By Morgan Rode sports@newmedia-wi.com
Leader Photo by Morgan Rode Gresham’s Valarie Cerveny, top, goes up for a shot as Bonduel’s Kylie Hoffman, left, Allaina Robaidek (2) and Erin Timler, right, defend during Saturday’s Gresham Holiday Tournament girls title game at Gresham Community High School.
Through the first eight minutes of Saturday’s Gresham Holiday Tournament girls championship game, it looked as if the hosts were going to be able to hang with Bonduel, especially after senior Jessie LaBerge went down with an injury for the Bears.
Bonduel started up its full-court pressure, however, to pull away from a feisty Gresham squad and claim a 62-35 victory at Gresham Community High School.
“We haven’t really had to press a lot but I just thought we weren’t giving that much energy on defense. We were giving up the baseline. So I thought if we went to a little more full-court (pressure) we could get some easier looks at the hoop, which we really weren’t getting either,” Bonduel coach Jerry Reinke said.
Gresham did not trail for the first eight-plus minutes of the half, with senior Tiana Ferguson and freshman Valarie Cerveny leading the charge for the Wildcats.
A field goal from freshman Hannah Cerveny gave the hosts an 11-9 lead before Bonduel senior Kylie Guenther tied the game with a basket of her own. The Bears then turned on their full-court press, went on a 6-0 run, and never trailed again.
Bonduel (9-1) ended the half on a 19-6 run, with plenty of players sharing the scoring load with LaBerge out.
Despite trailing at halftime, Gresham coach Tiffanie Feguson was pleased with the way the team hung with Bonduel.
“These girls amaze me, they really do,” she said. “I told them at halftime, ‘To be honest, I thought we would be down by 40.’ Down by 13 at the half, I can’t be anything but happy. I’m so proud of them when they play like that. Had we had a night shooting like we did against Bowler (on Friday), it would have been a lot closer… .”
Trailing by 13, Gresham (3-8) opened the second half on an 11-4 run to pull within six, 34-28. Sophomore Kara Troxel and freshman Kylie Hoffman each converted field goals to bump the Bears lead to 10 before a Hannah Cerveny bucket cut it to eight again.
Bonduel’s defense ramped things up again to close out the game, allowing just one field goal the rest of the game — a 3-pointer from Gresham sophomore Destiny Reindl. The Bears again shared the wealth on offense during their win-sealing 24-5 run.
Troxel paced Bonduel with 12 points on the night, scoring six in each half. Guenther added 10 points, which all came in the first half. Freshman Allaina Robaidek tallied eight points while sophomore Erin Timler and senior MacKenzie Moore each chipped in six points.
Hoffman scored all nine of her points after LaBerge left, playing a few extra minutes to help the Bears pull away.
“Our team really knows how to battle through when times are tough because we work so well together. We are always there for each other no matter what. Even when we lose a special part of our team, we always know how to fill and make it work even with that big part of our team missing,” Hoffman said.
Bonduel will return to its home court on Friday for a nonconference tilt against Gillett.
Hannah Cerveny scored seven of her team-high 11 points in the second half for the Wildcats. Valarie Cerveny had 10 points in the contest after an eight-point first half. Tiana Ferguson scored all of her five points in the opening six minutes of the game.
Gresham hopes to use its strong tournament showing as a momentum boost heading forward. The Wildcats host Port Edwards on Friday in their next matchup.
For their efforts across the two-day tournament, Moore and Guenther were each named to the all-tournament team for Bonduel. Valarie Cerveny represented Gresham on the all-tournament team while Bowler’s Tynea Johnson and Wabeno/Laona’s Libby Tinsman rounded out the five-player team.
Bonduel (62)
Allaina Robaidek 1-2 8, Kara Troxel 0-1 12, Erin Timler 0-0 6, MacKenzie Moore 0-0 6, Sydney Luepke 0-0 4, Brenna Hertzfeldt 0-0 2, Kylie Guenther 2-4 10, Jessie LaBerge 0-2 3, Madison Kurey 0-0 2, Kylie Hoffman 0-0 9.
Gresham (35)
Makayla Belongia 0-0 3, Tiana Ferguson 2-2 5, Hannah Cerveny 3-4 11, Destiny Reindl 0-0 3, Valarie Cerveny 2-4 10, Kaylee Bohm 1-2 3.
Bonduel 30 32 — 62
Gresham 17 18 — 35