The Gehlen Catholic girls basketball team opened their season with a win defeating Kingsley-Pierson at home on Monday night by a score of 57-53.
The game was dominated for a majority of the time by Kingsley-Pierson. The Panthers ended up leading the game by 12 points in the third quarter. Gehlen Catholic head coach Brandon Schaecher says the Panthers were too good at getting to the hoop.
Kingsley-Pierson was balancing that strong offensive performance with a choking defensive performance. The Panthers prove to be a deep team with a lot of athleticism, and they know how to use it already this year. Kingsley-Pierson head coach Nicole Goodwin says she was happy with the defensive intensity.
Gehlen Catholic trailed 46-37 entering the fourth quarter and needed to get their act together quickly if they wanted a chance at the win. Coach Schaecher says the girls responded to the message in between quarters and methodically picked apart the Panthers.
To help matters, Rysaiah Sitzmann came alive in the fourth quarter hitting all three of her three-point attempts to tie the game. She finished with 27 points which easily led the way for the game. Coach Schaecher says that leadership is very valuable to a team that started two freshmen.
The Jays improve to 1-0 with the win while Kingsley-Pierson drops to 0-1 to start the year. As the Jays were coming back, the panic set in for the Panthers who could not get out of their own way. Coach Goodwin says the girls need to learn to slow things down when they are losing control of a game.
Kingsley-Pierson resumes their season after Thanksgiving with a home matchup against Lawton-Bronson on Tuesday, December 3. The Jays are right back to work with a back-to-back matchup at home against second-ranked Westwood.
