By Bud Milroy
Sports correspondent
The Catholic Central High School girls’ basketball team may have been happy to close the door on 2011 after a pair of losses at the Badger Holiday Classic last week.
In the semifinals of the four-team tournament, CCHS lost to host Badger 61-48 Dec. 29. In the consolation final the following night, Grafton crushed the Lady ’Toppers 60-34.
Catholic Central led early against Badger, but a depleted bench and foul trouble saw Badger take a 35-24 lead at the half. The two teams played evenly in the second half, and Badger coasted to the victory.
Lana Wieseman had a game-high 27 points for Badger, and went 11-for-15 from the free-throw line. Badger was 19 of 34 from the charity stripe, while CCHS was just seven of 17.
Allie Hocking paced CCHS with 13 points, while Amanda Koenen added 10. Koenen and Allie Wiemer each finished with six rebounds.
In the consolation final, Grafton – ranked eighth in Division 2 – held the Lady ’Toppers to just two first-quarter points in what Catholic Central coach Jeff Behrens described as the most aggressive defense the team has seen.
Allie Hocking’s six points in the second quarter led CCHS back in the right direction, but Catholic Central couldn’t keep up the pace in the second half.
Grafton finished with three players in double figures, led by Sam Gosewehr’s 13 points. Kim Schacht and Hannah Eichler added 10 points each.
Hocking again led the Lady ’Toppers with a game-high 15 points. Megan Wadsworth led rebounders with nine.
So far, Hocking is leading the Lady ’Toppers with an average of 13.9 points per game. Kelsey Robers is averaging about 7.4 points per game, while Koenen had been averaging just about five per game.
Hocking and Koenen are both seniors, while Robers is just a junior.
The Lady ’Toppers will return to conference play Friday when they travel to Kenosha to play St. Joseph in a 7:30 p.m. game. Catholic Central is then set to travel to Wilmot Monday for a 7 p.m. contest.
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