Jason Arndt, jarndt@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Jason Arndt Bonduel High School sophomore Kailee Pedersen focuses on the basket in heavy traffic during the Bears’ 64-16 home victory against Manawa on Thursday. Pedersen finished with nine points.
Leader Photo by Jason Arndt Bonduel High School senior Deanna Zernicke defends Manawa’s Ashlee Strebe in Bonduel’s 64-16 victory at home Thursday.
The first quarter was all Bonduel High School needed in its 64-16 girls basketball romp Thursday against visiting Manawa.
Taylor Weier, who finished with a game-high 16 points, sparked the opening quarter rally with the Bears’ first seven points.
Teammate and senior Lexi Reinke, who scored nine points — all on 3-pointers, has been impressed with Weier’s progress throughout the season and believes the 6-foot junior is coming into her own.
“She is sort of stepping up as a leader down in the post,” Reinke said. “She always grabs rebounds and is never scared.”
Reinke followed Weier with one of her 3-pointers to put Bonduel ahead 10-2 before Manawa’s Alexis Wepner ended the 10-0 run with a baseline jumper.
Manawa coach Patrick Collins said his team had difficulty adjusting after being outscored 17-4 in the opening period.
“We started off in a man-to-man and we found out pretty quick that we could not guard them one-on-one,” Collins said. “They had players taking it to us right away. … They are a really good team and we knew what we were up against, being one of the top 10 teams in the state and the best team in the conference.”
Manawa (3-16, 0-11 Central Wisconsin Conference-8) switched to a zone defense, but the Bears continued to dominate.
Bonduel (17-0, 11-0 CWC-8) received contributions from nine of its 10 active players and converted 15 of 25 free throws.
“The younger ones got in pretty much halfway through each of the quarters, so they put in some valuable time … working with some of the starters,” Bonduel coach Missy Dowden said.
Sophomores Emily Sorenson and Kailee Pederson each finished with nine points. Bonduel’s leading scorer, Jen Dowden, was held to eight points, including two field goals.
Dowden said her team, which is ranked No. 4 in Division 4 in The Associated Press state poll, continues to take each game at a time as its winning streak grows.
“It is fun,” she said. “We don’t focus on the record at all, and I never hear them talking about it.”
“We never overlook any of our opponents, because you never know what they are going to come out with,” Reinke said.
Manawa (16)
Suehs 1 0-0 2, Zander 0 0-1 0, Reierson 2 0-0 4, Ferg 0 2-4 2, Bartel 1 0-0 2, Strebe 1 1-2 3, Wepner 1 1-2 3.
Bonduel (64)
Collier 1 1-2 3, H. Sorenson 2 2-2 6, E. Sorenson 4 1-2 9, Dowden 2 4-4 8, Reinke 3 0-2 9, Weier 6 4-7 16, Pedersen 3 3-6 9, Zernicke 1 0-0 2, Wudtke 1 0-0 2.
4 2 6 4 — 16
Bonduel 17 15 19 13 — 64