By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Lake Geneva Badger girls basketball team rebounded from a tough loss at Waterford on Jan. 18 with two easy wins last week to improve to 12-5 (7-2 Southern Lakes Conference) on the season.
The Badgers traveled to Woodstock on Jan. 21 for a non-conference matchup with the overmatched Blue Streaks (4-20) in a 54-29 win. The relentless Badger defense forced 37 Woodstock turnovers that led directly to 23 Badger points. Though the Badgers shot only 34 percent, made only one three-point attempt, and shot 42 percent from the free throw line, they dominated the game from the early going thank to the defensive effort.
The Badger offense struggled to score in the early going, but the Blue Streaks struggled to even get shots off against the Badger press. The Badger offense then heated up and pushed the lead to 10-2 on a rebound-put-back basket by LuAnnabelle Wieseman.
Taryn Sproul started the second quarter (Illinois rules) with a three-pointer to make it 17-6. Wieseman, Jada Moss, and Ashlyn Welch each scored to make it 23-6. The Badgers closed the first half on a 9-0 run to lead 34-13 at halftime. Welch got a steal and layup at the buzzer to close out the scoring in the first half.
The Badgers left no room for a comeback in the third quarter scoring ten of the first 13 points behind two baskets by Ava Schulz, and one each by Macie Todd, Camryn Johnston, and Moss to push the lead to 44-16. Badger led 48-20 at the end of the third quarter and the Badgers coasted from there.
The Badgers were led by Welch and Wieseman with 11 points each. Moss added nine. The Badger defense kept the Blue Streaks in single digits in every quarter.
The Badgers also easily defeated winless Burlington at home 69-35 on Jan. 25. The Badgers ran out to an early 9-2 lead, but Burlington cut it to 9-6 and hung around until there were just under ten minutes left in the first half. Then Badger used a 13-3 run to go up 24-11 and eventually pushed the lead to 15 at the half at 33-18.
Emma DeVries was fouled on a three-point attempt at the buzzer and made two of three free throws with no time on the clock. Moss led the Badgers with 14 first-half points.
Again, the Badgers came out intent in the second half to squash any thoughts of a comeback scoring the first ten points of the half to push the lead to 25 points. Moss had six of those ten points and finished the game with a game-high 24. The lead got as high as 35 points before the reserves finished things off.
While Moss had a strong offensive night with 24 points, no one else scored more than eight. Cora Anderson led Burlington (0-17, 0-9 SLC) with 12.
The Badgers hosted Delavan-Darien on Tuesday and will host Elkhorn on Friday. The Badgers hung on to beat Elkhorn 44-39 on Dec. 11 after leading by as many as 17 early in the second half.
Read more Badger HS sports in the Jan. 31 Lake Geneva Times.
