Opening night recap

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Earlier this week I took a look at four of the most interesting games, in my opinion, on Opening Night. Here is a recap of what happened:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Appleton East (49) at Oostburg(57)</strong>---What I thought might happen: <em>This game may boil down to a shoot out and I believe East has a good shot to go on the road and pull off an upset if they're knocking down their 3's and playing good defense.</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>What actually happened: East hung tough with the defending D3 champions leading most of the first half before going down 2 at the break. East was, for the majority of the game, the better team due to some great defense on Oostburg's three Ketterhagen sisters. The player that kept Oostburg in it was sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='1359856' first='Soraya' last='Benton'] (6-0) who scored all 9 of her points in the first half. In the second half, East had a cold stretch and Oostburg took advantage going on a 17-5 run that effectively put the game away. That and the fact that the Flying Dutchmen outscored the Patriots 11-0 from the free-throw line. Oostburg was led by [player_tooltip player_id='533060' first='Ady' last='Ketterhagen'] and [player_tooltip player_id='533061' first='Riley' last='Ketterhagen'] who both had 15. East was led by [player_tooltip player_id='904623' first='Emilia' last='MontMarquette'] who scored 21 while [player_tooltip player_id='749048' first='Ella' last='Sweeney'] and [player_tooltip player_id='813295' first='Jenna' last='Ott'] each added 8.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Star of the game:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Appleton East: [player_tooltip player_id='904623' first='Emilia' last='MontMarquette']. I was thoroughly impressed with sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='904623' first='Emilia' last='MontMarquette']. She had a breakout game leading East with a career high 21 points including three 3-pointers. She played a complete game finishing with 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and played lock down defense totaling 4 steals in the loss. She seems to get better, each time I see her, and will be on many college radars soon.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>West De Pere (49) at Appleton North</strong> <strong>(52)</strong>---What I thought would happen: <em>I think this game is going to be reversal of last year. I think with more balanced scoring, plus the leadership of Werfal and Maass, they get a big win on opening night.</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>What actually happened: Pretty much what I thought! North utilized the veteran leadership of [player_tooltip player_id='838113' first='Avery' last='Werfal'] and [player_tooltip player_id='533062' first='Tay' last='Maass'] to close the game on a 28-19 run to pull out the 3 point victory. Werfal led the Lightning with 18 with Maass chipping in 11. The Phantoms were led by senior [player_tooltip player_id='893991' first='Clara' last='Hoffman'] with 15 and junior [player_tooltip player_id='879987' first='Molly' last='Walder'] with 11. The Lightning get a big win under new coach Tyler Guenther and some momentum as they head towards the tough conference schedule.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Wrightstown (42) at Brillion</strong> <strong>(44)</strong>---What I thought would happen: <em>I think this game comes down to the wire, again, however I see Brillion, with both Brooks and Schuh returning as the difference, with the Lions pulling out a close home victory on opening night.</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>What actually happened: This was a tight game, throughout, as the game was tied, at the half and at the end of regulation with the Lions pulling out a 44-42 victory over Wrightstown. Brillion was led by [player_tooltip player_id='887332' first='Emma' last='Schuh']'s 12, Paydin Hale with 11 and [player_tooltip player_id='874408' first='Kaitlyn' last='Schuman']'s 10. The tigers were led with 14 each by [player_tooltip player_id='842229' first='Ella' last='Verbeten'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1225980' first='Eliney' last='Welhouse']. This was a great game to start the season between two teams that will compete for their respective conference titles and could make a deep run in March.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Denmark (49) at Kewaunee</strong> <strong>(46)</strong>---What I thought would happen: <em>I think this will be another nail biter with the Vikings making their shots and coming out with a tough road victory.</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>What actually happened: Denmark held off a second half Storm comeback to pull out a 49-46 road win despite struggling, again from the foul line finishing 7-18. [player_tooltip player_id='878990' first='Allie' last='VanVonderen'] led the Vikings with 16 while [player_tooltip player_id='777574' first='Jade' last='Kroll'] pumped in 27 for Kewaunee including five 3-pointers. I like the Vikings chances to win the North Eastern conference however they will need to shoot better, from the free-throw line, to close out tight conference games.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->