Home Sports Gehlen Catholic Opens Season with Come From Behind Road Win

Gehlen Catholic Opens Season with Come From Behind Road Win

Gehlen Catholic’s 2021-22 girls basketball season opened with an exclamation point on the road last night. The Jays beat #14 Kingsley-Pierson by a final of 62-58.

For the first 31 minutes of the game, Kingsley-Pierson was in the driver’s seat leading the game. The Panthers led by as much 34-13 with a little under five minutes left in the second quarter. Gehlen Catholic head coach Brandon Schaecher says that his team did not let up despite the amount of time they spent trailing.

Coming out of the first half, the Jays were down 41-29 and allowed Kingsley-Pierson to shoot 46% from the field. During the halftime break, Coach Schaecher had a talk with his team about their defensive effort in the first half, and he wanted to see things change. Things changed right away. The Jays held Kingsley-Pierson to just 17 points in the second half and a dismal 18% shooting from the field.

Lauren Heying led the charge individually for the Jays doing everything imaginable for her team to win. The senior finished with 23 points on 9-20 from the field, 11 rebounds, seven assists, five steals, and three blocks. Coach Schaecher says that, when the Jays needed her, Heying stepped up in some big ways last night.

The Jays will take a 1-0 record into tonight with a quick turnaround game at #1 Unity Christian. Coach Schaecher knows that his team cannot start the first half sloppy, like they did last night, and expect to be competitive against teams like Unity.

Kingsley-Pierson starts the year 0-1 and will be at Lawton Bronson on Tuesday, November 30.