WIAA D5 girls basketball regional: Catholic Central 54, Sheboygan County Christian 35
By Mike Ramczyk
And Dana Ehrmann
Sports Correspondent
Normally when a team shoots 25 percent, it leads to disaster.
The Catholic Central varsity girls basketball team suffered a poor shooting night Tuesday at home in a WIAA Division 5 regional, but its defense saved the day.
A ball-hawking press forced 40 Sheboygan County Christian turnovers, and Bridget Bittman and Elizabeth Klein’s scoring helped the seventh-seeded Lady Toppers topple No. 10 Sheboygan, 54-35, in a playoff opener.
“We had a great defensive performance tonight,” Catholic Central coach Jerod Boyd said Tuesday night. “We pressed really well and forced them to turn it over, and our half-court traps worked well.”
“Shooting 25 percent won’t win many basketball games, and we need to finish better inside.”
Bittman scored nine of her game-high 18 in the first half to help the Toppers build a 23-14 halftime lead.
Then, Bittman continued to fill it up early in the second half with some clutch baskets, and Klein’s 11 second-half points turned it into a blowout victory.
Klein added 14 points for the Toppers, who improve to 8-15 overall and advance to a regional final against No. 2 Milwaukee Academy of Science (18-4), the state’s 10th-ranked squad in Division 5, on Friday.
Klein and Mikelle Miles each led the Toppers with five steals.
Boyd said the Toppers had more than 20 missed shots from 3 feet and closer, and that must be cleaned up Friday.
Catholic Central’s defense will have its hands full with the state’s top scorer Shemera Williams, who averages 30 points per contest.
“We need to lock down Williams and make sure we don’t get in a track meet with them,” Boyd said.
Regular season ends with loss
The final regular season game for the girls Catholic Central basketball team didn’t end in victory, but it did prepare the Lady Toppers for the playoffs.
On Thursday, Feb. 16, Head Coach Jerod Boyd’s team played from behind the entire game against Racine Lutheran in an 84-55 defeat.
“We got out-rebounded and out-muscled,” Boyd said.
However, eight Lady Toppers saw the court for this matchup, contributing in various ways.
Sophomore Elizabeth Klein was the leading scorer with 14 points. She also added four rebounds.
Senior Bridget Bittmann scored 13 points while also tallying five rebounds, five assists and two steals in the game.
Additionally, sophomore Emma Klein scored nine points with four steals to go along with them.
Freshman Katie Goethal, sophomores Miriam Ward and Erin Schwenn and juniors Emily Swanson and Mikelle Miles all played productive minutes for the squad as well.
But, while just Elizabeth Klein and Bridget Bittmann scored in double digits, five Lady Crusaders did for Racine Lutheran.
Having faced some tough competition to end the season, Catholic Central is ready to enter the playoffs.
In the 2017 WIAA Girls Basketball Tournament, the Lady Toppers secured the number seven seed in the Division Five bracket.
They face number 10 seed Sheboygan County Christian on home turf on Tuesday, Feb. 21 for regionals.
The winner of that playoff matchup will face Milwaukee Academy of Science, the number two seed, for an away game.
“We are worn down but excited to play some Division 5 opponents with comparable matchups,” said
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