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Parker girls top Stevens Point in Sentry Classic

STEVENS POINT — Near the end of the third quarter Sunday, Janesville Parker High School’s girls basketball team was in danger of picking up its second loss in as many days.

Stevens Point erased a nine-point deficit and held a 36-35 lead with one minute left in the third.

But the Vikings rallied from that point to take out the Panthers, 52-44, in the consolation game of the Sentry Classic at the Quandt Fieldhouse on the UW-Stevens Point campus.

“I was worried that the kids would panic, but they didn’t,” Parker coach Tom Klawitter said. “And once we built up a five-point lead with three minutes to play, we knew we could pull out a hard-fought game.”

And every time the Vikings (5-2) needed a score, they knew they could turn to two-time Big Eight Conference Player of the Year Catie O’Leary.

The Loyola of Chicago recruit collected 26 points—as much as the rest of the team combined—even though she didn’t seem to be at her best.

“We were coming off a hard game, and I might have been a little tired, but I did a good job of getting to the basket and filling gaps on defense,” O’Leary said.

Parker started off the game sluggishly on offense and found itself down 5-2 midway through the first quarter. The Vikings outscored the Panthers (2-5) 15-5 in the last four minutes of the period to take a 17-10 lead.

Stevens Point caught up in the second quarter by heating up from behind the arc. Brittany Bergquist nailed two of the Panthers’ four triples in the period to cut the deficit to two points by halftime. Stevens Point was a sizzling 6-for-8 from three-point range in the first half.

The Panthers inched closer and held their 36-35 lead late in the third, helped by a tough zone defense that held Parker to just eight points. O’Leary hit a shot that gave Parker a one-point lead at the end of the third.

After a Jocelin Finn free throw helped Stevens Point tied it 37-37 early in the fourth, O’Leary and Danielle Flood teamed up on a 7-0 run for the Vikings to put the game away.

After that, the Panthers were forced to foul and hope the Vikings would miss free throws. But that wasn’t the case, as the Vikings hit eight of from the line in the final minute to hold off the Panthers.

Savannah Shepler scored 13 points for Parker and hit both of the team’s three-pointers. The rest of the team was a combined 0-for-9 from beyond the arc. Kaynesha Zinn collected seven points and three rebounds, despite being in foul trouble nearly the entire game.

Kassie Krueger led Stevens Point with 15 points, including three triples. Leah Eisner had 14 points and six rebounds, while Bergquist finished with 11 points.

“I’m super proud of our team because they played so well against a good team,” Stevens Point coach Dave Hauser said. “O’Leary is a great player who made a lot of great plays, and we had a couple of balls roll in and out of the basket.”

And while the tournament didn’t go exactly as the Vikings planned, Klawitter and O’Leary are satisfied with one win.

“I was happy about how we played (against De Pere), but we just didn’t win,” Klawitter said. “It’s good to win today, because that will make the bus ride back a lot easier.”

“We had the De Pere game in our hands, and we just didn’t execute, but I’m happy we pulled out a win today,” O’Leary said.

Parker will get back into conference play with a home game against Madison West at 2:45 p.m. Saturday

PARKER 52, STEVENS POINT 44

Parker (52)—McDonald 1-0-2; O’Leary 9-8-26; Flood 0-4-4; Shepler 4-3-13; Zinn 2-3-7. Totals: 16-18-52.

Stevens Point (44)—Berguist 3-3-11; Piotrowski 1-0-3; Krueger 5-2-15; Finn 0-1-1; Eisner 4-6-14. Totals: 13-12-44.

Janesville Parker 17 12 8 15—52

Stevens Point 10 17 9 8—44

Three-point goals—Parker 2 (Shepler 2), Stevens Point 6 (Krueger 3, Bergquist 2, Piotrowski). Free throws missed—Parker 5, Stevens Point 12. Total fouls—Parker 15, Stevens Point 19.