Wolves outlast Vikings

By Josh Staloch

Contributing Writer

ALGOMA – The Wolves worked their way through an on-and-off performance on Monday, Jan. 15, shaking off some rust after a long break due to the winter holiday and inclement weather, to defeat Gibraltar by a final score of 48-37 for their sixth win in a row.

Algoma had Gibraltar out of its comfort zone early on. Good defensive pressure was forcing the Vikings to get their offense going at halfcourt, where the Wolves were able to handle them comfortably.

The Wolves were also hot offensively to start this one, going up 21-8 with about seven and a half minutes to play in the first half on a pair of free throws from Sierra Slaby, who was working hard for Algoma all night, finishing with 17 points to lead all scorers.

From there, the Vikings began to crawl their way back into the game as the home team all of a sudden looked out of sync and, by halftime, Algoma’s lead had been trimmed to six with the scoreboard showing 27-21.

“We got a little aggressive and tired. We were off for three weeks,” said Wolves head coach Mark Zastrow. “We were looking around going, ‘How do we do this again? How do we fight through this?’ We lost some energy; we lost some discipline defensively and allowed them to get back into it.”

Algoma would give up the lead briefly in the second half as Gibraltar went ahead 32-31 but a nice jumper from Slaby got them back in front by a point before Ryley Zimmerman, who finished with eight points, drove into the lane and hit a tough shot and drew a foul.

Zimmerman would sink the free throw to put Algoma back in front by four.

The Wolves, powered by some big rebounds and tough scores down low from Therese Grerdman (11 points) down the stretch, were able to close it out and improve to 8-6 overall and 5-2 in the Packerland Conference.

“In the second half, (Gibraltar) brought that good energy again. We were getting beat off the dribble, getting crossed up,” coach Zastrow said. “And then we got a couple of buckets. This game is so weird sometimes, you need to see the ball go in the basket to feel good again, to get going again. We accomplished that and got the win.”

Storm breeze past Sturgeon Bay

STURGEON BAY – Kewaunee took it to Sturgeon Bay on Thursday, Jan. 11, using a 32-7 first half performance to overwhelm the home team en route to a 54-22 Packerland Conference victory.

The Storm enjoyed a well-rounded performance in this one, with a handful of players making big contributions.

Jade Kroll finished with 16 points, two steals, three assists and four rebounds.

Brianna Demmin had 15 points, seven boards and two steals.

Breanna Riha had six rebounds and four assists and LexI Hanrahan added five assists, three steals, a rebound and one point.

Algoma’s win streak snapped by Brillion

ALGOMA – The Wolves’ run of six-straight victories came to an end on Tuesday, Jan. 16 as the Lions came to town and escaped with a 53-36 non-conference win.

Ryley Zimmerman was Algoma’s top scorer with 12 points, followed by eight apiece from Brooke Mattson and Jadyn Nellis.

Spartans come up short against Marines

MARINETTE – The Spartans are a game out of the North Eastern Conference’s list of top three teams following a 51-41 road loss to Marinette on Tuesday, Jan. 16.

Luxemburg-Casco, now 7-7 overall and 6-3 in the NEC, were led on offense by 12 points from Brianna Bray, followed by 11 from Hannah Schley.