Wolves trounce Jets in opening round
BY JOSH STALOCH
SPORTS EDITOR
ALGOMA – In WIAA Regional opening round action, the Algoma Wolves, behind a big night from senior Ryley Zimmerman, defeated Roncali 59-39 to set up a round two showdown with Manitowoc Lutheran on Friday.
The Wolves rushed out to a 9-2 lead after a steal turned into an easy score for Brooke Mattson, who had another highlight play later in the half by pulling down a big offensive rebound that led to a Zimmerman three-pointer to make it 23-14.
The home team went up 31-16 on a pull up jumper from Sierra Slaby before Zimmerman drove the lane with half a minute left before the break to get to 17 points for the first 18 minutes of play.
“We’ve talked, over the last couple of games, about being in an athletic stance, being in the proper position and being good with our fundamentals and I thought that showed up tonight,” said Algoma head coach Mark Zastrow. “I thought we played with a lot of confidence tonight. Obviously, getting 31 from Ryley makes life a lot easier. They communicated very well tonight and they had fun doing it.”
Zimmerman’s game-high total of 31 was backed up by 10 from Slaby, nine from Jadyn Nellis, five from Nora Krause and four from Brooke Mattson.
Storm earn share of conference crown
ALGOMA – With a 67-38 victory over Algoma on Thursday, Feb. 15, Kewaunee wrapped up its regular season with a 14-2 Packerland record to split the conference championship with Sevastopol, also at 14-2 for the year.
The Storm used their very effective brand of pressure defense to hold the home team to just 15 points in the first half, while keeping one of Algoma’s top scorers, Ryley Zimmerman to just two points for the entire game.
“Finally, in the second half, I thought we were clicking a little bit more on offense,” said Kewaunee head coach Lynn Geier, whose team defeated Algoma by the same score in late January. “We were moving better, helping each other out. (Algoma) took advantage of us in the first half. We were jumping a little bit too early and they did a good job of rotating the ball on us. They always play us tough.”
Jade Kroll led Kewaunee with 19 points, six boards and an assist while Gabby Stangel also had a big game with 17 points, four rebounds and four steals.
The Wolves were led by 13 points, a steal, an assist and five rebounds from Sierra Slaby.
“Kewaunee is just a better defensive team,” said Algoma head coach Mark Zastrow. “They move to the basketball, they play with high energy and they don’t get outworked. But our energy tonight was good. We struggled against their 1-3-1 but I don’t think our kids played passively against it. The shots we got were shots we’ve got to hit.Credit to Kewaunee. They’re conference champs for a reason. But we’re not far off.”
Spartans fall to Foxes in overtime to wrap regular season
LUXEMBURG – The Spartans outscored the Foxes 15-11 in the second half to force overtime on Thursday, Feb. 11, but could not find a way to score in the extra minutes and fell 42-37.
Erin Cherovsky had nine points, an assist and two rebounds; Alana Deprez finished with six points, a steal, an assist and five boards while Maggie Hanmann and Sienna Blohowiak each had five points.