Girls basketball: Fondy pulls one out against Oshkosh North (story, video)

The smile on Jeff Bell's face after he walked out of the locker room said it all.

All season long the Cardinals failed to finish close games, as nine of their 13 losses entering Friday night's game against Oshkosh North came within five points or less.

So for Fondy — which was on a five game losing streak — to pull out a 42-39 Fox Valley Association win at home over the Spartans, made Bell one happy coach.

"About time," he said after walking out of the locker room. "The difference was defense. It came down to that one possession in getting a stop and stepping up and forcing that girl to a double-dribble. That was huge."

There was no lack of excitement on the finish.

With Fondy (4-13, 3-10 FVA) up 39-36 with 56 seconds left and the possession in favor of the Cardinals, Oshkosh North (5-12, 5-8) made things quite interesting. The Spartans ripped away the ball on the inbound pass and 30 seconds later, hit a 3-pointer to tie it up with 22 seconds left.

So with a chance to win it, Bell wrote up a play to get the ball to freshman Ally Gietzel, who did exactly what she was supposed to do. Drive to the hoop trying to get fouled.

Gietzel knocked down two clutch free-throws with 7.2 seconds left to give the Cards a 41-39 lead. The Spartans had one last chance, but was called with a double-dribble with a second left.

"We knew that they would go man, so we want dribble drive because we were in double-bonus," Bell said of the inbound play. "We said 'Ally, we want you to take the free-throw.' And they aren't used to playing man defense and they struggled moving and they gave us that advantage to take that drive."

Gietzel — who finished with a team-high 12 points — showed no nerves as a freshman at the line, sinking two free throws.

"I don't usually get nervous about it," Gietzel said when asked if she didn't mind taking the last shot. "I'm really glad we finally got a win after we worked so hard in practice and hustle so much."

The two FTs were huge for Fondy because it was 5-of-15 at the line before Gietzel knocked those two down.

"I think she's a 90 percent free-throw shooter and for a freshman to step up and knock them down, that's huge," Bell said. "You put a lot of pressure in the timeout … she has been stepping up."

It was another back-and-forth game for the Cardinals, who struggled to break apart North's 1-3-1 defense in the first quarter. Oshkosh North led 11-6 after one, but then the Cardinals started to wear it down.

Fondy hit four 3-pointers in the second quarter, outscoring the Spartans to cut the halftime lead to 23-20. The Cardinals took their first lead in that quarter at the 1:55 mark but Oshkosh North ended the half on a 4-0 run.

"We were figuring out what we can do to break the 1-3-1 and we got some good shots," Gietzel said.

"The 3-point shooting was huge," Bell added. "Just trying to find those open gaps and not settling on tough skip passes. When we had our moment of patience we found those good shots."

Gietzel hit two of the Cards' 3s in the quarter.

McKensey Hendrix added nine points for Fondy while Aleah Wendels chipped in six.

Cassie Buerger led Oshkosh North with 12 points.

Now that the Cardinals finally finished a close game, they hope they can carry that success into the postseason, which is creeping around the corner.

"We are starting to play more as a team and a family," Bell said. "That's the difference. When you play as a family instead of with strangers, you are going to get on the floor and do the little things better. We are getting there."

Oshkosh North — C. Buerger 12, Laatsh 2, S. Buerger 8, Foote 8, Anthes 3, Deng 4, Pett 2. 3-pointers: 5 (Foote 2, C. Buerger 2, Anthes). FTs: 0-3. Fouls: 20.

Fond du Lac — xxx. 3-pointers: 6 (A. Gietzel 2, Wendels 2, Hendrix 2). FTs: 8-19. Fouls: 10.

Alex Wolf: (920) 907-7933 or awolf@gannett.com