BOSCOBEL - The Boscobel girls’ basketball team hosted the Darlington Redbirds on Jan. 27 in a rematch from earlier in the season. The Bulldogs struggled in their first match-up and were hoping for better results the second time around. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case, as the Redbirds were victorious with a 69-38 victory.

“They are a difficult match-up for us,” stated Head Coach Jason Hill. ”They are long, athletic and physical and they have really improved over the summer. They are a top three team in our conference.”

The Bulldogs were led in scoring by sophomore guard Leah Wacker with 17 points. Also in the scoring column were freshman center Treena Knowles with eight, junior forward Danielle Ernst - six, junior forward Alyssa Davis - four, junior guard Emily Johnson - two, and senior guard Hailey Bray - one.

At Cuba City

On Tuesday, Jan. 31, the Lady Bulldogs squared off against the Cuba City Cubans at Boscobel High School.

This would be a good test for the Bulldogs as they were looking to bounce back after the Darlington game. They game got off to a great start. Coming out hot, Boscobel was able to jump out to an early 6-0 lead before the Cubans could respond. After a mini-run from the Cubans, the game went back and forth in the first half with the largest lead by either team being five points. When the halftime buzzer sounded the Cubans led the Bulldogs, 22-20.

“I thought we played a great first half,” said Coach Hill. ”We were right there with them and we were playing great basketball.”

The second half was almost identical to the first half, except the Cubans had an early run right away in a second half that the Bulldogs were never quite able to respond to, enabling the Cubans to earn a 54-45 victory.

“Every time we started to make what looked to be a run, Cuba did a nice job of stopping it,” said Coach Hill. ”All in all, I was very proud of our team. We were playing one of the top teams in our conference and we were right there with them. We gave ourselves a chance and that was great. Hopefully we can return the favor.”

The Bulldogs were led by Wacker with 18, followed by Ernst with 14, Davis - nine, and junior guards Olivia Grassel and Johnson with one apiece.

Vs. Riverdale

The Bulldogs took the show on the road to Muscoda to play the 10th ranked Riverdale Chieftains on Thursday, Feb. 2. Although the Bulldogs were coming off a good game against Cuba City, they just didn’t have it against Riverdale as they dropped the game, 73-38.

The game was back and forth early on, but Riverdale was able to find their groove and never looked back.

“We had a lot of good looks early on, but just couldn’t get much to fall,” said Coach Hill. “Plus we were missing Danielle due to illness and that really seemed to take a lot out of our sail. We lost to them by 12 earlier in the year, but just didn’t have it tonight. They’re a good team and hats off to them as they played a great game.”

The Bulldogs were led in scoring by Davis with 10 points. Also in the scoring column were Wacker - six, Knowles - five, sophomore forward Jayce Zimple - five, Johnson – four, and Bray - four.

Facing Fennimore

The Bulldog girls welcomed rival Fennimore to the Boscobel Big Gym on Tuesday night for a conference clash. The Bulldogs earned the victory as they went wire to wire for a 63-38 victory.

The Bulldogs found their groove early and often as they were able to jump out to an 8-0 lead and never looked back.

“I thought we played really well and we were calm and ran through our plays,” said Bulldog guard Alyssa Davis.

The Bulldogs displayed patience against the Golden Eagle defense and were able to get open shots. They also played pretty solid defense.

“I thought our defense was super good,” said guard Emily Johnson.

Boscobel played so well that they were able to take a 33-13 lead into halftime.

“We played a great first half,” said Bulldog Coach Hill. “We only had two turnovers, that’s pretty darn good. The only thing that was troubling was our defensive rebounding.”

“We still do not box out well,” stated Senior forward Katelyn Wiegel. 

The Bulldogs came out in the second half and it was more of the same. The Golden Eagles were able to get as close as 14 points before the Bulldogs went on a run of their own to close out the game and earn their sixth victory of the season and fourth in the conference.

 With the end of the season winding down and Regionals just around the corner, the Bulldogs will need to improve in that area.

The Bulldogs were led in scoring by Wacker with 19.

“I thought we played really well and executed our plays just like we practiced,” said Wacker. ”We had a variety of different sets that are now becoming natural to us and we are playing instead of thinking. We played as a team and everyone had great opportunities. We looked up the floor and pushed the ball well. Turnovers were limited which helped a lot.”

In fact, the Bulldogs had a season low 10 turnovers and were also 13 of 18 at the line for a season high 72-percent at the free throw line.

“Our numbers in those two categories were outstanding,” said Hill.

Also scoring for the Bulldogs were Knowles with 10, Davis - nine, Johnson - eight, Ernst - seven, senior forward Katelyn Wiegel - four and senior center MacKenzie Fischer, Grassel and Bray, all with two. 

The Bulldogs improved their record to 6-11 overall and 4-8 in the Conference and are currently in fifth place.

The Bulldogs travel to Cuba City on Friday to play the Cubans.