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Hill leads Southwest girls to basketball victory; Preble boys mount big comeback

By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent


GREEN BAY — LaCyia Hill scored 20 points for the Green Bay Southwest girls’ basketball team in a 56-44 Fox River Classic Conference victory Jan. 5 over Green Bay Preble.

The game, which was held at Preble, was the first of the season for each team and was part of a doubleheader, with the varsity boys’ game taking place later in the evening.

“LaCyia is multi-dimensional,” said Berri West, Southwest head coach. “She worked her tail off during the offseason, and she has a drive this year like no other. She knows she has to be the lead guard for us, but she can also post up and play all five positions on any offensive possession we control.”

The Trojans jumped out to an 18-4 lead behind the play of Hill and freshman guard Addison Pytleski, who had six first-half points.

Preble went on an 8-0 spurt with the dribble-drives of Helena Paplham, but the Trojans continued to pound the offensive glass, as they built a 28-17 halftime lead.

“If we’re going to pull out wins, we have to do the little things like diving on the floor and getting offensive rebounds,” West said. “It’s been a focal point of getting everything together in a small time frame.”

Hill came out after halftime and scored nine of Southwest’s first 10 points, as the Trojans built a 41-23 lead with 12:47 remaining.

“I thought the Southwest kids were a bit more used to physical play with summer AAU (Amateur Athletic Union),” said Jim Doell, Preble head coach. “We forgot to box out, and those things come back to haunt you. We switched between man-to-man and a zone to mix things up.”

After Taylor Sleger connected on a Euro-step take to the bucket, the Hornets cut the margin to 49-37, but couldn’t get any closer the rest of the way.

Box score:

Green Bay Southwest: 28, 28 — 56

Green Bay Preble: 17, 27 — 44


GREEN BAY — In the nightcap of the doubleheader, the Preble boys trailed for the first 33 1/2 minutes of the game.

With 2:21 remaining, Thomas Michaels connected on a bunny in the lane to put the Hornets ahead, and they went onto defeat Southwest, 66-61.

Nate Geydoshek led Preble with 23 points, and Evan Holm finished with 10.

“Nate is a shooter,” said Andy Bobholz, Preble head coach. “He’s improved his game on the attack, but his 3-point shooting is what kept us in the game during the first half.”

Southwest was paced by Owen Stieber’s 23 points.

Similar to the first game of the night, the Trojans jumped out to a 12-1 lead with 13:18 left in the first half.

The Hornets couldn’t get into their offense, as they were called for four offensive fouls.

A bit later, Preble finally settled into its game by knocking down jumpers and cut the Southwest margin to one point, 24-23, with 5:18 remaining until halftime.

Seconds later, Stieber ripped a 28-footer through the net, was fouled in the process and completed the rare four-point play.

“Owen knows his window of opportunity to shoot is small when he’s closely guarded,” said John Polkowski, Southwest head coach. “He does a great job of setting up and reading screens. When he gets overplayed, he’s happy to find a teammate for a basket.”

Southwest took a 35-28 lead into halftime.

The Hornets kept clawing and scratching but never could gain the lead.

Much of Preble’s production in the second half, besides Geydoshek, came from post players Michael Schultz Jr. and Ashton Markell, who used their 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-8 height, respectively, to score at will down low.

“We talked at halftime about getting better looks in the lane,” said Bobholz. “We got stronger and finished better in the second half.”

After Preble took the lead for the first time at 60-59, Southwest connected on a pair of free throws before Preble hit one of two.

With the score deadlocked at 61-61, Geydoshek stole an errant pass and went coast-to-coast to put the Hornets up two.

Preble then knocked down its free throws during the final seconds to record the win.

Box score:

Southwest: 35, 26 — 61

Preble: 28, 38 — 66  

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