Whitehall girls drop last three regular season games

After a close loss against one of the best teams in the Dairyland Conference, the Whitehall girls basketball team lost two more games last week.

The Norse had a lead late in the first half against Blair-Taylor last week Monday, but the Wildcats knocked down a three pointer late in the half and were able to stay ahead for a 55-47 win (see story elsewhere in Sports). The Norse then struggled offensively in two losses, falling to Gilmanton 47-29 on Tuesday and 48-33 against another of the conference’s top teams, Eleva-Strum, on Thursday.

The Norse finished the regular season with a 5-17 overall record and a 3-12 mark in Dairyland Conference play. 

Whitehall earned the 10th seed in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division Four bracket, playing at Cadott this week Tuesday. A win would pair Whitehall up against (2) Neillsville on Friday with the regional final round slated for Saturday. 

GHS 47 Whitehall 26 - The day after a close loss to one of the best teams in the conference, the Norse struggled offensively against a team they defeated earlier this season.

Whitehall had its highest-scoring game of the season a last month when they defeated Gilmanton 62-56, but playing in Gilmanton proved to be difficult for Whitehall’s shooters.

The Norse shot 16.3 percent from the field as they were just four-of-30 on shots inside the three-point line. They also missed nearly half of their free throw attempts, shooting nine-for-17.

Despite their offensive struggles, Whitehall was in the game for a half, trailing 17-12 at halftime before Gilmanton pulled away in the second half.

Abby Semb led Whitehall with seven points, one more than Olivia Youngbauer while Norah Youngbauer scored four, Ariel Koxlien, Sam Huff and Elle Matejka all had three. 

Whitehall (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-fouls-points) —Sonsalla 0/0-0/0-0-1-0 N. Youngbauer 1/3-1/3-2-3-4 Koxlien 1/9-1/4-4-2-3 O. Youngbauer 1/8-4/4-3-3-6 Pientok 0/2-0/0-0-0-0 Huff 0/5-3/5-6-3-3 Beighely 0/2-0/1-8-2-0 Matejka ¼-0/0-2-5-3 Lisowski 0/0-0/0-0-5-0 Semb 3/8-0/0-4-1-7 Yarrington 0/1-0/0-0-0-0

E-S 48 Whitehall 33 - The Norse managed just 13 points in the first half and couldn’t recover as they lost to the DC-Large’s second-place team.

Two three pointers by Matejka made up nearly half of Whitehall’s points in the first half as they trailed 30-13 at halftime. The Norse scored more in the second half, but the Cardinals had the game well in hand.

Whitehall shot 21.3 percent from the field and made 11-of-22 free throws. They also turned the ball over 20 times, although that was still one less than Eleva-Strum.

The Norse held up defensively, for the most part, as they held the Cardinals to 36.2 percent shooting, but they couldn’t overcome their offensive struggles.

Koxlien led Whitehall with nine points while both Matejka and Huff scored six, Beighley scored five, Lisowski finished with three and both Olivia Youngbauer and Semb scored two.

Whitehall (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-fouls-points) — N. Youngbauer 0/2-0/2-1-2-0 Koxlien 2/15-5/8-9-2-9 O. Youngbauer 0/7-2/2-1-3-2 Huff 2/4-2/3-4-2-6 Beighley 2/4-2/3-4-2-5 Matejka 2/4-0/0-1-2-6 Lisowski 1/4-1/4-6-3-3 Semb 1/4-0/1-2-0-2