The Oshkosh West Index - Wildcats looking to dunk Neenah for FVA title

Volume 106, Issue 4

Online Features

Wildcats looking to dunk Neenah for FVA title

By Morgan Counts
posted January 26, 2010

The girls varsity basketball team ended the first half of their conference season last Friday with a 39-32 victory over offensive power-house Kaukauna, keeping the Wildcats tied for first in the Fox Valley Association with Neenah. The girls possess an 8-1 conference record, their one loss being a 42-43 foul-ending game against Neenah. Although the girls are on the road tonight against Appleton West, it is the home game next week that has them buzzing. The Wildcats are looking forward to home-court advantage as they prepare to get revenge on Neenah next Friday.

"I think we were all excited when the [Neenah] game was over and we knew we didn't have to play there anymore," said senior Chelsea Kierszh. "We were excited because we had them coming to our gym. We play a lot better in our gym, especially against them."

Although defense kept the Wildcats in the game, the girls know they have to use their offense and their home court to turn things against Neenah.

"I think we played better defense," said senior Katie Luethe, "but honestly every time we go to Neenah we don't play well. I think we will have a lot more intensity when we get to our home floor. We just have to be better offensively. Nothing fell in that game."

According to head coach Nicole Sutter, the team's offensive aggressiveness and drive to beat Neenah on home court can only be advantageous when their conference standing is put to the test.

"One of the team's biggest goals is to beat Neenah this season," she said. "We didn't do that the first time, but they are in our sectional so we could run into them two times. We are playing with a little bit more confidence and we've got other people stepping up looking to score on the offensive end. I think that's going to be to our benefit when we play them next week."

The girls have found confidence in big conference wins, including a 34-19 win over Kimberly.

"One of the things that got us fired up for the latter part of our season was the Kimberly game because we held them to 19 points," said Kierszh. "They are usually a high scoring team, so I think that was a big step in the right direction for us, on the defensive end at least."

Another such game was the showdown at Kolf when the girls beat cross-town rival Oshkosh North by a margin of 39 points (65-26).

"North is rebuilding right now," said Sutter. "They have a new coach this year, so it was a game that, going in, we knew we should have won. Winning by that much, however, made it a good game for us. Everyone got quality playing time and everyone but two people scored, so that was a fun thing to do."

Last week it was the Wildcat's strong defense against Kaukauna's unstoppable offense, and the win added another confidence booster to the team's résumé.

"Kaukauna is the leading offensive team in our conference right now," said Sutter. "We had to play better defense than what we had been and we had to force a lot of turnovers. We had to take the ball and handle their pressure."

Knowing what the team has to do to beat the stronger teams, according to senior Lauren Probst, will help them get through pressure points in the future and possibly pull our a conference victory.

"Winning some of those bigger games helped us," she said. "Knowing that we can step up on defense and stop those better teams will help us later on in the season when we go up against harder teams."

The Wildcats are looking to finish the season just as strongly as they started, and to do that, there are a few aspects of their game that needed to be smoothed out.

"Our shooting percentage hasn't been that high, but it's been improving," said Sutter. "We have been working a lot on that and finishing at the basket-making the short shots. We struggled a bit with free throws. Those are the main things we need to keep working on."

Despite the few imperfections, Sutter says the team has a variety of players who can all offer something different to their overall success.

"We have a good mix of players," she said. "We have two sophomores, Lauren Zuleger and Ashley Neustifter, who have been competing really well for us this year. We have some juniors that are more role players for us right now that will have to take the lead for us next year. Our senior group has done a good job leading us on the offensive and defensive end."

The four seniors, Kierszh, Probst, Luethe, and Erika Ochoa, have played key roles in the shaping of the team's unbreakable defense.

"We really rely on our defense," said Sutter. "We have great senior leadership. They are doing a nice job, especially taking the younger players and the kids that haven't played a lot of minutes before and getting them going. I'm really happy with how they've done that."

The seniors know they can no longer stand back and follow the plays of their teammates. This year, it is their turn to call the shots and keep the team in line.

"It feels different this year because we know we are the last line of people the team has to step up," said Kierszh. "Whereas last year we could rely on Tatum [Schultz] and Megan [Wenig] and for them to mesh the team together, but now it is our responsibility."

According to Luethe, the team brings a lot of ammunition to the court and using it efficiently has been important in their success.

"I think we have been playing really well together," she said. "None of us are selfish and we can really move the ball. We have a lot of threats. I think that's a really strong point of ours."

The girls are taking the second half of their season one dual at a time, but with such a strong record, they can't help but keep their sights set on state.

"That's always in the back of our heads," said Sutter. "Right now every game we play is important for seeding purposes; the win-loss record is really important. However, we are focusing on getting things done one game at a time because we would obviously like to take care of our conference games."

Taking care of the rest of the conference games doesn't seem like it is going to be much of a problem, based on the girls' current record. However, the home stretch of games could prove challenging, as they lose home-court advantage for all of them.

"Because of our game at Kolf, things get juggled and we end our season with our last four games on the road," said Sutter. "This is really tough. It's going to be a tough way to to finish out the season for us. It is always tougher to play on the road."

The four seniors all played on Madison's courts two years ago, and an ideal end to their high school basketball career would be visiting them one final time.

"We were all there at state sophomore year and we know what it was like and how good of an experience it was," said Kierszh. "I think to leave on that note after having such a good season so far would just top it all off."

West will host the sectional tournament and the girls are hoping that home-court advantage will put them in the right direction for making it to state.As far as taking a top place at the state meet, the girls are looking to take it one opponent at a time.

"Initially getting there is the first step," said Luethe. "But then we just want to take it each step of the way and just keep cruising through them."

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photo by Emily Moss

The girls basketball team and rival Oshkosh North wait for the rebound at their recent showdown at Kolf. The girls maintain an 8-1 conference record, keeping them tied for first in the FVA with Neenah. They face Neenah for the second time next week Friday on their home court.

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