls basketball team on Thursday.

The Hawks and Thunder came into the match as the top teams in the conference, both sitting at 3-0 in the Bay, but Seymour’s win pushed Shawano (5-3, 3-1 Bay) into the number two spot alongside West DePere.

Seymour (7-1, 4-0 Bay) came off its first loss of the season on Tuesday against Kimberly, and Hawks head coach Ryan Koenig knew the Thunder would be hungry for redemption.

“I knew they’d be fired up tonight,” Koenig said. “Usually a team like them, they bounce back harder after a loss, and so I knew we were in for a challenge.”

“We had a poor performance in the last game and got beat bad,” Seymour head coach Bobby Kuchta said. “We were hungry and we knew we could play better, so we came out and played with great energy, moved the ball and hit shots and got the rebounds. So we did all the right things early on to set ourselves up well for the rest of the game.”

Kuchta said his team knew the Hawks would be a tough opponent, which gave them more drive during practices leading up to the game.

“We knew that Shawano gave us a good battle last year and had a lot of kids back, so we knew what we were up against and we pushed hard this week to prepare,” he said, “but our kids just really wanted that redemption tonight.”

“We were just a step slow,” Koenig said. “They were quicker than us tonight. We’ve got a lot of work to do. It was a good test for us. The second half was much better, we got into it. We just gave up too many easy shots. They were shooting threes at will. We need to close out better and we just didn’t.”

Thirty of the Thunder’s points came from 3-pointers and they hit 12 of 16 free throws. The Hawks were 11-for-26 at the line and hit three 3-point shots.

Tori DePerry led the Hawks with eight points, followed by Brandi Gueths and Hailey Buschman each with seven. Seymour’s Hailey Oskey led with 18 points.

Koenig looks at the loss as a learning opportunity.

“We learned that we need to attack more,” he said. “We were pretty passive. There was a lot of pressure in the girls heads because Seymour’s the number two team in the state, so we need to not let that stuff get in our heads and play confidently no matter who the opponent is.

“It gives us a benchmark. We saw where they’re at, and now we know where we need to improve to. That’s what I’m taking away from it, that’s what I’m telling the girls. We have a lot of work to do, so we just need to get back after it.”

Seymour 38 30 — 68

Shawano 16 18 — 34

Seymour (68)

Hailey Oskey 2-2 18; Joeley Bluma 0-0 3; Morgan Seitz 2-5 8; Raven VandenLangenberg 2-2 6; Jenna Krause 2-2 14; Brooke Veldt 2-2 5; Chloe Evans 2-2 2; Aubrey Buchholtz 0-0 12.

Shawano (34)

Rachel Reed 0-0 6; Hailey Buschman 2-5 7; Tori DePerry 4-9 8; Hanna Wendorff 2-6 4; Brandi Gueths 1-2 7; Gracyn Habeck 1-2 1; Avery Dreier 1-2 1.