By Ken McKenzie

The Pacelli Lady Cardinals managed only a single free throw in the opening eight minutes against Mosinee Saturday night and never recovered from the early 13-1 deficit that Mosinee laid on them, eventually falling by a 49-16 score in opening day action at the 43rd annual Sentry Classic being held at Quandt Fieldhouse on the UWSP campus. 

The loss drops Pacelli to a 2-6 record including five straight shortfalls. They will play Green Bay NEW Lutheran on Monday in the final day opener with another non-conference game to follow next Friday when they host Saint Mary Central back in their home gym before returning to conference action Jan. 9 at Manawa.

“We still need to bring the game time intensity that it takes to win ballgames,” said Pacelli Coach Adam Osypowski. “We need to be more aggressive in practice time and then bring that intensity to each game night. We have lots of talent on this squad and I believe this group is very close to gaining that level of confidence necessary to win most of their games.”

Sami Kay Shafranski dropped in four of five free throws in the second quarter but the Lady Cardinals still found themselves on the short end of 25-8 margin at the break.

Christonna Shafranski netted a turnaround shot and Sami Kay Shafranski added another hoop on a driving layup to open the second half but Rochelle Koshalek hit a three point shot and Autumn Michlig added a put back to stretch the lead with Bailey Schultz adding a pair of hoops to push the Mosinee lead to 36-12 entering the final frame.

The Lady Indians then extended the lead to 45-12 midway before Pacelli matched points the rest of the way. Sami Kay Shahfranski tallied seven points to lead the Pacelli effort while Mosinee’s Rochelle Koshalek led scoring with 14.