By Janelle Fisher
STAFF WRITER
LITTLE CHUTE – In a battle of young squads, the Seymour girls’ basketball team came out triumphant 49-17 over Little Chute in nonconference action on Jan. 10.
Seymour has now won four of its last eight games after starting the year 0-7.
Thunder coach Ryan Goltz was proud of how his team earned its most lopsided victory of the season.
“We played really great defense today,” he said. “Everyone did their job, got in the gaps, got on the ground for a couple loose balls and played really well as a team on that end. It’s nice to win two games in a row. Hopefully it builds some confidence and we keep going in the right direction.”
Seymour (4-11) began scoring early in the game as the Thunder claimed its first point via a free throw shot by junior Heather Krause less than a minute into the first half.
That first point was soon added to by Seymour freshman Natalea Hill and junior Salem Boyd, who each scored a basket in the first five minutes of the game.
Little Chute (2-8) made it onto the scoreboard with a free throw by senior Riley Schultz just before Seymour called its first timeout of the game with 13 minutes left of the first half.
Seymour came out of its timeout strong with three consecutive 3-point shots — one scored by sophomore Keira VandeHei and two by Boyd.
Another two points were scored for Seymour by sophomore Corinne Setliff, followed by another two baskets from Hill before Little Chute called its first timeout of the game with just over five minutes left in the first half.
After another point earned via a free throw — made by junior Grace Jansen — Little Chute sophomore Kyra Whalley scored the team’s first basket of the game.
Hill scored another pair of baskets for Seymour, with a shot made by Krause in between.
Little Chute called another timeout with a minute and a half left in the first half.
Hill scored another two points for Seymour with a minute left, and Little Chute earned another point via a free throw — bringing the halftime score to 27-5 in favor of Seymour.
Little Chute claimed the first points of the second half with a basket made by Addi Daelke.
The next five points of the game went to Seymour, before Little Chute scored three points from the free throw line.
Seven minutes into the second half of the game, VandeHei scored her second 3-point basket of the game and her 14th of the 2022-23 season, followed soon after by a 2-point shot by Seymour senior Kaya Danforth.
After nearly three minutes of no scoring by either team, Seymour senior Jadyn Johnson made a 3-point shot — her first of the season.
Danforth, junior Morgan Miller and sophomore Val Rutter each made a basket for Seymour before Little Chute’s Jansen made the final basket of the game.
The only points earned in the final two minutes of the game came from free throws.
Four points were earned for Little Chute, scored by Whalley and Schultz.
Hill scored the final points of the game for Seymour with just 20 seconds left on the clock.