Ozaukee drops Border Battle at league rival

By DEB HAMM

Ozaukee Press correspondent

It was a Border Battle bust for the Ozaukee High School basketball teams last Friday at Random Lake.

The two schools planned a night in which the girls’ and boys’ squads all played and dubbed it the Border Battle.

The Rams won both games.

The Ram girls won, 68-55, in the opener.

Despite the loss, Ozaukee coach Linda Weyker saw some good things from her 1-11 squad.

“This was a well-fought game. Our post players, Morgan Kirmse and Evy Geis, continue to step up their games,” she said.

“Meredith Clark has also shown more confidence on the court the last two games.”

Evy Geis had 16 points and 13 rebounds. Natalie Miller had 15 points and 10 rebounds. Caitlyn Weyker had 13 points and nine rebounds.

The Rams were led by Halle Van Horn with 21 points and Abby Borchardt with 16.

The Warriors played at Elkhart Lake Tuesday and host Hilbert on Friday.

Rams halt Warrior boys’ winning streak

When the Ozaukee boys took the court, there was reason to be optimistic. The Warriors won their last three games before Christmas break that featured their best ball of the season, including a thrilling 89-85  victory over Big East Conference leader Kohler.

However, after a brief rally early in the first half, the Rams shut down the Warriors and claimed a 63-51 victory.

“We didn’t play with a lot of energy,” Ozaukee coach Bob Domach said.

“Give credit to Random Lake, they were ready to play and we were not. They dominated us inside. We have to put the game behind us, grow from it and move on to the next one.”

The Rams took a 9-2 lead, but the Warriors battled back to build a 19-13 lead with 5:31 left to play in the first half.

The Rams closed out the half with a 9-3 advantage to take a 26-22 lead into the break.

It was all Rams early in the second half.

The Warriors trailed by 18 points with six and a half minutes left in the game, 52-34, but fought to trim the final deficit to nine.

Ozaukee’s defense could do little to slow down Rams’ star Matt Merlo. He had 19 points and went 11-for-14 from the free-throw line. Mitchell Hiller added 17 points.

Warrior Connor Rennicke scored a game-high 24 points and had seven rebounds. Aaron Nehls had 17 points. Otto Utecht had six rebounds in limited minutes.

Warriors get back on track

Rennicke continued his strong play as he led the Warriors to a 73-51 victory over visiting University Lake School on Monday night.

Rennicke scored 27 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.

“Connor Rennicke had a great game offensively and led us in rebounding,” Domach said.

“It took us awhile to get going. We played with better intensity in the second half.

The Warriors built a 35-25 lead after one half, but the Lakers rallied in the first part of the second half, knotting the game at 40 with less than 13 minutes to play.

The Warriors answered with a 9-0 run that included baskets by Bret Hamm, Chase Miller and two by Rennicke, who also made a free throw.

University Lake School cut the lead to six with eight and a half minutes left but never got that close again

Rennicke’s total included four three-pointers and going 5-for-7 on free throws. Sixteen of his points came in the first half.

Sawyer Kowalkowski, who finished with 11 points, scored nine in the first half.

Miller scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half and had 11 assists.

“Chase Miller did a great job attacking the hoop in the second half,” Domach said.

Hamm had 13 points. Aaron Nehls had 10 rebounds and seven points.

Ozaukee, 5-5 overall and 2-4 in the Big East Conference, hosts Sheboygan Christian on Thursday and Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah on Tuesday, Jan. 17.

Port trio leads team over Ozaukee

Port Washington topped Ozaukee, 79-59, at home on Jan. 3.

The Pirates led, 29-27, at halftime before blowing the game open with a 50-32 second half.

Guard Maggie Zirbes scored 18 points in shooting 7-for-12 from the field and 4-for-8 on three-pointers. She added four steals.

Post player Lillian Merow had 16 points and six rebounds, and guard Savannah Miller had 15 points in going 5-for-8 on three-pointers.

Point guard Sierra Miller had 11 assists. Paige Scheunemann had 10 points. Guard Abbey Grisar had seven points and five assists.

For Ozaukee, Weyker had 17 points and six rebounds. Guard Natalie Miller scored 11 points, had 10 rebounds and five assists.

Ellie Rodgers had 11 points and six rebounds. Geis had nine points and nine rebounds.

Last Thursday, Port lost at Hartford, 85-63. Savanna Miller had 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Zirbes had 14 points and went 4-for-6 on three-pointers. Gilhooly had eight points and nine rebounds. Grisar had eight points, five rebounds and five assists.

Hartford guard Makena Christian, who has several Division 1 offers, scored 35 points on 15-for-26 shooting, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks. Bella Klages had 10 points.

Port, 4-8 overall and 0-7 in the North Shore Conference, hosted Nicolet on Tuesday, Jan. 10, and plays at West Bend West on Friday, Jan. 13.

PORT WASHINGTON’S NORA MEROW (left) went up for a shot over Ozaukee’s Natalie Miller on Jan. 3. The Pirates won, 79-59, at home.     Photo by Sam Arendt