Greenwood battles back to beat Spencer in basketball showdown

By Valorie Brecht

After falling behind early, the Greenwood girls basketball team put together a compelling performance in their last game before Christmas break, showing they have the grit to carry them to victory, even when playing from behind for most of the game.

The Dec. 20 game at Greenwood opened with a 3-pointer from Spencer's Autumn Davis, who would prove to be the driving force behind the Rockets' offense. Greenwood responded with a free throw from Tysen Lindner. Both teams held each other scoreless for the next two-and-a-half minutes, due to a combination of tough defense and shots just not falling.

At 15:00, Lindner shot a 2-pointer from near the top of the arc to break through the stalemate and tie the game at 3. However, Spencer answered with a 7-point scoring run to go up 10-3.

Greenwood finally broke through the Rockets' defense with a layup from Eliska Louckova at 8:42 remaining, but then it was back to all Spencer, all the time. The Rockets scored 10 more points before Greenwood could get another basket. They went on another scoring run, adding 5, to finish the half. That left the score at 25-9, with the pressure on Greenwood to make improvements if they wanted a chance at still winning.

Greenwood coach Trevor Wuethrich said there was some comfort in knowing this was not the first time the girls have found themselves in this situation this season.

' (A tale of two halves) has been our story all year. I think we got Tatym (Travis) and Tysen (Lindner) in foul trouble early and that hurt our offense, because we rely on them a lot. But in the second half, we kind of settled down. Obviously, it takes us a half to settle down and play basketball,' he said.

Greenwood started the second half strong with Travis posting a three from the top of the key less than a minute in. Spencer was quick to respond with a shot from Hannah Schreiner that fell just shy of 3-point range. Greenwood answered with a layup from sophomore Faith Kolano. That was followed by Spencer's Carmen Krause hitting a three from the corner. The score was still unbalanced, 30-14, but Greenwood was at least matching Spencer's energy.

After Lindner got fouled and made both her free throws, Spencer called a timeout to regroup. However, after the break, Greenwood's offensive onslaught continued. By the time the clock had ticked down to 5:00, Greenwood was trailing only by two, 34-32. At 4:01, Travis got fouled and went to the line. She knocked down both shots to tie the game for the first time since three minutes in.

Feeling flustered, the Rockets started playing hurriedly, not waiting for good looks. That combined with strong defense from Greenwood kept the Rockets from finding the basket for the next few minutes.

Wuethrich praised his team's defensive presence in the second half.

'We didn't give up nearly as many points in the second half (16 as opposed to 25), so that's pretty good defense,' he said.

The Greenwood girls also kept their foot on the gas pedal on offense, picking up 9 points in last two minutes of the game, with 7 of those coming from free throws.

The teams stayed neck-and-neck until the end. With two seconds left, Krause was fouled and went to the line. She made her first shot to bring the score to 42-41, Greenwood ahead. Wuethrich called a timeout to try and ice out Spencer. After the break, Krause missed her second shot. Greenwood got the rebound but immediately was fouled by Spencer. With two-tenths of a second left, Travis went to the line and made both her free throws to make it 44-41. Spencer's coach was also called for a technical foul, sending Kolano to the line to shoot again for Greenwood.

'We just need one!' Wuethrich encouraged Kolano from the bench.

Kolano missed her first shot, but refocused and hit the second, which was all Greenwood needed to make it a two-possession game. Greenwood held on to the ball as the last sliver of time ran out, taking the win, 45-41.

'To come back from that (16-point) deficit to win it was pretty nice,' said Wuethrich. 'Inyears past, the kids would kind of get beaten down by that deficit and just mail it in in the second half. These girls never have. They fight back.'

The Greenwood girls quadrupled their scoring output in the second half, scoring 36 points compared to the 9 they had in the first. They also cleaned up their play, with five fouls in the second half compared to 10 in the first.

'A lot of our fouls (in the first half) were just bad fouls, slapping and things like that. We just came back and played smart defense,' said Wuethrich.

On the stats side of things, Greenwood saw seven players score points, with Lindner leading the way. Lindner took a while to get warmed up, but once she did, her shooting was on fire. She scored 16 of her 19 points in the second half, with 8 of those coming from free throws and the other 8 from 2-point buckets. Her point total helped her take third place in points per game (PPG) among the Cloverbelt-East girls, with 14.5 PPG as of Dec. 23.

Travis did not score at all in the first half, but also came alive in the second, earning 11 points, including the team's lone 3-pointer, a 2-pointer and six of her eight free throws. Other point totals were as follows: Faith Kolano 5, Eliska Louckova 4, Bria Thomas 2, Addison Davidson 2 and Bailey Eckes 2.

Overall, Greenwood was 16-of-27 at the line, for 59%. Wuethrich praised all of the team members' contributions for the win.

'It was a total team effort. The entire team stepped up tonight and battled back,' he said.

Although Spencer ultimately took the loss, their team had a lot to be proud of as well. Like Greenwood, Spencer saw one player stand out above the rest in the scoring department. Davis scored just about half of the Rockets' points, with 20. In contrast to Greenwood's leading scorer though, the lion's share of Davis' points were scored in the first half. She made 17 in the first half, pulling down two 3s, two 2s and sinking seven of her nine free throws. She picked up another 3-pointer in the second half. Not surprisingly, as of Dec. 23, Davis led the Cloverbelt-East girls in points per game, with 18.6.

Krause scored 8 points in all, including two 3s in the second half and a couple of free throws. Spencer's other scorers were: Emma Nieman 6, Montanna Kohls 3, Alexa Weber 2 and Schreiner 2.

Spencer had a very similar free throw percentage to Greenwood, making nine of their 16 shots for 56%. The Rockets relied more heavily on the 3-point basket, making six of them over the course of the game.

With the win, Greenwood rose to 3-2 in the Cloverbelt-East while Spencer fell to 2-3. Both teams play next on Jan. 3. Greenwood will play an away game versus Coulee Christian/Providence at 6 p.m.

Wuethrich had a few thoughts heading into that game. 'We've got to maintain our conditioning, obviously, but a lot of it is just the trust. I think in the second half, we developed that trust in each other and just maintaining that trust in each other (will be important),' he said.

Spencer will play next at home versus Cadott, Jan. 3 at 5:45 p.m.

Above left, Hannah Schreiner takes the ball down the court for the Rockets. Above, 2nd from left, Spencer’s Montanna Kohls fires off a 3-pointer, which she made. Above, 2nd from right, Spencer’s Autumn Davis (left) and Greenwood’s Tysen Lindner battle for the ball. Davis recovered it. Above right, Greenwood’s Faith Kolano makes a jumper.

VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTOS

Above, Spencer’s Carmen Krause shoots a successful free throw in the Dec. 20 game at Greenwood.