By Murray Gleffe, Correspondent
ASHWAUBENON- The Jaguar girl’s basketball team opened up their 2017-18 campaign Tuesday (Nov. 14) with an 80-61 loss to the Seymour Thunder.
The Jaguars committed 23 turnovers and connected on only six of eighteen shots from beyond the arc.
Hayden Kupsh tied a career high with 33 points and Maddie Koch chipped in 12 for the Jaguars.
Kupsh set the tone right from the get go by drilling a three from the far-right corner to put the Jaguars up 3-0. It would be the only lead the Jaguars enjoyed all evening long.
Coach VanLaanen, “Hayden came ready to play tonight. She not only brought it on the offensive side, but the defensive side as well. She stepped up when adversity was there. I was really proud of her production. “
Thunder Guard Jenna Krause then went to work for her team. She scored eight straight from just inside the free throw line to beyond the three-point arc in putting her squad up 17-12 with just over eleven minutes remaining in the first half.
“Oskey got into early foul trouble, which helped. We mixed our defenses up, but we couldn’t stay in the zone long because Krause was hitting shot after shot. She played amazing and we couldn’t stop her,” added Van Laanen
The lead extended to double digits (25-15) for the Thunder when forward Brooke Veldt came off the bench to nail two consecutive baskets after the Jaguars had changed over to a 2-3 zone.
Just before half, the Jaguars had trimmed the lead down to two points on behalf of Kupsh’s outburst and some nice interior moves by Koch the last four minutes of the half.
The turning point, however, came in the final minute when Thunder Center Aubrey Bucholtz hit a jumper and then the Jaguars got careless with an inbounds pass with two seconds, and Raven VandenLangenberg made them pay with a turn-around three at the horn.
When the dust had settled, a two-point lead had widened to 44-37 for the Thunder at halftime.
Momentum seemed to have shifted.
Thunder star Hailey Oskey had zero points in the first eighteen minutes of the game, because of foul trouble. Everybody in the house knew she wouldn’t stay at that mark for long!
The Thunder took command of the game in the first five minutes of the second half.
Krause hit three rainmakers to start the half.
Hailey Oskey then got into the mix by scoring her first two points of the game with 14:34 left to give the Thunder a fifteen point cushion at 54-39.
Later in the game, Kupsh and Servais tried to keep their team in the game by scoring all ten of their team’s points during a 13-2 run by the Jaguars, that cut the margin to eight (69-61) with just under five minutes remaining in the game.
The Thunder, though, slowed the pace down and ended the basketball game with an 11-0 run.
“It all starts with communication on the defensive side of the floor. Giving up 80 points is unacceptable. We will be better on Thursday vs Wrightstown, “ commented Van Laanen.
Seymour/Ashwaubenon Box Score
Seymour 44, 36, 80
Ashwaubenon 37,24 61
Thunder Totals: FG’s 31-64, 3 PT FG’s 10-28, FT’s 8-11, Rebounds 21, Assists 14, Steals 15, Blocks 1, Turnovers 12, Personal Fouls 17
Krause 24, Vandenlangenberg 17, Buchholtz 15, Oskey 13, Veldt 6, Bluma 3, King 2
Jaguar Totals: FG’s 19-45, 3 PT FG’s 6-18, FT’s 17-24, Rebounds 28, Assists 15, Steals 9, Blocks 3, Turnovers 23, Personal Fouls 12
Kupsh 33, Koch 12, Servais 9, Wright 5, Van Laanen 2
