Tuesday, September 17, 2024
By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
DE PERE—The West De Pere girls basketball team continued their drive towards perfection in the Bay Conference by defeating the Xavier Hawks by a final of 70-32.
Freshman Imani Ninham led the Phantoms (13-5 overall, 11-0 Bay) with 15 points, and Sydney Appleton added 12.
Every player that suited up for West De Pere scored at least two points in the contest.
No Xavier (5-13 overall, 2-9 Bay) player tallied double figures.
The Phantoms jumped on the Hawks literally from the opening tip as Bailey Baeten connected on a layup just three seconds into the game.
West De Pere continually broke down the opposing 1-3-1 zone defense Xavier implemented for easy lay ups.
Rebekah Buboltz extended the Phantoms lead to 10-3 with a triple from the right corner.
Later on, Alivia McNabb came up with a steal and jackknifed through two Xavier defenders for a quick two points to extend the Phantoms lead to 17-6 with 8:18 left till the break.
Near the end of the half, Buboltz connected on two more treys and found Alexa Thomson and Appleton for easy buckets, to extend the halftime lead to 26-12.
The Phantoms defense was so stifling that Xavier had one made field goal out of 19 attempts for the game’s first 18 minutes. The Hawks did connect on 10 free throws, but it did little to stop the offensive display being put on by West De Pere.
The Phantoms left little doubt to start the second half that they were the far more superior team.
Appleton hit two triples to start as the home team quickly built a 20-point lead and then Imani Ninham entered the game and showed her vast potential in very limited time.
Ninham continually showed her athletic ability from the wing by driving to the basket and making shots. During one stretch she went 7 for 9 from the floor in catapulting the Phantoms lead to 52-19 with 7:10 left in the game.
Down the stretch, Genesis Eggart, Breanna Schneider, Alivia Baumann, and Piper Linssen all scored for the Phantoms as they notched the 38-point victory going away.
Box Score:
Xavier: 12, 20—32
West De Pere: 26, 44—70
Hawks: Ballard 9, Bovee 6, Lauer 5, Vosters 4, D. Feldkamp 3, B. Feldkamp 2, Bettag 2, Walkowski 1.
Phantoms: Ninham 15, Appleton 12, Buboltz 9, Jepson 8, McNabb 6, Thomson 5, Baeten 4, Baumann 4, Eggart 3, Linssen 2, Schneider 2.
