Jason Arndt, jarndt@wolfrivermedia.com
The Gresham Community High School girls basketball team ran into a buzz saw in the second round of the WIAA Division 5 regional matchup Friday at Gillett, dropping a 65-19 verdict that ended Gresham's season.
Gillett ran off 17 straight points in the first half before Gresham sophomore Sydney Jensen’s back-to-back buckets reduced the deficit to 29-9. Gillett continued to widen the lead in the second quarter. Freshman Taylor Yonker scored six points, including a 3-pointer, to put Gillett ahead 35-9 at intermission. The Tigers continued their domination in the second half, including a 12-0 scoring edge in the fourth quarter.
Yonker drained five 3-pointers and scored a game-high 20 points.
Gresham coach Nick Yaeger knew it would be difficult to stay with Gillett (17-7, 13-3 Marinette & Oconto Conference), which finished second in its conference.
“Gillett is a really good team,” Yeager said. “You’ve got to give them credit, they came out on fire and made their shots.
“I told my team after this that you can’t define your season on this game alone. We won a regional game and got this far, and that’s something to build off of for the future.”
Yeager cited Jensen, who scored a team-leading seven points for Gresham (6-18, 1-17 Central Wisconsin Conference-10), as one of the bright spots for the future of the program. She entered the game averaging 12.3 points per game.
“I am glad that she is only a sophomore and coming back for a couple more years,” Yeager said. “She grew leaps and bounds.”
Jensen agreed that the Wildcats have plenty to look forward to next year.
“We just have a young team and we had a really good season, and we need to focus on the next season now,” Jensen said. “I feel like I have more to work on and I did as much as I could.”
Gillett coach Justin Daul said his team felt the rhythm from the start of the game, when senior Taylor Kohls pitched in the Tigers’ first four points.
“We just had it tonight,” Daul said. “The shots were just going in.”
Gresham (19)
Jensen 3 1-2 7, Arndt 2 0-0 4, Stehberger 1 0-2 2, Creapeau 0 1-2 1, Hoffman 1 0-0 2, Davids 1 1-2 3
Gillett (65)
Balthazor 2 0-0 4, Kohls 3 4-6 10, Wolfe 1 4-5 6, Yonker 6 3-4 20, Francois 1 0-0 2, Breed 1 1-2 3, A. Loberger 1 0-0 2, Schaal 1 0-0 2, V. Loberger 6 2-4 14.
Gresham 5 4 10 0 — 19
Gillett 22 13 18 12 — 65