ELGIN — Coming off a disappointing loss to O’Neill St. Mary’s earlier in the week, the Elgin Public-Pope John girls turned it on in the second half to defeat Bloomfield 69 to 35 Saturday.
The Wolfpack led 26 to 21 at halftime, then raised their level of play, something Coach Randy Eisenhauer encouraged at halftime.
“Effort, attitude and being a good teammate,” he said. “We responded in the second half.”
Both teams were sluggish to start the game as EPPJ took an 11 to nine lead after one quarter thanks to a late four-point run fueled by Sara Bode and Mady Kurpgeweit.
Bloomfield knotted the score at 12-all on a trey by Madison Abbenhaus. The remainder of the half EPPJ outscored Bloomfield 14 to nine. Kate Furstenau had back-to-back steals which turned into layups and Elise Ruterbories added a pair of buckets for a 22 to 16 lead. A basket by junior Callie Heithoff wrapped around free throws from Ashlynne Charf gave EPPJ a 26 to 21 margin at the half.
The Queen Bees couldn’t up pace with the fast-paced Wolfpack in the second half.
Charf had nine points in the first three-plus minutes of the third quarter and Brenna Martinsen hit two treys to give EPPJ a 41 to 25 lead. Heithoff closed out the quarter with four straight points and Charf added two more for a 47 to 28 lead.
EPPJ then finished off the game with a 22-point fourth quarter which included three treys (two by Keyera Eisenhauer and one from Bode).
Altogether, seven different Wolfpack players scored in the quarter.
Charf finished with 21 points and 10 steals. The victory boosed EPPJ’s record to 10-1.
EPPJ 69, Bloomfield 35
Queen Bees……9 12 7 7 — 35
Wolfpack………11 15 23 20 — 69
Wolfpack — Kayton Zwingman 1-5 0-0 2, Elise Ruterbories 3-7 0-0 6, Ashlynne Charf 8-11 5-8 21, Callie Heithoff 3-5 0-0 6, Brenna Martinsen 4-6 0-0 10, Kate Furstenau 3-6 0-0- 6, Keyera Eisenhauer 2-6 0-0 6, Mady Kurpgeweit 2-3 0-2 4, Sara Bode 2-3 3-4 8. Team totals: 28-57 8-14 69. Three-point shots — Wolfpack 5-14 (Keyera Eisenhauer 2, Brenna Martinsen 2, Sara Bode 1), Blooomfield 4-12.
Team statistics: Rebounds — Wolfpack 27 (Ashlynne Charf 7), Bloomfield 19. Assists — Wolfpack 19 (Ashlynne Charf 8), Bloomfield 7. Steals — Wolfpack 29 (Ashlynne Charf 10), Bloomfield 5. Turnovers — Wolfpack 20, Bloomfield 38.
