Sauk Prairie wins season-opener

A new offensive and defensive scheme quickly paid dividends for Sauk Prairie’s girls basketball team in its season-opener last Friday. Junior Naomi Breunig scored a career-high 27 points, and the Eagles’ defense came up with 25 steals to spark a 70-33 rout of visiting River Valley in a non-conference matchup. “We came out and got right to it,” said third-year Sauk Prairie head coach Amber Fiene. “We had to take off our press when we went up big in the first half. In the second half, we played half-court defense. “But a lot of good things we were practicing all came together. A lot of girls got minutes, too, so it was a good night.” Fiene said the Eagles got a refresher course earlier in the week from former UW-Stout men’s basketball coach Eddie Andrist on their new ‘run-and-jump’ scheme. “He added some layers to what we had been doing all summer,” Fiene said of Andrist. “The girls and the coaches got a lot out of it. It was a good start, but we’re only going to get better at it every time we play.” For Breunig — whose previous career-best was a 22-point effort at Monroe in a WIAA regional game her freshman season — the start was just what the Eagles were looking for. “That was pretty exciting,” said Breunig, who made 11 of 17 field goal attempts, grabbed four rebounds and blocked a team-high three shots. Breunig also played a key role in the Eagles’ defensive effort, finishing with a team-best seven tips and sharing team-honors in steals with sophomore Faith Holler with five apiece. “I put in a lot of extra time this summer.” Breunig said. “I didn’t expect that, but it was an exciting first game. Most of my points were off the run-and-jump and my teammates pushing the ball upcourt and our good defense.” Sauk Prairie (1-0) didn’t waste any time turning up the heat on defense and stormed to a 49-13 halftime lead. Naomi Breunig scored 18 points and sophomore Makenzie Breunig also contributed 16 of her career-best 18 points in the opening frame. “She played a great game,” Fiene said of Makenzie Breunig, who shared team-high rebounding honors with senior Lauren Wideen with six apiece. “Makenzie’s put in a lot of time in the off-season and really worked on her post moves as well as her outside shot. It was fun to watch her.” Tienna Gruber finished with seven points to pace the visiting Blackhawks (1-1). Junior Olivia Breunig added eight points, three rebounds, three steals, two assists and two blocked shots for the Eagles, who shot 42 percent as a team (28 of 67) and 20 percent (5 of 25) from 3-point range. Sauk Prairie also showed marked improvement handling the ball, finishing with a 20-to-10 assists-to-turnovers ratio. “We forced a ton of turnovers in our press,” Fiene said. “We had some really good transition looks off of our steals. We did a good job of sharing the ball and getting it ahead. We had a lot of steals and 2-on-1 breaks.” Fiene said she was impressed with the backcourt play of starting senior guard Ella Schad and Holler, who made her varsity debut in the starting lineup along with Wideen. Naomi Breunig and Olivia Breunig rounded out the starting lineup. “Ella defensively was a rock star,” Fiene said of Schad, who scored all five of her points in the first half and added a team-best five assists and finished with four rebounds and three steals. “Faith is so quick and had some great on-ball defense. “Ella and Faith, their hustle and their quickness and their tough defense were keys in forcing a lot of those turnovers.” Naomi Breunig said any concerns on how well the Eagles would adjust to their new run-and-jump scheme were muted by their season-debut showing. “We did well in our scrimmage and our first game went well so we’re off to a good start,” she said. “We’re an athletic team. We like to get steals and be aggressive and see what works for us.” • On deck: Following a non-conference game against Stoughton on Tuesday, Sauk Prairie plays a non-conference game at Madison West on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. The Eagles then host Lake Mills in a non-conference game on Staff Appreciation Night on Dec. 3 at 7:15 p.m. Nov. 21 Sauk Prairie 70, River Valley 33 River Valley....................13 20 — 33 Sauk Prairie....................49 21 — 70 RIVER VALLEY (fg ft-fta pts) — Anderson 2 1-3 5, Esser 2 0-0 5, Gruber 1 5-9 7, Hoffman 1 0-2 2, Haas 0 2-4 2, Liegel 2 2-4 6, Ferstl 2 0-0 4, Schaller 1 0-2 2, Totals 11 10-24 33. SAUK PRAIRIE — Lexi Tobias 1 0-0 2, Naomi Breunig 11 4-5 27, Olivia Breunig 4 0-2 8, Faith Holler 0 0-2 0, Kassia Marquardt 1 0-0 3, Madi Pertzborn 1 0-0 2, Lauren Wideen 1 0-0 2, Ella Schad 2 1-2 5, Ruth Baker 1 0-0 3, Olivia Paukner 0 0-2 0, Makenzie Breunig 6 4-6 18. Totals 28 9-19 70. 3-point goals — RV 1 (Esser 1), SP 5 (N. Breunig 1, Marquardt 1, Baker 1, M. Breunig 2). Fouls — RV 14, SP 19. Fouled out — O. Breunig (SP).