Young Neuqua Girls Dropped by Bartlett

BARTLETT – Neuqua Valley’s girls basketball team shocked many by getting off to a 12-1 start this season, despite carrying six freshmen on the varsity roster.

Since then, however, the young Wildcats have hit their first rough patch. Saturday’s 72-42 Upstate Eight Valley loss to Bartlett gives Neuqua three losses in its last five games, with two (Benet being the other) coming by 30 or more points.

“At the beginning of the season, we were flying high, and it was great,” Neuqua junior Megan Doody said. “Now, we’ve kind of hit reality. I think we’ll be fine. Right now, we’re hitting a little bit of a speed bump, so we have to get back on track, definitely.”

The Wildcats (14-4 overall, 5-2 UEC Valley) hung with the powerful Hawks (20-1, 7-0) in the first half. A Doody three-pointer and a runner in the lane from Malia Smith to end the half drew Neuqua to within 29-24 at the break. Doody drilled 4-of-5 three-pointers in the half, but was held scoreless in the second half.

“We were kind of shocked,” Doody said. “They’re No. 5 in the state and we have six freshmen on our team, so being able to play with them the first two quarters was an accomplishment right there.”

But there were warning signs that the momentum could shift back toward Bartlett quickly. First off, Wisconsin-bound forward Jacki Gulzynski leads the Hawks, a four-year varsity player who has been through things the young Wildcats have not on the court. Secondly, Neuqua missed all 10 of its free throw attempts in the first half. The Wildcats missed their first 11 overall and finished just 4-of-18 from the stripe.

“You can’t go 0-for-10 from the free throw line,” Neuqua coach Mike Williams said. “You just can’t do that against great teams. We know what Bartlett’s going to do. They’re a seasoned team. They’re a second-half team. We knew they were going to come out and lay it on the line.”

The Hawks did just that. They scored the first nine points of the second half to push the lead to 38-24. Then, after the Wildcats cut the lead to 51-35 on Najee Smith’s bucket to start the fourth, Bartlett put the pedal down with a 19-3 run to win going away.

“At our age, we have to learn how to make adjustments,” Williams said. “You don’t get better without playing against teams like this. Right now, it’s a loss, but we’re still a 14-4 team. We’re 5-2 in conference, what the heck? Nobody would have had us in the picture from the beginning. So, we’re in good shape. How we respond is the question.”

The game also marked Bartlett’s second annual Kay Yow Fund fundraising event. Players from both teams wore pink shirts during warm-ups and several players added pink socks, wristbands and shoelaces to their uniforms. All proceeds from the event went to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.