By Michael S. Hoey
Corrrespondent
The Lake Geneva Badger girls basketball team slipped out of a two-way tie for second place in the Southern Lakes Conference by losing to Wilmot 59-36 on the road Feb. 8. The Badgers and Panthers had been tied for second behind Waterford.
The Badgers defeated Wilmot at home 58-51 on Jan. 8. A much-improved Wilmot took the re-match by holding the Badgers scoreless over the last seven minutes of the game.
Wilmot came out fast, scoring the first eight points of the game and building an early 15-2 lead. Two three-pointers by Julia Hickey and a third by Riley Alexander led the way. LuAnnabelle Wieseman scored Badger’s only basket during that stretch.
The Badgers worked their way back into the game and got the lead all the way down to 19-17 with just over three minutes to play in the first half on a basket by Macie Todd. Todd had six points during the comeback. The Badgers went cold over the last three minutes, however, and Wilmot widened the lead back up to 27-19 at the half.
Badger came out strong to start the second half with a basket by Jada Moss, a basket by Wieseman, and two free throws by Ashlyn Welch to cut the lead back down to two. Wilmot then got hot from long-range drilling four three-pointers and using a 12-0 run to push the lead up to 39-25. Alexander had three of the four three-pointers.
The Badgers again fought back with a three-pointer from Todd and two baskets by Moss to make it 39-32. Wilmot pushed the lead back up to 14 at 49-35 with just over seven minutes to play. Moss made one of two free throws and that was the last point the Badgers would score. Wilmot scored the last ten points of the game to pull out the win.
Moss led the Badgers (15-6, 10-3 SLC) with 11 points. Todd finished with nine. Alexander and Haley Lamberson each had 12 to lead the Panthers (14-6, 11-2). Delaney Brown added ten.
The Badgers did defeat Westosha Central 77-43 on the road on Feb. 5. The Badgers dominated the first half and led at intermission 45-17. The Falcons could not make any headway in the second half.
Moss led the Badgers with 20 points. Wieseman added 13 and Taryn Sproul had 12. Ellie Witt led Central with 19. While the number of turnovers for each side was relatively equal, the Badgers capitalized on turnovers much better than Central did. The Badgers turned Falcon turnovers into 25 points while the Falcons (2-17, 1-10) scored just eight points off of Badger turnovers.
The Badgers also dominated Delavan-Darien 51-30 at home on Feb. 4. Badger led 35-7 at the half. The Comets outscored the Badgers 23-16 in the second half, but it was not nearly enough.
Ava Schulz led the Badgers with 18. Moss added 12. Kailea Timmerman led the Comets (5-13, 3-8) with nine.
The Badgers host Union Grove on Friday in their last regular season game of the year. The Badgers will begin WIAA regional play will begin on Feb. 22 as the No. 6 seed. The Badgers will host No. 11 Janesville Craig (9-11). Craig beat the Badgers 61-48 on Dec. 20 in Janesville.
