By Greg Bates
Correspondent

SUAMICO – Coming off their first loss of the season three days earlier, Jeremy Boileau wanted to see how his team would react to facing adversity.

The De Pere girls’ basketball coach said he was happy to see his girls come out with great energy and play well versus rival Bay Port.

De Pere used its patented pressure defense to turn a single-digit lead early in the second half into a rout, scoring a 64-42 victory on the road Tuesday, Jan. 5.

“I thought we did a great job with pressure,” Boileau said. “We were able to create lots of turnovers with our run-and-jump. We were in the upper 20s with causing turnovers, and I was happy with our rotations and forcing those opportunities to get some good offense for us. Obviously, Bay Port tried to limit Jordan (Meulemans) with opportunities and getting the ball in her hand.”

Meulemans finished with a game-high 17, which was 5.4 points per game below her season average coming in.

She was a focal point in Bay Port coach Dennis Gladwell’s defense strategy.

The Pirates were able to limit Meulemans to seven points in the opening half, which kept Bay Port in the game.

But it was Meulemans’ support cast that came through.

Freshman Claire Bjorge tallied 11 points, and Avery Bierowski and Oakley Witteck each had 10.

“You pick your poison, I guess,” Boileau said. “Eliminating Jordan is going to open up opportunities for others, and we’re confident as a team we’ve got players that can convert. That’s going to bring problems.”

De Pere, which is ranked No. 5 in Division 1 in the latest WisSports.net Coaches Poll, trailed 11-7 six minutes into the game but then went on a 15-3 run to go up 22-14 with five minutes left in the first half.

Bay Port’s Emma Krueger drained her second 3-pointer of the half to keep the Pirates within striking distance, 29-19, at the break.

“The girls followed the game plan to a T in the first half,” Gladwell said. “They knew it was going to be a battle, and they knew if we could be somewhere around 10 points at halftime, we’d have a shot at it. They worked hard to stay in it.”

Bay Port (2-6) hit a free throw to start the second and had a chance to cut into its deficit.

However, De Pere (11-1) cranked up its defense and got out into transition for some easy baskets.

The Redbirds went on a 17-9 run to push their lead to 46-28 with 10 minutes remaining.

“We want our identity as a team to be defense, because if things fizzle offensively, you can always lean on your defense to provide your offense,” Boileau said. “We got a couple of steals during that stretch where it went boom, boom, boom, and all of a sudden, flip of a switch, the game was not in a good spot for them. Our defense dictated great offense for us.”

The rest of the game, Bay Port got within 15 points three times in the final five minutes.

“Our girls battled,” Gladwell said. “We were still in the game even with about 10 minutes to go in the second half – we were only down by 15. We made some mental errors, and De Pere jumped up on us real quick. Overall, I’m proud of the effort my girls put in tonight.”

Bay Port was led in scoring by Krueger with 14 points, hitting three 3-pointers.

Freshman Ellie McDermid – who her coach said is getting better every game – added 13 points.