CREIGHTON — Facing the possibility of heading into 2024 on a seven-game losing streak was no good for the Wausa girls basketball team so the squad did something about it.
The Lady Vikings (2-7) held on tight for a third-place win over the Creighton Lady Bulldogs (4-6), the Creighton Holiday Tournament host, by a score of 43-39 on Dec. 30 and can now roll into the second half of the season on a positive note. No statistics were available at press time. “This was a much-needed win and I think the girls were pretty disappointed after Friday and needed this game badly,” Wausa head coach Shane Anderson said of their reaction to the 49-42 semifinal loss on Dec. 29 to the Bloomfield Queen Bees (4-6). “We came out and looked sharp offensively early,” he said. “Creighton did a nice job of mixing their defenses up and keeping us on our toes. I felt we had so many chances to stretch the game to double digits, but just didn’t capitalize in the second half.” The Lady Vikings fell behind briefly in the second half, but then Wausa took back control. “We really did things pretty well in the last 2:30 after they took the lead from us,” Anderson said. “We had a couple of big plays by two freshmen in the last two minutes that turned the game for us. I’ve been really happy with how they have played with (senior) Hadley Vanness out with injury. Once we get her back, I feel really good about the eight players we have and think we can do some really good things down the stretch.” The previous night, rival Bloomfield escaped with the 49-42 semifinal win over the Lady Vikings. Senior Sienna West (12 points, 11 rebounds), freshman Elle Brazel (eight points, three rebounds), sophomore Avery Stevens (eight points), sophomore Taylor Dawson (six points, six rebounds) and junior Olivia Barta (six points, five rebounds) kept Wausa in contention all night.
“This was a good battle with our Knox County rival,” Anderson said. “I thought we began the game offensively settling for a lot of outside shots, especially early in possessions, and even though they were open, we just were not hitting them. Defensively, we kept ourselves in the game and did some nice things against one of the best players in the area in Madison Abbenhaus.
“As the game went on, we got better on offense, but let a few players get loose and probably just fouled too much,” he said. “They had 18 made free throws compared to our eight and that really ended up being the difference in the game.”
Stevens admitted Wausa’s win over Creighton was really important for the Lady Vikings’ psyche.
“It was really important because we got a redemption game on them,” Stevens said noting a 42-32 loss to Creighton on Dec. 5. “Our younger girls really stepped up and got out there and did what we needed them to do. They hit shots and played solid defense. They have to just keep hitting shots and play confidently with the ball. They just need to get in the game more and get more practice reps. I’m hoping we go on a run and just keep improving.”
Wausa will host its own Post Holiday Tournament beginning on Jan. 4 with Lutheran High Northeast (1-10).
“They are a team that is traditionally pretty strong,” Anderson said. “We will have our work cut out for us and need to continue to work on free throws, turnovers and rebounding the ball better.
“We are a little young so it takes a bit coming out of the break, but I think we play hard,” he said. “The key for us will be just getting better mentally each night out and understanding what we have to do to win basketball games, which is play great D, rebound and give us a chance at getting a clean shot up.”
Creighton 10 9 8 12 — 39 Wausa 6 15 10 12 — 43
