The Gehlen Catholic basketball teams enjoyed a senior night on Friday with a pair of wins over South O’Brien.
The Gehlen Catholic girls opened the night with their second win of the week taking down the Wolverines by a final of 59-39.
The game ended up dragging along due to the amount of physicality with which it was played. The Jays and Wolverines combined to shoot 61 free throws on the night. Head Coach Brandon Schaecher says the number of fouls were determined by how aggressive his team decided to be on defense.
From the end of the second quarter to the beginning of the third quarter, the Jays outscored the Wolverines 25-1 to balloon their lead. Coach Schaecher says the key to that was simply executing their game on the offensive end.
The senior night festivities recognized three seniors in Miyah Whitehead, Sophie Ruden, and Jayden Barthole. Coach Schaecher says their energy and enthusiasm make them a fun group to coach.
The Jays improved to 7-11 overall and 3-5 in the War Eagle Conference getting 21 points each from Miyah Whitehead and Rysaiah Sitzmann. South O’Brien fell to 0-18 and 0-9 in the conference.
Finishing off the night, the tenth-ranked Gehlen boys took down South O’Brien by a final of 79-54.
Like many wins for the Jays this season, they got out to a strong start on the offensive end. The Jays scored 24 points in the first quarter on 10-17 shooting and finished with 43 points by the end of the half. Head Coach Mike Langel says that was nice to see considering it did not require their top scorer to be the leader of the offense.
Gehlen Catholic got some great help off the bench to secure the win. Gabe Wiltgen led the bench scoring with 12 points after scoring eight in the first half. Coach Langel says they need production like that off their bench against good teams like South O’Brien.
Gehlen Catholic is in a unique spot where 10 seniors were honored during the senior night festivities. It is a large group that Coach Langel says has played a lot of games at the varsity level and have gotten the opportunity to form a tight bond.
Gehlen Catholic is now 14-4 on the season and 7-1 in the War Eagle Conference. Keaten Bonderson ended up leading the way offensively with 20 points. South O’Brien fell to 12-5 and 5-4 in the War Eagle Conference.
