Waterford travels to Burlington Friday
By Mike Ramczyk
And Chris Bennett
Sports Correspondent
The Waterford girls basketball team was the obvious favorite in a WIAA Division 2 playoff opener, and it showed.
Katie Rohner scored 25 points, had 11 steals and 10 rebounds as the No. 6 Wolverines knocked off visiting No. 11 seed Delavan-Darien, 54-32.
Waterford (8-15) advances to play No. 3 Burlington for a third time Friday at 7 p.m. at BHS in a regional semifinal.
Kat Fitzgerald had seven rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals. Maddy Anderson had eight points, including two early 3-pointers.
Mackenzie Stiewe had five rebounds and four steals, and Annie Benavides, along with Ellie Werner held Comets leading scorer Jaida Speth in check.
Speth finished with 16 points but was held scoreless in the first half.
Waterford stymied Delavan in the first half to open a 26-5 halftime lead.
Burlington has beaten Waterford by 13 and 10 points this season.
Wolverines finish regular season strong
Waterford raced to an early 15-4 lead and held on for a 37-30 victory Feb. 16 in a Southern Lakes Conference girls high school basketball game against the Comets at Delavan-Darien.
The Wolverines beat Westosha Central 61-32 Feb. 15 in a SLC game at Paddock Lake.
In the regular season finale, the Comets rallied after going down 15-4.
“The wheels seemed to fall off,” Waterford coach Dena Brechtl said. “We struggled to score after that, were a little slow on defense, and things weren’t flowing the way we would have liked them to.
“Jaida Speth, Delavan-Darien’s top player, is a tough kid to defend. Once we got some good help on her, we did much better on the defensive end.”
Waterford (7-15, 5-9 SLC) led the Comets 18-13 at halftime after a 9-3 run by Delavan-Darien to close the first half. The Wolverines outscored Delavan-Darien 19-17 in the second half.
Rohner led Waterford with 13 points, and grabbed six rebounds. Fitzgerald finished with nine points and eight rebounds.
Speth scored a game-high 15 points for the Comets (2-18, 0-14 SLC).
Brechtl said the Wolverines played one of their better halves of the season in the first half of the game against the Falcons (4-18, 4-10 SLC). Waterford led 32-15 at halftime.
Brechtl hailed Fitzgerald, Jayda Obluck, Werner and Anderson for their contributions in the first half.
“Our press was active off the makes, and we were able to turn them over a few times and not allow their offense to get flowing,” Brechtl said. “Overall, it was one of the best halves I have seen us play this year.”
Brechtl said the Wolverines stayed active on offense in the second half by knocking down shots and being aggressive to the basket.
Obluck led Waterford with 15 points. Rohner scored 14 and tallied six rebounds and four assists. Fitzgerald scored 13, and added three rebounds, three assists and two steals.
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