By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Badger High School girls basketball team opened the 2015-16 season by dropping a 55-46 decision to Milton at home on Nov. 19.
The Badgers traveled to Watertown on Tuesday.
Milton opened up a five-point lead at halftime and then held on in the second half with some late clutch free-throw shooting. Milton was just 12 of 20 for the game from the line, but hit seven key free throws late as the Badgers tried to claw their way back into the game. Badger struggled at the line, going 13 for 25.
“I thought we played hard and did a really good job executing our sets,” Coach David Jooss said. “We need to really work to get to become a better rebounding team. That will be an impact area of the game for us to win.”
Jooss said Milton is a very good team that returns nearly their entire roster from last year’s team.
Sam Tisa led all scorers with 18 points. Chloe Kleeman added eight. Most of Milton’s scoring came from Bailee Collins with 15 points. Ashley Bow added nine and Kailey Harbort had eight. Neither team had much success from long range. Milton made three three-pointers. Badger had one by Tara Ptak.
Jooss said depth, especially inside, a balanced offensive attack, good overall team skill level, and good team chemistry are the strengths his team will try to exploit.
“I feel that Sam Tisa is ready to have a great season,” Jooss said. “Jenn Freeman has provided great leadership to our team and has improved other areas of her game.”
Jooss said Kleeman, Ptak, Courtney Oomens and Olivia Deering are all returning varsity players with a chance to have influence. Additions to the mix include Leslie Zelinski, Maureen Clifford, Alexis Todd, Madison Smid, Marissa Nurnberg, Lindsay Bland, Molly Hibbler and Emily Amann.
On offense, the Badgers will still try to push the ball and take advantage of the right situations. Jooss said the offense will also try to get the ball inside to Tisa and Oomens, both of whom stand 6 feet tall. Getting to the foul line and getting the opposition into foul trouble are also goals on the offensive side.
“Chloe has done a nice job of playing in transition and finding the open player,” Jooss said. “I think transition will be a great time to find Jenn for some open three-point looks.”
That being said, defense will be the team’s emphasis, Jooss said.
“If we can play extremely hard defensively and continue improving our rebounding, I think we will be successful,” he said.
Overall, Jooss said the team needs to work on consistency.
Jooss said the Southern Lakes Conference season should be fun as it looks to be more balanced than usual. Badger finished 9-5 (14-10 overall) in the SLC last year, third behind 13-1 Waterford and Union Grove. Badger has been picked by other SLC coaches as co-favorites along with Wilmot and Union Grove. While Union Grove returns much of last year’s team, Waterford lost much of its team to graduation.
“Every year our goal is to compete for the conference championship,” Jooss said. “If we continue to work hard in practice and can avoid injuries, I am confident we can have a successful season.”
