Bears looking for 3rd-straight championship

After losing three of its top four scorers from one year ago, the Bonduel High School girls basketball team isn’t lowering its expectations.

The Bears have taken home the Central Wisconsin Conference-8 title in each of the past two seasons, losing three conference games in that span.

“We have a lot of pride in the program and I think the girls expect to win every game they go out and play,” Bonduel head coach Jerry Reinke said.

Bonduel graduated 85 of the team’s 94 made 3-point shots and just over half of the scoring from one year ago.

“We are going to have to step up with shooting threes because, obviously, Deanna (Zernicke) and Lexi (Reinke) did that a lot,” senior forward Taylor Weier said.

The biggest loss, however, would be CWC-8 Conference Player of the Year Jen Dowden, who averaged 13.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, leading the team in each of those categories.

Weier, the leading returning scorer with 8.4 points per game last year, along with fellow seniors Miranda Schmidt and Hayley Pues will have to try to make up for the lost scoring.

“We’re going to have to get (points) from somebody,” Reinke added.

But it’s not like the Bears are inexperienced. The team recorded a 22-2 record, losing only one game in the regular season, a 1-point loss to Wittenberg-Birnamwood, before falling in the regional final to Shiocton.

Two seniors, Weier and Pues, and four juniors, Kailee Pedersen, Hayley Sorenson, Emily Sorenson and Danee Collier, each played in at least 20 of Bonduel’s 24 games last year.

“Players are always difficult to replace,” Reinke said. “You obviously don’t replace those kids, but I think the seniors are doing a pretty good job of stepping up. We will have to find scoring from different people, but I think we will play a little bit different of a style of game also.”

Reinke will want to push the tempo, using their speed and length to keep opposing teams off balance.

“I think it’s going to be a fast-paced game with our team,” Pues said.

Schmidt added that the key will be “using everybody to our advantage.”

“I think we are very long, athletic, which should be a plus for us,” Reinke said. “I think we are quick enough where we can push the tempo on most teams.”