G-E-T beats Viroqua, loses to Central in girls hoops

As visiting Viroqua pushed back against the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau High School girls’ basketball team last Monday, the Red Hawks’ leader put the team on her back.

Viroqua had just cut the hosts’ lead to eight in the opening minutes of the second half, and G-E-T needed a response after the Blackhawks snuck their way back into the game.

Lindsey Lettner hit back-to-back shots on G-E-T’s next two possessions to push the lead to 13, and the Red Hawks never relinquished the gap in a 55-40 win. Lettner finished with a season-high 29 points.

The game preceded a loss to Central last Saturday. The Red Hawks hosted Tomah on Monday before West Salem visits on Thursday with the Coulee Conference lead at stake.

G-E-T (8-9 overall, 6-2 Coulee) sits one game behind West Salem (7-1 Coulee) in the conference standings.

G-E-T 55, Viroqua 40 

Assistant coach Jim Scherr was running G-E-T’s bench on Monday with head coach Louis Hurd out sick, and he applauded the way the team responded to some pressure from Viroqua in the second half.

Lettner made seven three-pointers for the Red Hawks to help her to the big game. 

Midway through the second half, Lettner stole the ball from a Viroqua guard before banking in an easy layup. She followed the effort with a three-pointer moments later to give G-E-T the 20-point, 53-33 lead.

Scherr described Lettner’s performance as a leader taking over, saying she led her team.

“She can take charge on the floor,” Scherr said, “and when she starts to get hot I don’t think you want to take the ball out of her hands. She just seems to be very good in that situation.”

The Red Hawks got a good start, as an Aleah Hunter three-pointer made the scoreboard read 31-9 late in the half. Viroqua got back into the game in the closing minutes to trail 31-16 at the break and set up their push in the second half.

“When we went into halftime, they had kind of closed the gap a little bit, and I told them I said, ‘We’ve just got to finish strong.’”

Scherr said he was proud of the team for getting a win without Hurd, especially in the Coulee to keep the West Salem game and conference lead within reach.

“That’s going to be a huge game for us.”

G-E-T (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-fouls-points)—Becker 0/1-0/0-1-0-0, Lettner 10/26-2/2-7-3-29, Hunter 4/11-0/0-8-1-11, A. Bratberg 2/11-0/0-4-0-5, K. Bratberg 0/4-0/0-4-4-0, Schmitz 1/3-1/2-2-1-3, O’Neill 1/6-0/0-3-2-2, Nelson 0/4-2/4-6-1-2, Kokott 0/0-0/0-0-1-0, Kirkey 1/3-0/0-1-3-3.

Central 38, G-E-T 24

The Red Hawks scored just 11 points in the first half on Saturday, and Central cruised to victory despite a closer second half.

The hosts were led by nine points from Lettner and got six from Aleah Hunter. Brittney Mislivecek led Central with 14 points

 G-E-T (field goals-free throws/attempts-fouls-points)—Becker 0-2/2-0-2, Lettner 4-0/0-0-9, Hunter 3-0/0-3-6, A. Bratberg 1-0/0-0-2, K. Bratberg 1-0/0-4-2, Schmitz 0-0/0-1-0, O’Neill 0-0/1-3-0, Nelson 1-0/2-3-2, Kirkey 0-1/2-2-1.