By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
Losses to Waterford Dec. 18, and Racine Park Dec. 22, dropped the Union Grove High School girls basketball team’s record to 3-5 overall and 1-2 in the Southern Lakes Conference.
The Bronco girls fell to Park 63-54 in a non-conference game at home, and to Waterford 36-28 in an SLC matchup on the Wolverines home court.
Vs. Waterford
In the low-scoring SLC matchup, although the Bronco girls held Waterford to just 22 first half points, they were able to score only 10 of their own while falling behind by 12 at the half.
“We had some turnovers early in the game that kind of set the tone,” head coach Rob Domagalski said.
In addition, the Broncos shot just six for 27 from two-point range in this game.
Waterford maintained a 12-point lead – 30-18 – after three quarters.
Sara Hartl had one-half of the Bronco points, with Maier adding seven points. No other Bronco girls had more than three points.
Waterford had no player in double figures, but had more balanced scoring, with Morgan Jensen and Tiffany Stiewe tallying nine each, and Madison Blair and Jaycie Chart six apiece.
“I thought we played good enough defense to win the game,” Domagalski said.
Domagalski noted the girls practice their shooting every practice and believes the effort they are putting in will begin to show.
“It’s going to catch up where they’ll start dropping,” Domgalski said of the shots.
He added that another key is shot selection.
Vs. Park
After the Waterford game, Domagalski said his squad established five goals they wanted to achieve over the next five games. Those five were: 1) increase two-point shooting by five percent; 2) increase three-point shooting; 3) lower the turnovers; 4) increase free-throw percentage; and 5) increase the amount of steals per game.
In the game against Racine Park, the Broncos accomplished all but the two-point shooting goal; and the girls nearly pulled out the win.
After falling behind by 11 points at the half, the Bronco girls put together a big rally in the third quarter and took a 41-38 lead late in that quarter. A three-point play by Park at the end of the quarter tied the score at 41 apiece.
“We looked like we were a veteran team in that quarter,” Domagalski said.
The Broncos were unable to maintain the momentum, though, as Park rebounded to outscore Union Grove 22-13 in the final quarter.
Union Grove trailed 14-9 after one period, and 29-18 at the half. With seven different Broncos scoring in the third quarter, led by Jordan Weidner’s nine points, the Bronco girls outscored Park 23-14 in the third quarter to tie the game.
Becca Maier led Union Grove in scoring, tallying 15 points, with Weidner and Frankie Pettit each adding 12.
Union Grove shot just 20 percent from two-point range, but did knock down 33 percent from beyond the arc. The girls also had just 14 turnovers, while collecting 10 steals. Both stats were improvements.
The girls also shot well at the free throw line in this game, sinking 18 of 25 shots, while limiting Park to just five of nine attempts.
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