Late falter against Bangor leads to girls hoops defeat for G-E-T

Coach Louis Hurd has scribbled the same words onto a whiteboard for his young team to read before most games this 2022-23 season.

‘Learn how to win. Expect to win,’ often greets the players in writing ahead of tip-off. It was that same message that was delivered by the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau girls basketball coach last week following a loss to Bangor, one that saw the Red Hawks get to within four points of the visitors before allowing a big run to end the game.

Bangor left with the 58-28 win on Tuesday, a G-E-T loss that preceded a fall to another unbeaten team in Westby on Thursday. West Salem was scheduled to visit G-E-T (1-5 overall, 1-1 Coulee Conference) this Tuesday before the Red Hawks travel to Altoona on Friday.

The Red Hawks slashed Bangor’s lead to 27-23 shortly after halftime on Tuesday, but Bangor closed the game on a 31-5 run.

Hurd was proud of the way his team battled back against Bangor, but he also acknowledged that the run it allowed after will not allow for much success.

“We’re playing well enough at times to win ball games, but not enough,” Hurd said. “(That run) is just inexcusable and it cascades. We need to be able to close those dam breakages.”

A program such as Bangor has a winning tradition and expects to win, Hurd told the Times. The Cardinals are 4-0 this year after falling one win short of the state tournament in 2021-22.

After Bangor took a 25-16 lead into halftime, G-E-T responded—the Red Hawks knocked down multiple shots to get the scoreboard to read 25-21, but some miscommunication on passes and turnovers allowed the visitors to take the momentum back.

“You throw that in with a couple missed shots and some nice plays by them, and a four-point lead grows to 14 pretty quick,” Hurd said. … “That’s when you’ve really got to buckle down, and we just have to continue to learn how to master that.”

Nora Tucker of Bangor had a hand in that response, fighting to the rim and adding shots from deep to pace all players with 22 points. Senior Shayna Kirkey did her best to help the Red Hawks back into the game, and she finished with a team-high 12 points.

Seeing the game slip away can be a learning moment for G-E-T, their coach said, adding that the program needs to keep growing together and learning as a group about those key moments and overcoming adversity.

“We’re doing it the right way. We just need to take that next step, and we just haven’t done it yet through the first five games of the season. But Bangor is a good team… and his (Bangor coach Merlin Jones) kids did not flinch at crunch time. So that makes a difference.”

G-E-T (field goals-free throws/attempts-fouls-points)—Hauge 3-0/4-1-6; Kirkey 3-5/8-3-12; Johnson 0-0/1-1-0; DeJager 1-1/2-2-3; Becker 2-0/0-2-5; Kokott 0-0/0-2-0; Simmons 1-0/1-3-2.

Westby 57 G-E-T 25

Jayda Berg scored 21 points to keep the Norse (6-0 this season) unbeaten on Thursday at Westby High School.

The Red Hawks were led by 11 points from Navaeh Becker. Individual statistics were not reported.