MADISON — The eighth victory of the season for the Wolfpack girls basketball team was a lot like others this season — but this one was different.
For the fourth consecutive year, the Wolfpack won a holiday basketball tournament, this time defeating Madison 68 to 26.
This marked the third different holiday tournament the Wolfpack have won. One year ago they won the David City Tournament and the year prior to that they won at Cedar Rapids.
“It’s kind of a good habit to be in,” Coach Randy Eisenhauer said about winning the holiday tournament. “You always worry about coming off that Christmas holiday with five to six days off … You never know how it’s going to be. Yesterday we played a little sloppy against a good Burwell team. Today we were a little sloppy at times, but in the second half we really came out and won a good game for us.”
What was common with their previous victories was blowing out their opponent in the first half, playing fast tempo basketball on both sides of the court.
EPPJ took the lead for good on a trey by sophomore Ally Wemhoff who finished as the game’s high scorer with 17 points. Up seven to five, the Wolfpack outscored the Lady Dragons 24 to seven the rest of the first half to take a 31 to 12 lead to the lockerroom.
It didn’t get any better for Madison in the second half as they were outscored 37 to 14.
Ally Wemhoff led the way with four treys, senior teammate and sister Baylee Wemhoff added three treys.
Elizabeth Selting and Lydia Behnk provided an inside scoring presence. Selting had a strong offensive game with 12 points. Behnk, a junior, had three two-point baskets and finished with eight points.
Junior Calli Krebs gave the Wolfpack a boost off the bench with 10 points.
As a team the Wolfpack made 15 two-point baskets, eight treys and made 14 of 20 free throws.
“With us, we’re tempo,” Eisenhauer said about how the Wolfpack have dominated foes so far this season. “When we have our tempo with the kids we’ve got, it forces a lot of good things for us offensively and defensively. With Jordan, Baylee, Ally and Calli coming off the bench, even Liz she plays a guard/post … They push each other … When we’re running tempo, it frees our inside game for easy buckets and it frees up our outside game which, when our girls are in transition and catch-and-shoot, they shoot a lot better.”
No other statistics were available at press time.
Wolfpack 68, Madison 26
Wolfpack……19 12 25 12 — 68
Madison………8 4 9 5 — 26
Wolfpack — Elizabeth Selting 4 4-7 12, Ally Wemhoff 6 3-4 19, Baylee Wemhoff 3 0-0 9, Jordan Mescher 2 2-3 6, Lydia Behnk 3 2-2 8, Calli Krebs 3 3-4 10, Heather Bauer 1 0-0 2, Amy Nelson 1 0-0 2. Team totals: 23 14-20 68. Three-point shots — Wolfpack 8 (Ally Wemhoff 4, Baylee Wemhoff 3, Calli Krebs 1).
