By Murray Gleffe, Correspondent
ASHWAUBENON-One day after mother nature intervened, the Jaguars girls’ basketball team started their WIAA playoff run off with a 64-21 drubbing of the Green Bay West Wildcats (Feb. 21).
The Jaguars were led by Megan Servais who had 20 points and 10 rebounds.
It was her fourth double-double of the season….a feat very hard to accomplish just once for a high school athlete!
The Jaguars forced 25 turnovers, held a +22 advantage on the boards, and forced the Wildcats into a dismal 22% field goal shooting night.
The Jaguars and Wildcats took to the floor 25 minutes later than the 7:00 p.m. scheduled tip due to the Wildcats bus arriving late at Ashwaubenon High School.
It didn’t matter.
The Jaguars scored the first two baskets of the night off offensive rebounds and Autumn Schlader added a transition layup to put the home squad up 10-2 early.
The Wildcats hung around for a couple of minutes with the nifty play of Riley Resulta.
She banked home two early buckets and suddenly the lead was shrunk to four (12-8) with 11:45 left till halftime.
Jaguars Head Basketball Coach Nicky VanLaanen immediately called a time out.
“We got on the glass early and forced multiple turnovers,” commented VanLaanen. “Then we let up and they got back in the ball game. Our game plan coming in was to get the ball inside and not take a three unless we had a ball reversal. I thought we did a good job the last eight or nine minutes of the first half at getting Autumn, Lydia, and Megan paint looks.”
After the Jaguars starting five came out of the huddle, they went on a 19-0 run to seize the game.
Lydia Schaible hit a turn-around jumper at the free throw line to get things going.
About half way through the run, Coach VanLaanen inserted Senior Jazzlyn James into the line-up and with 9:08 left till halftime she got a touch and connected on a lay-up.
It was her first two points of the season.
The Ashwaubenon student section and bench erupted with excitement.
The Jaguars continued to force the Wildcats into errant passes and extended their lead to over 30 points after Peyton Wright and Kally VanLaanen hit jump shots.
The Jaguars took a 45-12 lead into the locker room and a running clock in the second half was looking very imminent.
The starters played the opening six minutes of the final half, and then were taken out for good with 11:37 left in the game and the Jaguars up 58-14.
“I wanted to rest my starters after we built that lead,” added VanLaanen. “It is important for these freshman and sophomores to get varsity action because we are losing a number of seniors. They gave us some good quality minutes down the stretch with the game well in hand.”
With the running clock enacted, the last nine minutes of the game flew by and the Jaguars prevailed by 43 points.
The Jaguars improve to 13-10 on the season and will travel to Notre Dame on Friday to take on the Tritons in a WIAA Regional Semi-Final Game.
“We know them (Notre Dame) very well,” VanLaanen said after the game. “Their inside game is very strong. We did a pretty good job of controlling it the first game and not so much the last time at their place. We have to shoot better from the three-point line than we did today and control the paint and glass.”
Green Bay West/Ashwaubenon Box Score
Green Bay West 12,9, -21
Ashwaubenon 45,19, -64
Wildcats Final Totals: FG’s 8-35, 3 PT FG’s 0-5, FT’s 5-9, Rebounds 17, Assists 2, Steals 5, Blocks 0, Turnovers 25, Personal Fouls 14
Allen 7, King 6, Resulta 4, Hunter 2, Walker 2
Jaguars Final Totals: FG’s 27-55, 3 PT FG’s 1-9, FT’s 9-15, Rebounds 39, Assists 18, Steals 18, Blocks 2, Turnovers 13, Personal Fouls 10
Servais 20, A.Schlader 11, Schaible 8, VanLaanen 7, Kupsh 6, Wright 4, Ark 4, James 2, B Schlader 2
