Chris Caporale, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Menominee Indian’s Khyla Grignon looks to pass the ball as Oconto’s Kelly Stewart defends her in Menominee Indian’s 72-61 victory Wednesday.
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Menominee Indian’s Kendra Webster attempts to block Oconto’s Sydney Koch on a fastbreak in the second half of Menominee Indian’s 72-61 victory Wednesday in the championship game of the Gresham Holiday Tournament.
With senior center Ania Smith back in the rotation Wednesday, the Menominee Indian High School girls basketball team could run its offense through her.
Smith got 22 points, including 11 from the free-throw line, and senior guard Taylor Mahkimetas scored a game-high 24 points as the Eagles defeated Oconto, 72-61, in the championship game of the Gresham Holiday Tournament.
“Our offense runs through Ania (Smith). We need Ania to be involved somehow, and she brings double teams,” Menominee Indian head coach Chris Rice said. “That helps others step up that maybe can’t create their own shot. Their shots are created by Ania, and that’s great.”
Smith, along with her 22 points, had 15 rebounds.
Oconto used a variation of defenses to slow Smith and the Eagles, including a box-and-one, in which a defender face-guarded Smith at all times.
“Our problem was that we couldn’t figure out how to handle her,” Blue Devils head coach Russ Young said. “Once we simply just face-guarded her, she got more frustrated.”
Returning from a two-game absence due to a school rules violation, Smith only took 10 shots in the game, making five of them, but did the majority of her damage from the charity stripe.
“It’s actually a sign of respect from the other team to see those defenses, so she needs to take it as that and keep working to get herself in better position,” Rice said.
Menominee Indian made only 17 field goals on the night, but converted 33 of 46 free throws. Oconto made 19 of 33 attempts from the free-throw line.
Oconto racked up five fouls in the first two minutes of the game and the Eagles were in the double bonus with over 11 minutes remaining in the first half.
Menominee Indian (8-2, 4-1 Central Wisconsin Conference-10) continued getting to the free-throw line as its lead grew to 12 points at the half.
“That last couple of weeks, when we didn’t have Ania against Rosholt, we were trying to attack gaps,” Rich said. “We’ve been working on that real hard. The girls bought into it and we are taking the ball hard to the hole. Just beating them before they could get in position.”
The fouls went both ways, especially late in the game, when Oconto staged a small comeback that cut the deficit to 8 points with four minutes remaining.
In the final minutes, Smith and Kelsey Corn fouled out, but Oconto (4-7, 2-4 Packerland) was too far behind to take advantage of the situation.
“We had some threes that rimmed out for us. We had some twos that rimmed out for us,” Young said. “Some layups that just didn’t fall for us. It’s just frustrating when that happens. In this game, when you score, you look good, and everything looks a little worse.”
Kelly Stewart led the Blue Devils with 18 points. Carlee Behnke scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Mahkimetas and Smith were named to the all-tournament team.
Oconto (61)
Stewart 4 10-15 18, Behnke 5 4-6 14, Jicha 3 3-6 9, Berth 3 2-2 8, Koch 1 2-6 5, Young 2 0-0 5, Nerenhausen 1 0-0 2.
Menominee Indian (72)
Mahkimetas 4 13-18 24, Smith 5 11-15 22, Corn 3 2-4 8, Chevalier 2 2-2 6, Grignon 1 1-2 4, Munson 0 3-4 3, M. Lyons 1 0-0 2, T. Lyons 1 0-0 2, Webster 0 1-2 1.
Oconto 28 33 — 61
Menominee Indian 40 32 — 72