Girls basketball: Springs routs Oshkosh Lourdes, wins regional title

It only took about three minutes of game action Saturday night to figure out the St. Mary's Springs girls basketball team was locked in.

When that happens, look out.

St. Mary's Springs scored 11 straight points to start the game and played stifling defense after that as the top-seeded Ledgers crushed No. 3 seed Oshkosh Lourdes 50-30 in a WIAA Division 4 regional final Saturday night at Springs — taking another step toward a return trip to the state tournament.

St. Mary's Springs advances to sectional semifinals, where it will play Howards Grove next Thursday at Fond du Lac High School. Howards Grove defeated Random Lake 53-40 on Saturday.

On Saturday, the Ledgers looked like a squad that badly wanted to win its third straight regional title. Using the combination of pressure defense and opportunistic offense, Springs forced early turnovers and took Lourdes completely out of its game en route to an 11-0 lead just over three minutes into the contest.

A Melanie Schneider bucket with 4:48 left in the quarter finally forced the Knights into calling a timeout, but the damage was already done. As is the case with much of the Ledgers' success, coach Mitch Redig credited his defense.

"I think it was our defense," Redig said. "That always sets the tone for us. Whenever we can get stops or turnovers, we get in transition and that's our best offense when we're attacking in the full-court. We preach it every day in practice that defense is going to win us championships and it did tonight for us."

Leading 13-3 after the first, St. Mary's Springs (22-2) didn't let up in the second quarter — extending its lead to 15 by halftime. However, the early stages of the second half saw Oshkosh Lourdes (20-5) attempt somewhat of a comeback.

Trailing 24-9, Lourdes scored six straight points on a 3-pointer and a basket-and-foul to trim the deficit to nine. With both Kelli Schrauth and Schneider in foul trouble for Springs, it appeared the Knights could make a run at the lead.

But Schneider responded with a layup, stole the inbounds pass and scored again all in a matter of about 10 seconds. That bumped the Ledgers' lead back to 13 points with 2:30 left in the third and they never led by less than 11 the rest of the way.

Springs got to the free-throw line 17 times in the fourth quarter as Lourdes resorted to fouling in the hopes of keeping the game competitive.

The star of the night offensively for the Ledgers was Schrauth, who finished with a game-high 23 points and was nearly unstoppable when she got the ball by the basket. Only foul trouble prevented her from having an even bigger game.

"When they went man-to-man, the matchup was just not there (for Lourdes)," Schrauth said. "The guards did a great job of getting the ball in to me and I got some great looks from them. That was about it."

"She's a big-time player," Redig said of Schrauth. "She steps up in big games and that's exactly what we expect out of her. That's what she expects out of herself. But her teammates did a real nice job of getting her the ball in scoring opportunities. She was able to do that, as well as hit some free throws down the stretch."

Liz Bohn added nine points for the Ledgers and Destiny Ottery had seven, including a big 3-pointer to end the first half. Schneider chipped in with six — four of them coming during that crucial stretch in the third quarter.

Katie Van Scyoc led the Knights with 10 points, while Jamie Spanbauer had seven. Ellie DeGroot added six points.

In advancing to take on Howards Grove next Thursday, the Ledgers are certainly familiar with their opponent as they beat the Tigers 48-19 back on Nov. 18. That said, playoffs are a whole different scenario and Schrauth pointed out a few things her squad can work on in preparation for the game.

"I think we can work on just being more patient with the ball and getting great shots over good shots," she said. "Our defense right now is great, as you can see, so if we keep that up then we're going to be fine."

Oshkosh Lourdes — Schwochert 2, DeGroot 6, B. Berenz 5, Spanbauer 7, Van Scyoc 10. 3-pointers: 2 (DeGroot, Spanbauer). FTs: 9-18. Fouls: 23 (DeGroot).

St. Mary's Springs — D. Ottery 7, Bohn 9, Schneider 6, Mueller 3, A. Ottery 2, Schrauth 23. 3-pointers: 1 (D. Ottery). FTs: 13-23. Fouls: 19.

Sam Oleson: (920) 907-7930 or soleson@gannett.com