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Girls Basketball: Niagara handily beats Lena, 41-20

Niagara’s Maddie West (20) battles Lena’s Kaylee Huberty on Thursday in Niagara, Wis. West’s four points and eight rebounds helped the Badgers to a 41-20 win. (Adam Niemi/The Daily News)

NIAGARA, Wis. — Niagara took advantage of Lena’s bus legs in a 41-20 M&O Conference win on Thursday.

The Badgers (3-2, 2-2 M&O) held Lena (3-2) to seven points in the second half.

“We struggled a lot of times and it’s not like it’s a long road trip,” Lena coach Tim Goldschmidt said of the loss. “It’s an hour and a half. All week, you gotta be ready to play and everything and we just came out flat.”

Niagara was led by Sarah Nawn’s 16 points, including two triples. Jasmine Racine chipped in nine points.

The Badgers started off on an 11-2 run, holding Lena to the one basket through the first nine minutes of the game. Niagara coach Karl Lamoreaux, with a close loss to Suring fresh in his mind, said he didn’t get his hopes up on Thursday.

“Believe it or not I wasn’t confident until there was three minutes left in the game,” he said. “Maybe that’s coming off a Suring loss at the buzzer. Coaches’ nerves never end it seems like, but I am super happy with the way we pressed and the way we broke their press. It’s the first time we’ve been pressed this year and we’ve been working at it but I’m very happy with the way we handled it.”

Niagara fell to Suring 44-42 at the buzzer on Monday. Lamoreaux said he was pleased with the way the team rebounded from the loss.

The Badgers collected 49 rebounds to Lena’s 34. Nawn led the team with 12. Alex Gill had nine rebounds and Maddie West had eight.

“Our big girls are coming around and rebounding well,” Lamoreaux said, adding they haven’t scored as much as the guards so far. “We’ll get some more scoring on the inside yet this year.”

Allyanna Demmith led Lena with six points.

Goldschmidt said while the team will regroup after the loss, he felt it missed an opportunity to build momentum early in the season after a four-win season a year ago.

“We were playing good together as a team,” Goldschmidt said. “Some of the top teams in the conference beat us up a little bit and I thought it was a winnable game. We just didn’t come to play, bottom line.”

Niagara plays at Coleman on Tuesday.

Lena      13 7 — 20

Niagara 22 19 — 41

LENA: Demmith 6, Peterson 4, Portier 4, Sylvester 2, Herald 2, Huberty 2. FT: 8-18. F: 21.

NIAGARA: Nawn 16, Racine 9, Schwedersky 5, West 4, Gill 3, Wells 2, McCarthy 2. FT: 7-23. F: 19.

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