By Murray Gleffe, Correspondent

DE PERE-In a matchup of two premier programs, the De Pere Redbird girls’ basketball team came out on top (Dec. 19) against the Ashwaubenon Jaguars by a final of 55-47.

The Redbirds outrebounded the Jaguars 38-22, and had 11 more second chance points.

The Jaguars were led in scoring by Maddie Koch who had 15 points and corralled five rebounds.

Autumn Schlader added 14 points and dished out four assists.

The Jaguars got off to a flying start on the road with baskets from Koch, Schlader, and Wright.

With the score reading 7-0, Redbird Head Coach Jeremy Boileau called a time-out to try and settle his players down.

The Jaguars used their transition and outlet as strengths to get out to the early advantage.

Additionally, the Jaguar frontcourt was aggressive in receiving entry touches in the lane and it paid off time and time again.

With the Redbirds trailing 13-6 with 12:21 left in the half, Rachel Kerkhoff started getting hot from the outside.

She connected on four straight field goals as part of a 13-5 run to put the home team up 19-18 with just over six minutes left till intermission.

The Jaguars remained strong and implemented a 2-3 zone to try and force the Redbirds to take shots further out from the basket.

It paid off.

The Redbirds only hit two shots the rest of the half.

Megan Servais made two late free throws to give the Jaguars a slim two-point advantage (25-23) at the break.

Three lead changes ensued to start the second half.

The Jaguars last lead of the evening was at 29-27 after Kupsh had a run out and layup.

It was all Redbirds the last 14 minutes of this FRCC clash.

The transition, rebounding, and defensive change ups that the Jaguars were able to accomplish the first 22 minutes of the ballgame went by the wayside the latter half.

“We tried to get some high-low touches in the second half and we didn’t execute how we needed to,” said Nicky VanLaanen, Jaguar Basketball Coach. “Give De Pere credit. They made it more of a half-court game in the second half, and played hard.”

Despite only scoring one point on the evening, the Redbirds Rachel Miller grabbed rebound after rebound to give her team second chance opportunities that they cashed in.

De Pere suddenly went from being down two to up ten (44-34) with just 8:09 left in the game.

The Jaguars could not get the deficit below seven the rest of the way.

The Redbirds hit seven free throws down the stretch to ice the game.

“We were -16 in the rebound category today, and many of those came in the last 18 minutes of the game,” added VanLaanen. “We were unable to get out and fast break because of that. They made the run and we settled for too many three pointers in the half court set. We have one day of practice to prepare for Bay Port, and to get back to the things that we do best.”

The Jaguars fall to 5-4 overall and 4-2 in the FRCC, and will host the Bay Port Pirates Dec. 21.

De Pere/Ashwaubenon Box Score

De Pere                    23,32, -55

Ashwaubenon       25,22, -47

Redbird Totals: FG’s 18-48, 3 PT FG’s 5-15, FT’s 14-24, Rebounds 38, Assists 7, Steals 1, Blocks 2, Turnovers 13, Personal Fouls 15

Kerkhoff 23, A.Schneider 13, Simoens 10, E. Miller 3, E. Schneider 3, Witteck 2, R. Miller 1

Jaguar Totals: FG’s 16-48, 3 PT FG’s 6-21, FT’s 9-14, Rebounds 22, Assists 11, Steals 4, Blocks 0, Turnovers 10, Personal Fouls 21

Koch 15, Schlader 14, Kupsh 8, Wright 4, Servais 3, VanLaanen 3

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