Chris Caporale sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader photo by Chris Caporale Shawano Community High School senior Megan Klitzke defends Merrill’s Riley Folz in the second half of Friday’s loss.
It was a sloppy start for the Shawano Community High School girls basketball team.
The Hawks turned the ball over six times, while managing just two points in the first six minutes of the game, but Merrill was not playing much better.
The game eventually sped up, but the Bluejays remained in control for the majority of the game to take home a 65-54 victory Friday night.
“I don’t know why. We preach that; taking care of the ball and if you start like that at the start of the game, it’s hard to find your rhythm,” SCHS head coach Ryan Koenig said. “It showed tonight. We didn’t really get our rhythm until the second half.”
Koenig then subbed Tori DePerry into the lineup to generate some offense, and she gave the team an immediate boost, putting the Hawks ahead before Merrill went on an 8-0 run of its own.
It was around this point as well that Shawano had to stop pressing Merrill because the team was getting tired.
The Bluejays’ hot shooting allowed the visitors to pull ahead after the Hawks had pulled within four points.
“Until Shawano jumped out of their press, that was our whole offense,” Merrill head coach Ross Reincke said. “I don’t think the first nine minutes of the game, we ran more than two or three offensive sets. When they jumped out of that, we were able to run our swing, dribble-drive, and hopefully it’s hard for team defensively.”
Shawano committed more turnovers to begin the second half, giving Merrill the chance to expand its lead to 13 points, and that’s when the Hawks made a run.
Megan Klitzke scored nine points in the next five minutes, with Morgan Klitzke adding four. DePerry and Sarah Hokenstad each recorded two points in the five-minute stretch to cut the lead to one with under eight minutes to go.
“It was digging deep intensity-wise, playing how we can play the full time,” Koenig said. “We only did it for a matter of a four-minute stretch. If we play like that the whole game, the outcome is a bit different.”
The Hawks had taken all of the momentum in the game, pushing the tempo and doing as they pleased on the offensive side of the ball.
“They were getting to the rim and they were getting shots,” Reincke said. For a while there, I don’t think they missed a shot. To their credit, they took some really good shots.”
The Bluejays did not get rattled, especially sophomore Maddix Bonnell, who came back and made two baskets to keep the visitors in the lead before a barrage of shooters went on an 8-0 run to seal the game. Bonnell finished with 15 points, as did sophomore Patience Pyan. However, Merrill was led by senior Anna Finnell’s 19 points.
Megan Klitzke, powered by that nine-point stretch, scored 17 points to pace the Hawks, adding seven rebounds and four steals. Sara Hokenstad tallied 13 points and four assists, as DePerry finished with a strong stat line of 9 points, five rebounds and four assists.
The teams combined for 30 turnovers on the night.
“They learned that we can be really good for a stretch of time, but how can we expand that?” Koenig asked. “I think this was a great learning game for us.”