Rough week

STOUGHTON — It’s never a good sign when your starting point guard enters the court on crutches. That was the situation when Sauk Prairie’s boys basketball team played its first road game of the season at Stoughton on Dec. 3 with senior Ben German sidelined with an ankle injury. It didn’t get any better when another starter — junior swingman Brandt Wilson — headed to the bench with an ankle injury early in the first half and sat out the rest of the game. The Eagles were already without returning senior post player and key reserve Garrett Hertzfeldt, who has been sidelined with injuries sustained in a preseason automobile accident. Sauk Prairie battled gamely, but fell to the host Vikings, 57-34. The injury-riddled Eagles then slipped to 0-3, including 0-1 in conference play, when they dropped their Badger North Conference season-opener to visiting Waunakee, 56-37, last Saturday. An inability to put the ball in the basket didn’t help matters for Sauk Prairie.  The Eagles shot 24% from the floor and just 11% from 3-point range against Waunakee after making only 21% of their field goal attempts at Stoughton, including 14% on 3-point tries. “They’re just a lot deeper than we were,” McGann said of the Warriors, who are favored to contend for the Badger North Conference title. “Brandt (Wilson) didn’t play, Ben (German) didn’t play. Garrett (Hertzfeldt) didn’t play. We didn’t shoot well. “We’re getting good looks. I’m not upset about our shot selection. We’re just not making them right now. It’s been difficult.” Waunakee (2-0, 1-0 Badger North) stormed out to a 35-18 halftime lead to take control. Sophomore forward Andrew Keller finished with a team-high 15 points and senior swing man Caden Hough added 14 for the Warriors. “We didn’t turn the ball over much, but Waunakee didn’t press us (on defense),” McGann said. “They just wore us down. They just threw guys in there, and I was playing just six or seven guys for a majority of the game. It’s hard to play that long and be effective.”  Senior forward/guard Trevor Spray led Sauk Prairie with 15 points, shooting 7-for-8 from the line, and grabbing a team-best seven rebounds. Senior guard Parker Breunig added 10 points for the Eagles. • Stoughton 57, Sauk Prairie 34 — Junior swingman Isaac Breunig scored a team-best nine points for the visiting Eagles, who lost their first road game of the season on Dec. 3. Sophomore guard Sam Drescher earned his first career start in place of injured guard Ben German and scored five of his six points in the second half, including his first varsity 3-pointer. “He has been practicing well for us and is a gifted player. He’s really fast,” McGann said of Drescher. “He has the ability to score the ball. He can push the ball. He does a good job of taking care of the ball.” Sauk Prairie committed 14 of its 20 turnovers in the first half and fell behind Stoughton 24-13 at halftime.  Parker Breunig’s layup off an assist from Trevor Spray pulled the Eagles within 31-22 with 11:52 left in the game. But the Vikings answered with a 10-1 surge to grab a commanding 41-23 lead midway through the second half and secure the victory. Senior guard Adam Hobson, a Michigan Tech basketball recruit, led Stoughton (3-0) with 16 points, including four 3-pointers. Sophomore forward Barrett Nelson added 12 points for the Vikings. “We had a lot go against us with four of our top nine players out that game, and then Trevor (Spray) fouled out,” McGann said. “But we never stopped battling. That’s what I like about my team. We’re not going to back down. “Eventually we may be able to say this developed us some depth, which we need.” • On deck: Sauk Prairie plays a Badger North Conference game at Reedsburg on Thursday at 7:15 p.m. The Eagles then host Mount Horeb in a league game on Dec. 17 at 7:15 p.m. on Parents’ Night.   Dec. 3 Stoughton 57, Sauk Prairie 34 Sauk Prairie ..........….. 13 21 — 34 Stoughton …............….. 24 33 — 57 SAUK PRAIRIE (fg ft-fta pts) —Isaac Breunig 2 4-6 9, Trevor Spray 1 2-2 4, Brandt Wilson 0 0-0 0, Parker Breunig 2 4-6 8, Tyler Uselman 1 0-0 2, Kyle Breunig 0 1-2 1, Sam Drescher 2 1-3 6, Eddie Breunig 0 4-8 4. Totals 8 16-27 34. STOUGHTON — Nathan Hutcherson 1 0-0 3, Cael McGee 2 2-5 6, Konner Knauf 1 0-0 2, Adam Hobson 5 2-2 16, Reece Sproul 4 0-0 8, Jared McGuire 1 0-0 3, Steven Benoy 1 0-0 3, Curtis Jaskulke 0 2-2 2, Luke Fernholz 1 0-0 2, Barrett Nelson 5 2-4 12. Totals 21 8-13 57. 3-point goals: SP 2 (I. Breunig 1, Drescher 1); St 7 (Hutcherson 1, Hobson 4, McGuire 1, Benoy 1). Total fouls: SP 17; St 22. Fouled out: Spray.   Dec. 7 Waunakee 56, Sauk Prairie 37 Waunakee …........……. 35 21 — 56 Sauk Prairie......... ……. 18 19 — 37 WAUNAKEE (fg ft-fta pts) — Aidan Driscoll 1 0-0 3, Jaxson Zibell 2 2-2 8, Caden Hough 5 0-0 14, Jake May 0 2-2 2, Jack Dotzler 0 1-2 1, Drew Regnier 2 1-2 6, Evan May 1 0-0 2, Randy Vojtisek 0 2-2 2, Andrew Keller 6 2-4 15, Connor Keenan 0 3-4 3. Totals 17 13-18 56. SAUK PRAIRIE — Aaron Frey 0 1-2 1, Damien Wright-Rodriguez 0 1-2 1, Isaac Breunig 2 2-3 7, Trevor Spray 4 7-8 15, Parker Breunig 4 2-7 10, Kyle Breunig 1 0-0 3. Totals 11 13-22 37. 3-point goals: W 9 (Driscoll 1, Zibell 2, Hough 4, Regnier 1, Keller 1); SP 2 (I . Breunig 1, K. Breunig 1). Total fouls: W 21; SP 14. Fouled out: I. Breunig.              GIRLS     BASKETBALL  Junior guard Naomi Breunig and sophomore guard Kassia Marquardt each scored nine points, but the Eagles dropped their Badger North Conference opener to Reedsburg, 62-43, last Friday. Mahra Wieman scored 22 of her 31 points in the first half as Reedsburg (3-0, 1-0) opened a 41-14 halftime lead. Trenna Cherney added 20 points for the Beavers. “We came out and controlled the first few minutes, but then got into some early foul trouble,” said Sauk Prairie coach Amber Fiene, who had both sophomore guard Katelyn Fishnick and Marquardt eventually foul out of the game.  “Katelyn Fishnick was causing a lot of chaos on offense and defense, but picked up her third foul early. She had been making a lot of key plays on offense and defense. She is an integral part of our team, and that was a bummer that she got those three right away.” Sophomore forward Olivia Paukner came off the bench to grab a team-best six rebounds for Sauk Prairie (3-2, 0-1), which shot just 25.0% (15 of 60) from the field, including 3 of 12 (25%) from 3-point range.  “It was a disappointing start to the conference season, we took some poor shots,” Fiene said. “But we still did a lot of good things, I thought. “It’s good that we are getting to the basket, and we’re getting steals and we’re getting transition layups. Now it’s a matter of becoming more consistent and putting those in the basket so they can help us.”  The Eagles had 11 players score at least one point. Senior guard Lexi Tobias and sophomore Makenzie Breunig also led Sauk Prairie with three steals each. “After halftime, we came out and played an even game with them and ended up outscoring them in the second half,” Fiene said. “We made adjustments that needed to be made but it was too late. We have to figure out a way to start better and battle back from long scoring runs.” • Lake Mills 83, Sauk Prairie 62 — Naomi Breunig scored a game-high 20 points and had four assists and two steals for the host Eagles. It wasn’t enough, though, as the visiting L-Cats used a 53-point second half to storm past Sauk Prairie in a non-conference game on Dec. 3. “We kept the score close even though we missed eight layups in the first eight minutes,” said Fiene, whose team held a 33-30 halftime lead. “We were missing bunny shots. We were missing everything.” Juliana Wagner and Jade Pitta combined for 26 points in the second half to help Lake Mills (4-0) pull away and deal Sauk Prairie (3-1) its first loss after opening the season with a three-game winning streak. The L-Cats opened up the final period with a 38-20 surge to grab a 68-53 lead midway through the second half and then held Sauk Prairie to nine points the rest of the way.  “We just fell apart in stretches and allowed them to start getting some fastbreak layups in transition that we hadn’t been allowing in the first half,” Fiene said. “We just came out a little disjointed. In the first half, we were successful with our press. “But in the second half that turned into fouls and put them into double bonus early. That put a dagger in our physicality. It made it tough to recover from that.” Junior guard Olivia Breunig added 13 points, four rebounds and three steals for the Eagles, who shot 41.9% (26 of 62) from the floor, including 5 of 20 (25.0%) from 3-point range. “I wasn’t happy with the final score, but I thought we played Lake Mills really tough,” Fiene said. “It was a game that we needed to control better physically coming out of halftime.” Lake Mills, though, took advantage of Sauk Prairie’s foul trouble and made 17 of 24 free throws in the second half to put the game away. • On deck: Following a Badger North Conference against Mount Horeb on Tuesday, Sauk Prairie travels to Baraboo for a conference game on Friday at 7:15 p.m.   Dec. 3 Lake Mills 83, Sauk Prairie 62 Lake Mills …............… 30 53 — 83 Sauk Prairie …............. 33 29 — 62 LAKE MILLS (fg ft-fta pts) — Taylor Roughen 2 1-2 6, Juliana Wagner 4 6-6 16, Jade Pitta 7 1-4 15, Vivian Guerrero 5 2-2 12, Hannah Lamke 1 1-4 3, McClain Mahone 1 0-0 3, Kayla Will 6 5-8 17, Makena Vesperman 1 0-0 2, Wollin 2 5-6 9. Totals 29 21-32 83. SAUK PRAIRIE — Lexi Tobias 5 0-1 11, Katelyn Fishnick 2 0-0 4, Naomi Breunig 9 0-0 20, Olivia Breunig 6 1-2 13, Faith Holler 0 0-0 0, Kassia Marquardt 2 2-2 7, Madi Pertzborn 1 1-2 3, Lauren Wideen 0 0-0 0, Ella Schad 1 1-2 4, Olivia Paukner 0 0-0 0, Makenzie Breunig 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 5-9 62. 3-point goals: LM 4 (Wagner 2, Roughen 1, Mahone 1); SP 5 (N. Breunig 2, Tobias 1, Marquardt 1, Schad 1). Total fouls: LM 11; SP 23. Fouled out: Schad (SP).   Dec. 6 Reedsburg 62, Sauk Prairie 43 Reedsburg..................... 41 21 — 62 Sauk Prairie.................. 14 29 — 43 REEDSBURG — Ruby Olsen 0 1-2 1, Mckenzie Bestor 2 1-2 7, Cassidy Klitzke 0 1-2 1, Trenna Cherney 9 2-6 20, Macie Wieman 1 0-1 2, Mahra Wieman 13 3-5 31, G. Benish 0 0-1 0. Totals 25 8-19 62. SAUK PRAIRIE — Lexi Tobias 0 1-2 1, Katelyn Fishnick 1 1-2 3, Naomi Breunig 4 0-0 9, Olivia Breunig 1 0-0 2, Faith Holler 2 0-2 4, Kassia Marquardt 3 1-4 9, Madi Pertzborn 1 1-2 3, Lauren Wideen 1 0-0 2, Ella Schad 1 2-2 4, Olivia Packner 0 2-2 2, Makenzie Breunig 1 2-2 4.Totals 15 10-18 43. 3-point goals: R 4 (Bestor 2, Mah. Wieman 2); SP 3 (N. Breunig 1, Marquardt 2). Total fouls: R 20; SP 19. Fouled out: Fishnick, Marquardt (SP).