Lady Panthers Roll Past Wausau East
“No one slacked off; every one of the girls contributed positively on the floor tonight and I am real proud of each of them.”
By Ken McKenzie
SPASH girls coach Derek Kirklewski should rest well after his team rolled past Wausau East 79-24, with an aggressive defense helping the team climb past the 40-point margin limit.
The Lady Panthers used a press early and active defense throughout the contest to turn this contest into a rout. The win puts SPASH at 4-3 in the WVC as they slid past the half way mark on the 2014-15 conference season.
“I was actually a little worried that we might struggle a little tonight,” said Coach Kirklewski. “We were coming off kind of an emotional win Tuesday (69-65 over Eau Claire North) and I feared a let down of sorts. But the girls were focused right from the start tonight and let their good defense turn into offense.”
“And as we started some extensive substitution, I told the girls that no matter what the score is, they need to play hard,” he added. “And no one slacked off; every one of the girls contributed positively on the floor tonight and I am real proud of each of them.”
East got the first score of the game on the first possession from their taller post player but Sarah Warner continued her strong leadership play and drove the lane for a layup and SPASH put their press to work. The aggressive press quickly earned three consecutive layups- two by Maggie Negaard and one by Abby Bohanski before Warner scored three more times as the lead shot to 15-2. Negaard knocked down two free throws as the first quarter ended with SPASH already in control at 17-4.
Sydney Neale hit a jumper early in the second frame, Warner connected from the left corner and Negaard added a rebound goal midway before East managed their only consecutive scores on the night. Bohanski drove down the lane Negaard hit a trey, added two more quick scores including a put-back and Taylor Beadles hit her first from long range. Warner then added a three-point play to end the half scoring with SPASH soundly in control at 38-12.
SPASH then dominated the third quarter even more than the earlier two, outscoring East 31-8. Warner scored three times, Bohanski added four goals including one on a steal and end-to-end dash to the rim. Beadles shot another three with confidence to push the margin to 59-15. Brooke Brandt hit twin three-point shots, Kassidy Wolfe connected twice on free throws and Hannah Worzella scored as the quarter ended with SPASH up, 69-20.
The fourth quarter saw Beadles hit two more three-point bombs and Wolfe go 4 X 4 from the stripe to end the scoring for SPASH as the Lady Panthers went over 75 points for the third time this season.
Warner led the scoring parade with 19, with Negaard hitting for 18, and Bohanski and Beadles each adding an even dozen.
The Lady Panthers now travel to Wausau West (3-4) on Tuesday night where they will face conference leading scorer, Jasmin Samz, (25.5 ppg) and then return home to face Marshfield (6-1) on Friday night as the opening game in the girls/boys doubleheader with the Tigers.
SPASH Scoring: Taylor Beadles 12, Sarah Warner 19, Abby Bohanski 12, Sydney Neale 2, Hannah Worzella 2, Maggie Negaard 18, Brooke Brandt 6, Kassidy Wolfe 6, Kayla Pavelski 2
