By Mara Allen
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
DE PERE – With playoff seedings coming out on Sunday, the De Pere girls’ basketball team picked up an important victory on Friday night.
The host Redbirds used 22 points from Sophie Hafeman and a late push to beat Green Bay Southwest, 53-41, in a battle to break a fourth-place tie in the Fox River Classic Conference (FRCC) standings.
“It’s definitely a really big win against a really solid team,” Hafeman said.
Southwest’s Addie Pytleski opened up the scoring within the first minute.
Led by Sophie Hafeman, De Pere (13-9, 12-5 FRCC) went on a 7-0 run, forcing the Trojans to call a timeout.
With 13:30 left in the first half, Hafeman left the game with two fouls. Southwest (14-8, 11-6 FRCC) made a push, taking an 8-7 lead.
Pytleski picked up her second foul of the contest with 10:23 remaining in the first half, forcing her to leave the game and putting both teams’ top scorers on the bench.
Allison Wettstein made back-to-back field goals to give the Redbirds a 13-8 just over halfway through the first period.
De Pere’s Jaden Ciesielczyk hit the first 3-pointer of the game with less than seven minutes remaining in the half, giving De Pere a 16-8 lead.
Foul trouble continued to plague the Trojans as Margie Stevens picked up her third foul.
The Redbirds extended their lead to 23-11 — the largest of the game — on a Kaylei Anderson 3 with four and a half minutes to go before the break.
Just as it looked like De Pere would pull away, Eajah Danforth answered for the Trojans, hitting consecutive 3s, pulling Southwest within six, 23-17.
Led by Pytleski, Southwest scored three field goals in the final two minutes of the half.
De Pere entered halftime with a 26-23 lead.
Hafeman opened the second half with a bucket for the Redbirds.
With just over three minutes gone in the second period, Southwest scored its first points of the half off of a Stevens field goal in the paint.
Both teams continued to trade baskets, with De Pere holding on to a small lead.
Abby Tassoul hit a 3 for the Redbirds with 9:24 remaining, extending De Pere’s lead to five, 38-33.
Pytleski countered on the following possession, hitting a 3 of her own.
Less than a minute later, the junior tied the game up at 38-38 on a layup with 8:30 to go in the game.
From there, De Pere dominated on both ends of the floor. Hafeman scored three field goals in a row, including an and-1 conversion, stretching the lead to 47-38.
The Redbird defense held the Trojans scoreless for over eight minutes. Southwest hit a 3 with 17 seconds to go, its first points since Pytleski tied the game at 38.
De Pere coach Jeremy Boileau credited his team’s defense for locking down Pyleski during the final stretch.
“That brought a big spark to us defensively, which helped us find some better offensive opportunities as well,” Boileau said.
Southwest, which had won seven of its last eight games prior to the loss, couldn’t pull out the game down the stretch.
“We had the fight to fight back, it just wasn’t our night”, Southwest coach Tony Lee said.
De Pere will host Sheboygan North on Feb. 16 to conclude the regular season. The Trojans will host two games before the postseason, the first on Feb. 13 against Luxemburg-Casco, before battling Notre Dame Academy on Feb. 16.