Bay Port sophomore Reagan McIntyre goes up for two of her six points in the Pirates’ 53-44 win over De Pere Feb. 3.
BY RICH PALZEWIC
CORRESPONDENT
SUAMICO – Bay Port’s Reagan McIntyre made the most of her minutes in the Pirates’ 53-44 Fox River Classic Conference win over De Pere Feb. 3.
Despite scoring only six points on the evening, the sophomore McIntyre had several key plays in the second half to help Bay Port (15-3 overall, 12-2 FRCC) sweep the season series with the Redbirds (11-7, 9-6) and stay one game ahead of Green Bay Notre Dame for the FRCC title chase.
“I know I’m not really a big offensive threat,” said McIntyre, who also added six rebounds and two steals. “I like to assist and pass more, but like my coaches keep telling me, I should look to score more, too. I feel I’m more of a defensive threat for the team. It’s going to be a hard race to the end here, so we are just trying to take one game at a time.”
McIntyre had a field goal in the first half, but after intermission had a put-back basket off of an offensive rebound, assisted on a Grace Krause three-pointer and then had a steal and layup shortly thereafter to give her team a big spark.
“We are going to have tough games from here on out,” said Bay Port head coach Kati Coleman. “Tonight was a good battle to see what we were made of. My husband and I talk about the game on the way home, and sometimes as a coach it’s so easy to always see what we did wrong and what we can work on. He made the comment that Reagan played really well on the defensive end. I know she had a handful of good possessions, but I didn’t realize how many. She’s a good offensive threat, but she’s her own worst enemy when it comes to her missing a shot or two.”
Before fouling out with 7:20 remaining, Emma Nagel had 14 points and eight rebounds for the Pirates. Mady Draak also battled foul trouble most of the night, but she scored six of the first eight points of the game for Bay Port.
With the game tied at 22, the Pirates ended the first half with a 5-0 run to take a 27-22 lead into intermission.
After the Redbirds clawed to within one early in the second half, Bay Port got a huge three-pointer from Peyton Coughlin to bump the lead to six. With the game knotted at 35, the Pirates ended the game on an 18-9 run over the last eight minutes of the game to win going away.
“The team rallied when Emma fouled out,” added Coleman. “As a coach, that’s what you want to see. When someone – no matter who it is – fouls out, we can put someone else in and not skip a beat.”
Alaina Abel and Krause both chipped in with nine points. Krause, Draak and McKenzie Johnson both added six rebounds apiece.
With four conference games to go, Bay Port will travel to Green Bay Southwest (12-7, 10-5) on Tuesday, Feb. 6, to take on the Trojans in a key FRCC matchup. The Pirates haven’t won a conference title since 2004 when they were members of the Bay Conference.
