By TROY THOMPSON
Sportswriter
It’s been more than a decade since Waterville-Elysian-Morristown came out on top against NRHEG in girls’ basketball. The visiting Bucs ended that drought on Friday, Feb. 6, with a 64-53 victory that also snapped NRHEG’s six-game winning streak. The win was the first for the Bucs over the Panthers since the 2001-02 season.
The Panthers led 10-9 before WEM went on a run to open up a 28-19 lead at the half. The Panthers battled back to regain the lead 38-37 in the second half with a Kayley Camerer layup, but she left the game after the go-ahead basket with an ankle injury and wouldn’t return.
The Bucs took advantage of Camerer’s absence by feeding the ball inside to their post players en route to a 7-0 run that would give them the lead for good.
Successive three-pointers by Rachel Collins would close the gap to five late in the game, but the Bucs finished strong on the free-throw line to secure the win.Maddie Wagner led the Panthers with 22 points while Marnie Wagner added 13. WEM’s Erika Olson led all scorers with 26 to go with 12 rebounds while Tierny Winter added 23 for the Bucs.
Earlier in the week, NRHEG downed Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton 76-61 to push their win streak to six games.
The Panthers employed a balanced scoring attack with four players finishing in double figures against JWP.
Marnie Wagner led the Panthers with 21 points and 13 rebounds while Marnie Wagner netted 20. Camerer added 13 points and Gretchen Ramaker added 10 points for the Panthers in the win.
The Panthers ended the week with an 11-8 overall record, 7-3 in the Gopher Valley Conference.
Individual stats:
NRHEG 76, JWP 61
Marnie Wagner 21 pts, 13 reb, 6 assists, 1 steal; Maddie Wagner 20 pts, 7 reb, 3 steals; Camerer 13 pts, 4 reb; Ramaker 10pts, 2 reb, 1 assist, 3 steals; Ryann Hagen 2 pts, 10 reb, 1 steal; Kelli Harrington 2 pts, 7 reb, 1 assist; Anna Stork 2 pts, 8 reb; Collins 2 pts, 4 reb, 1 steal; Hailey Schuller 2 pts, 1 assist; Grace Johns 2 pts, 1 reb, 1 assist
WEM 64, NRHEG 53
Maddie Wagner 22 pts, 2 reb, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 block; Marnie Wagner 13 pts, 8 reb, 3 assists, 2 steals; Collins 7 pts, 1 reb; Camerer 7 pts, 3 reb, 1 steal; Johns 2 pts, 1 reb, 1 assist; Hagen 5 reb, 2 steals; Stork 3 reb; Ramaker 5 reb