Oostburg stuns Falls girls squad

Oostburg guard Julie Raeder made two free throws with 4.8 seconds left, as the Lady Dutch stunned the Sheboygan Falls Falcons 61-60 in a girls non-conference basketball tilt Tuesday, Dec. 29, in Sheboygan Falls.

Falls led by five points 59-54, with 1:12 left in the game, after senior Lauren Carman made 3-of-4 free throws.

Then with seconds ticking away, and under the pressure of a tough man-to-man Falcons defense, Raeder forced down a 3-pointer to cut the score to 59-57, with 53.8 seconds left.

Falcons guard Alyse Hucke was intentionally fouled. She made both free throws, but one point was wiped away on a lane violation, which would come back later to haunt Falls.

Oostburg went to Raeder again, and just as she did throughout the game, she hit yet another big shot to make it 60-59.

Trailing by one, the Oostburg pressure caused a Falls turnover, which put the Dutch in control, with less than 12 seconds left.

The Falcons tried to deny Raeder again, but she drew a questionable foul and sank both throws. Raeder finished with 34 points, 13 of which came in the fourth quarter.

“This was a well matched game, going right down to the end,” said Dutch coach Lisa Immel. “Raeder’s our leader. She made some clutch shots.”

“We let one get away,” said Falcons coach Leroy Hamilton. “It hurts to see how well we fought to come back and then lose.

“I told the team that this was a battle between two good teams,” he said. “Someone had to win. Unfortunately, it wasn’t us.”

Oostburg improved to 6-2 overall, while the Falcons lost their second straight game to drop to 4-2 overall.

After a tough loss to Chilton the previous night, the Lady Falcons came back charged up to play toe-totoe with the Dutch in the first quarter.

With the Falcons trailing 14-10 after the first quarter, Oostburg opened the second quarter on an 11-2 scoring run to take a 25-12 lead with 4:24 left in the half. Raeder led the way with six points.

Falcons junior Amanda Milne came off the bench to convert two lay ups, while senior Emilie Leffin added four more points to make the score 29-20, with 2:04 left.

Leffin and Carman scored the last seven points of the half to cut the lead to 31-27. Carman converted on three-point play and Leffin made two nice baseline lay ups.

The Falcons continued to gain momentum in the third quarter, as junior Cassie Quirt scored two straight baskets to give her team its first lead (36-35), since the first score of the game.

Oostburg came back with seven straight points, capped off by a bucket from Karly Telschow to regain the lead 42-36.

Leffin and Carman led a five-point rally to end the third with Falls trailing 44-41.

Freshman Staci Hasler scored five points to put Falls ahead 47-46 early in the fourth quarter.

The lead changed back and forth, until the Falcons gained a four-point edge 56-52. Hasler drained a 3- point shot and Carman continued to be tough at the free-throw line in the last few minutes of the game, hitting 5-of-6 attempts.

“We made some mental mistakes toward the end of the game,” remarked Hamilton. “We didn’t protect the ball.

“I’ll take the blame for not making the right substitutions,” he said.

Carman finished with a team-high 20 points, with three assists. She also converted 10-of-11 shots from the free-throw line. Leffin scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Hasler tied her season-high of 11 points.

“We gave it our all,” said senior captain Carman. “I wish we could’ve had a better ending. “They are a good team and we will use this to keep getting better,” she said.

Oostburg topped the Falcons 38-24 in the junior varsity game. Falls is now 3-3 overall. Allie Danneker scored seven points and Cassie Hammen had six to lead the Falcons. Jocelyn Stemper led Oostburg with nine points and Maggie TenHaken added eight.

Score by Quarters Oostburg…………...14 17 13 17 - 61 Sheboygan Falls…10 17 14 19 - 60

Oostburg scorers: Karly Telschow 9, Morgan Mullikin 8, Amanda Huibregtse 6, Maddy Kaat 4, Julie Raeder 34.

Sheboygan Falls scorers: Alyse Hucke 1, Cassie Quirt 7, Brooke Buehler 3, Emilie Leffin 14, Staci Hasler 11, Lauren Carman 20, Amanda Milne 4.

Three-point goals: Oostburg, Raeder 2, Telschow. Sheboygan Falls, Quirt, Hasler. Statistics: Oostburg - field goals 22-49 (45 percent), free throws 14-18 (78 percent) rebounds 20, turnovers 15. Sheboygan Falls - field goals 22-47 (47 percent), free throws 15-20 (75 percent), rebounds _______________________ 24, turnovers 18.