By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
ASHWAUBENON – The Notre Dame girls’ basketball team limited Ashwaubenon to just eight field goals in route to a 42-21 Fox River Classic Conference victory Jan. 10 at Ashwaubenon High School.
Sammy Opichka paved the way for Notre Dame (6-7 overall, 5-4 FRCC) with 17 points and Georgia Gregoire added eight.
Madi Appleton led Ashwaubenon (6-8, 4-6) with six points and three assists.
The Jaguars finished the game with 17 turnovers and shot just 21 percent from the field.
“Obviously, we have to shoot better,” said Ashwaubenon head coach Nicky VanLaanen. “We got the looks we wanted, but the ball would not drop tonight.”
The Tritons jumped out to an early 11-5 lead after Samantha LeFever popped in a triple from long distance.
The Jaguars cut into the margin when Crystal Kunesh connected on a second-chance layup and Lily Hansford hit a 23-footer from the top of the key to pull the Jags to within 13-10 with 9:18 left until halftime.
An 8-0 run by Notre Dame, sparked by a three-pointer from Charley Apple and two field goals by Opichka, opened up a double-digit margin for the Tritons, who eventually took a 23-15 lead into intermission.
Notre Dame essentially put the game away with a 10-2 spurt to start the second half.
It took Ashwaubenon 8:53 to put its first points on the board in the half. By that time, the Tritons had built a 16-point margin and extended their lead to 40-19 with 4:43 left.
Notre Dame held the Jags to just six second-half points.
“We have to get right back at it and fix the mistakes we made tonight in practice,” added VanLaanen. “We gave up too many easy baskets to start the second half. We were in the game despite not hitting many shots, but our defense then let us down.”
Box Score
Notre Dame: 23, 19—42
Ashwaubenon: 15, 6—21
Tritons: Opichka 17, Gregoire 8, Apple 6, Gallagher 5, LeFever 3, Lemens 2, Blindauer 1
Jaguars: Appleton 6, Hansford 5, Schaible 4, Wendorf 4, Kunesh 2
