By Josh Staloch
Correspondent
PULASKI – The De Pere girls’ basketball team is back on track in the Fox River Classic Conference following a convincing win in Pulaski Dec. 17.
Visiting De Pere (3-2 overall, 2-1 FRCC) lost the lead late thanks to a scoring frenzy by the Red Raiders (5-2, 2-1), only to pull it together and come out on top, 60-51.
“We had a tough loss on [Dec. 12] against Sheboygan North, and I think the team wanted to respond together with toughness,” said De Pere head coach Jeremy Boileau. “Pulaski was making runs. They have four girls who can score in double digits. We did a good job of getting them into foul trouble early. In the end, when they were on their roll, they were tough to guard, but our girls responded. We got tough rebounds and hit free throws in tough situations. This win showed a lot of toughness – Pulaski is a good team.”
After a slow start and a five-point deficit early, the Red Raiders pulled to within two at 11-9 thanks to a three-pointer from Sheridan Flauger, who ended with 15 points.
De Pere’s Jordan Meulemans, who also ended with 15 points and had nine rebounds, answered at the other end with a drive to the basket along the baseline.
After a stop at the other end, De Pere got the ball inside to Keely Dorn for an easy two points and a five-point lead.
The Redbirds led by four at the break.
Coming out of the locker room, Flauger drove the lane for a score to make it a two-point game.
Jasmine Litt (7 points), who was limited in the first half due to foul trouble, tied things up with a successful trip to the free-throw line.
Still early in the second half, Pulaski’s Maggie Hernandez (8 points) tied the game at 30 with a three-pointer.
Moments later, Hernandez gave her team its first lead since 2-0 with a hard drive to the hoop.
The Red Raiders extended their lead to 34-30 on another bucket down low from Litt, but De Pere’s Avery Bierowski (7 points) stopped the run with a shot from 15 feet out.
Not long after, Bierowski tied the game at 35 with a three-pointer in front of her bench before draining another shot from the same spot on De Pere’s next offensive possession for a 38-35 advantage.
The Redbirds pressed their advantage to a 49-40 lead, but Pulaski got a steal and score from Flauger to get to 49-45.
Another steal turned into points for Hernandez and a two-point gap on the scoreboard at 49-47.
Following five unanswered points from Sophia McCarty, De Pere pulled away for the win.
“We wanted to play fast, but we weren’t able to do that tonight against a good team,” said Pulaski head coach Doug McElrone. “We came out in the second half down four and got up four right away. To be honest, I think we got lazy. We reverted back to what we were doing in the first half when we didn’t want to do the little things. We worked on staying in front of people all week, but we didn’t do a good job of that, and De Pere was able to create.”