West girls, North boys prevail in Oshkosh high school basketball rivalry games
OSHKOSH – Oshkosh North hosted Oshkosh West in a high school basketball doubleheader Friday where the crosstown rivals split decisions.
In the first contest of the evening, the West girls outscored North by 17 points in the second half to overcome a six-point halftime deficit en route to a 59-48 victory.
“It was a good team win,” said Oshkosh West coach Kenisha Phillips. “We had some girls step up in the second half after the first half being a little just blah for us. In the second half we came out and hit the rebounds really hard with Laina (Hammen) and Braelee (Jodarski), which allowed us to get more physical and into the game to get a push there.”
The Wildcats pulled away to lead by as many as 12 points with 6:30 left before the Spartans came back in the following three minutes to halve the advantage with 3:35 remaining in the game. However, West extended it back to 11 with 1:21 on the clock and held on the rest of the way.
Hammen led the Wildcats with 18 points, followed by Paige Seckar with 14. Jodarski added 13 points and Maddie Choinski had 12 for West.
“I thought we started off with not much energy and then when we got to halftime we got our energy up,” Hammen said. “Our coach gave us a good pep talk and then the second half we brought it. We were not going to take a loss. We battled back very well and I think we worked as a team way better.”
Seckar added: “I thought we played pretty well, especially in that second half we got going. We had a little bit of a slow start, but when halftime hit we knew that we had to step up and we got the job done.”
The Spartans led 22-16 going into the intermission but struggled to contain the Wildcats’ offense coming back from the locker room.
“I thought in the first half, obviously, we played better defense,” said Oshkosh North coach Jayme Engen. “We were able to keep them off the glass and there was a better flow to the game for us. In the second half they got some drives to the rim and we just didn’t do a good enough job of stopping that penetration. They got downhill on us and they spun. They made a couple tough shots, but we just have to do better at containing the ball and we have to get more of those plays to the rim like we did in the first half to get us that lead.”
Top scorers for the Spartans were Mallory Ott with 16 points, Ava Hanson with 14 points and Emma Niemczyk with 12. Gabby Kempf added six points, hitting the team’s lone pair of 3-pointers, to round out the scoring.
Oshkosh West improves its record to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the Fox Valley Association and will travel to Pulaski (0-3) on Tuesday. Oshkosh North falls to 2-2 (0-2 FVA) and will travel to Manitowoc Lincoln (3-1) on Tuesday.
North boys pull away in second half
In the nightcap, the Spartans jumped ahead early before the Wildcats came storming back toward the end of the first half.
West trimmed the North advantage to four points with 3:50 to go. The Wildcats then tied the game on a Tristan Johanknecht “and-one” dunk with a little more than a minute to play until halftime before taking a brief one-point lead, 30-29, after the made free throw.
Johanknecht scored a game-high 20 points and junior guard Dylan Taylor added 11 for West.
On the following possession, however, the Spartans converted their own “and-one” courtesy of Ari Giannopoulos to regain the momentum and enter the break ahead 32-30.
RELATEDHere are Friday's high school sports results for the Oshkosh and Fond du Lac area
RELATEDTop girls basketball teams, players to watch in the Fox Valley
RELATEDHere are 43 of the best high school girls basketball players in Wisconsin this season
RELATEDHere are 41 of the best high school boys basketball players in Wisconsin
The second half was dominated by North. What was a two-point lead ballooned to as many as 25 midway through the half and the Spartans went on to win 70-48.
“I really thought we battled in that first half,” first-year Oshkosh West coach Dan Weisse said. “Our guys bought into the game plan. Our decision-making was not as good in the second half, but we are better today than we were yesterday. I really appreciate the support of our Oshkosh West crowd. We all could feel their energy. Our families and students are fantastic, and our guys will continue to make them proud.”
Sophomore forward Xzavion Mitchell led North in scoring with 19 points, 11 of which came in the second half, and senior forward Quintin Fisher had 14. Fred Ware and Steven Clark each tallied 10 points apiece for the Spartans.
“I struggled a little bit in the first half, obviously, but then the second half I used my teammates because big guy in the middle (Johanknecht) was helping drop down and there was less help, so I had easier lanes to the basket,” Mitchell said.
“I didn’t play my greatest game, but I like the way we all played together during the second half. We started off the half with 12 out of the first 13 made buckets and that was a big accomplishment for us because that first half was a struggle. Really coming out like that helped us overcome that and win the game.”
Oshkosh North coach Brad Weber praised the performance of the team’s rotational players from top-to-bottom.
“As cliché as it is, with this group it’s a different guy each day,” Weber said. “That’s the beauty of it because Stevie (Clark) and Zay (Mitchell) have to shoulder an offensive load, everybody knows that, but it is freeing for them to know that they’ve got teammates that can step up and knock down shots. Fred, Q, this past weekend Carter (Strange), Ari, Christo (Giannopoulos). I mean, Drake (Moxon) is just that unsung hero, I think. Obviously he’s a great football player, but it makes me think of that great offensive lineman. You never really hear their name because they just do everything right and when you hear their name it’s because the quarterback is on the ground or a flag has been thrown. Drake is that guy. He’s a silent assassin, he just does everything right. Those are the things that a team relies on. Yes, Stevie and Zay, everybody in the state knows who they are. But people are starting to figure out we have a really good complementary group.”
The Spartans improve to 3-0 (1-0 FVA) before a road game at Pewaukee (2-0) on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats drop to 0-2 (0-1) searching for their first win of the season Tuesday when they host Adams-Friendship (1-2).
This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: West girls, North boys prevail in Oshkosh high school basketball
