Warrior girls struggle vs. Big East opponents

It was a difficult week for the Ozaukee High School girls’ basketball team, which dropped a pair of lopsided Big East Conference games.

The Warriors were without starter Gabby Klas Dec. 7 when Ozaukee was trounced by host Mishicot, 68-28. Klas was out with a foot injury.

Last Friday, Ozaukee was on the short end of an 88-47 game against one of the top teams in the conference, Sheboygan Lutheran.

The Warriors trailed by 24 points at halftime against Mishicot, 36-12.

Mishicot had six players score at least six points, including three in double digits.

Kailey Tulachka led the Indians with 16 points and Katelyn Callahan added 15.  Ally McCardle chipped in 11 points.  

Statistics were not available for Ozaukee.

When Ozaukee traveled to Sheboygan Lutheran, two Crusaders nearly outscored Ozaukee’s entire team.

Addy Verhagen scored a game-high 26 points and Rose Hahn added 18. Anna Splittgerber chipped in 13.

Ozaukee found some offense in the first half against the Crusaders, scoring 32 points. That was not enough to keep pace with their opponents, who scored 55 before the break.

Klas returned to the lineup after missing several games, but was held to just four points. She is nearing the 1,000-point mark in her high school career.

The Warriors were led by Sophie Uhlenberg with 10 points.  Evie Geis scored nine points, Nicole Liermann had eight and Natalie Miller had seven.

Ozaukee, 1-2 in the Big East and 3-6 overall, was to host Kohler on Tuesday and play at Cedar Grove-Belgium on Friday On Tuesday, Dec. 21, Ozaukee will host Random Lake.

CG-Belgium goes 1-1 last week

It was an even split for the Cedar Grove-Belgium last week.

The Rockets on Dec. 7 beat Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah on the road, 62-58, then lost at Oostburg on Friday, 65-37.

In the victory, the Rockets held a 29-23 lead at halftime before the Resorters embarked on a comeback.

With three minutes left, the lead had dwindled to four.

“We came down and Katelyn Morris hit a three,” coach Mike Bikman, known as Bik, said.

Alexis Bahr had a couple of buckets on fast breaks, and the Resorters hit a couple of three-pointers to cut the lead to six with 20 seconds left.

Down the stretch, it was the 15-footers that saved the Rockets.

“We made our free throws this time — 17-for-23 — that makes a big difference,” Bik said.

Bahr had 16 points and seven rebounds. Morris had 15 points and was 4-for-6 on three-pointers. Tara Schmitz had nine points and six rebounds.

Kahleah Knight, Olivia Bahr and Madisyn Johnson each had five rebounds.

“We played well. The kids were excited. It wasn’t easy,” Bik said.

“We played aggressive defense. We pushed the ball like I wanted to. We had some fast break opportunities. Ten kids scored.”

For the Resorters, Lexi Miller had 23 points and Kat Miller had 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Last Friday, the Rockets took an early lead only to see it quickly evaporate.

“They hit a lot of threes in a row,” Bik said. “They were so much stronger than us. They beat us up the court.”

Still, Bik said his team was only down, 25-18, at the break. Then Oostburg turned it on and the Rockets couldn’t keep up. They struggled shooting from the outside, hitting two of 11 three-pointers.

“We got good shots. They were just not falling,” Bik said.

The Rockets, 3-3, were to host Manitowoc Lutheran on Tuesday, host Ozaukee (3-6) on Friday and play at Sheboygan Lutheran  (7-1) on Tuesday, Dec. 21.