By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
What started as a bit of a rough week for the Big Foot girls basketball team ended with two convincing victories.
And at the same time, it kept the Chiefs right in the middle of the Rock Valley Conference South Division race.
Big Foot opened play the previous week with a disappointing 58-43 loss Jan. 19 at McFarland, but bounced back to beat Woodstock (Ill.) 74-29 on Jan. 21 and East Troy 50-40 on Jan. 24.
Last week’s 2-1 record leaves the Chiefs at 10-5 overall and 6-3 in the RVC. Clinton leads the South Division at 7-3.
Big Foot broke open a close game Tuesday with East Troy. The Chiefs led 21-18 at halftime, but outscored the Trojans 29-22 in the second half to pull away.
Olivia Briggs led the way with 16 points, followed by Brooke Wellhausen with 13, Reagan Courier with nine and Payton Courier with eight.
Eight of Reagan Courier’s points came in the second half.
East Troy’s Erin Rice led all scorers with 19 points.
Big Foot had few problems with Woodstock on Saturday, as it built a 43-16 halftime lead and cruised to the 45-point victory.
Reagan Courier led the way with 21 points, followed by Wellhausen with 14, Briggs with 12 and Sophie Foster with eight.
McFarland, which is just a game behind the state’s top-ranked Division 3 squad, Whitewater, in the RVC North, built a nine-point lead in the first game of the week and never looked back in the 58-43 victory.
Payton Courier had 13 points for the Chiefs, followed by Reagan Courier and Briggs, both with eight.
Big Foot was back in action Friday night when it hosted Beloit Turner. The Chiefs hosted Evansville Saturday in a game that was postponed earlier this month. Results from those games will appear in next week’s issue.
Boys fall to Panthers
Offense was tough to come by for both the Big Foot boys and visiting Palmyra-Eagle on Jan. 20, but it was the Panthers who had just enough in a 59-54 victory.
Big Foot led 36-33 at halftime, but scored just 18 points in the final 18 minutes. Palmyra outscored the Chiefs 10-6 in the last 9:16.
The biggest lead either team enjoyed was six points.
Beau Cary led the Chiefs with 13 points, followed by Max Hildebrandt with nine and Logan Eischeid, Jackson Enz, Nelson Tovar and Heath Dillenbeck each with eight.
The Chiefs made eight 3-pointers, including three by Hildebrandt and two by Tovar.
