By Chris Bennett
Sports Correspondent
The Waterford Union High School girls basketball team overcame a sluggish start to the second half and beat Elkhorn 51-30 Jan. 22 in a Southern Lakes Conference game at Elkhorn.
The Wolverines (4-11, 2-6 SLC) lost 57-42 Jan. 19 in a non-conference game at home to Horlick High School.
Waterford played Tuesday at home against Burlington (7-8, 5-3 SLC) and plays tonight at home against Badger (6-9, 4-4 SLC) in SLC games.
The Wolverines led the winless Elks (0-15, 0-8 SLC) 31-10 at halftime.
“We had a great first half, full of strong defensive pressure and intensity,” Brechtl said. “We hit some nice shots against their zone and things were moving along great.”
The Elks went on a 13-0 run to open the second half when Waterford’s offense went cold. The Wolverines went nine minutes without a field goal.
“We pulled to within eight with about seven minutes to go,” Elkhorn coach Todd Frohwirth said. “Waterford made another small run.”
Waterford outscored Elkhorn 20-7 to close-out the second half and seal with win.
“We found some sparks off the bench, as I thought reserves Hannah Engel, Mackenzie Fry and Hannah Tuska all played some great minutes for us,” Brechtl said. “If we can just find a way to put together two strong halves more often, we will be in great shape.”
Maddy Anderson led the Wolverines with a game-high 12 points. Kayla Brandenburg scored 10 points.
The game versus Horlick featured more of the same from the Wolverines this season.
“Overall, we did not play a horrible game, it was just not consistent,” Brechtl said. “How many times have I said that this year?”
Brechtl said the Wolverines missed too many shots and mentally took themselves out of the game. Defensively, Waterford struggled to contain Horlick’s best player, Brianna Horton,
“Once we started drawing our attention to her, their other two good players started to step up (Adrianna Green and Kayla DeRosia), and we just could not close the gap,” Brechtl said.
Waterford trailed 25-17 at halftime. Horlick outscored the Wolverines 32-25 in the second half.
“We went into the half down only eight, and I thought we were in good shape,” Brechtl said. “We made some adjustments, but they just did not last long enough. Maddy Anderson hit some nice 3’s for us, but otherwise scoring was again an issue.”
Anderson led Waterford with 12 points. Green and Horton led the Rebels with 15 points each. DeRosia scored 13 points.
In the first meeting between the two Burlington beat Waterford 44-36 Dec. 4 at home. Badger beat the Wolverines 49-42 Dec. 18 in the team’s first game.
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