Norse girls struggle offensively in losses
Whitehall’s Norah Youngbauer went in for a layup during their game against Eleva-Strum on Friday. (Times photograph by Andrew Dannehy)
Offensive struggles continued for the Whitehall girls basketball team last week as they failed to reach 50 points in two losses.
The Norse struggled to make shots and with turnovers in a 53-44 loss to Augusta last Tuesday. On Friday, they had similar issues as Eleva-Strum picked up a 65-37 win.
Whitehall has now dropped six of its last seven and hasn’t scored more than 50 points since Jan. 10. They entered the final week of the regular season with a 10-10 overall record and 4-9 mark in Dairyland Conference play, ahead of only Augusta (4-10).
The Norse played at Port Edwards on Monday before hosting Cochrane-Fountain City on Thursday and heading to Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran on Saturday.
As the ninth-seed, Whitehall begins Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association tournament play on the road, playing at (8) Eau Claire Regis this coming Tuesday. The winner of that game will play at (1) Osseo-Fairchild on Friday with the regional final slated for Saturday.
AUG 53 Whitehall 44
The Norse shot 25 percent from the field and had 21 turnovers as they couldn’t overcome the Beavers.
Both teams had seven field goals in the first half, but Augusta got a trio of three pointers from Kennedy Korger and had four made free throws as they took a 21-16 lead into halftime.
The Beavers continued to attack Whitehall’s defense and get to the free-throw line in the second half. Both teams had 15 made field goals in the game, but Augusta had 11 more free throws, on 17 more attempts.
Trinity Aasen led the Norse with 12 points, while Avery Sonsalla scored 10 and Nicoya Yarrington finished with eight.
Whitehall (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-fouls-points) — Sonsalla 3/8-1/2-4-2-10 Sluga 0/5-0/0-1-1-0 Youngbauer 1/13-1/3-3-5-3 Pientok 1/3-3/4-4-3-5 Aasen 5/6-1/2-7-5-12 Killian 1/5-0/0-4-1-2 Lisowski 1/10-2/4-4-3-4 Clatt 0/2-0/0-0-2-0 Yarrington 3/8-0/0-4-2-8
E-S 65 Whitehall 37
The Norse were never able to get started in the lopsided loss.
The Cardinals took a double-digit lead early, scoring 12 of the first 14 points in the game and they never had to look back. Whitehall had just four field goals in the first half and shot six-for-16 from the free-throw line as they trailed 31-15 at halftime.
The struggled at the free-throw line continued for Whitehall in the second half as E-S broke the game open.
Whitehall shot 10-for-27 on free-throw attempts in the game, they also had 11 made field goals, compared to 25 for E-S.
Lisowski led Whitehall with 10 points while Vaida Goplin scored nine, Norah Youngbauer finished with six, Killian, four; Pientok and Aasen both scored three and Clatt finished with two.
