Lady Vikes top Santee, but fall to Randolph

WAUSA — The Wausa Lady Viking basketball team heads into a busy week of play following a split of its previous two games.

Wausa (4-9) won 61-42 at Santee and dropped a 46-33 home decision against rival Randolph and now heads into a slate that includes Thursday’s clash with Tri-County Northeast, Friday’s trip to Winside and next Tuesday’s home showdown with Bloomfield.

Head coach Brandon Kirby said the Lady Vikings started slow in the first quarter against Santee, committing 10 turnovers, before getting things going.

“The girls did a great job of settling down and took care of the ball the rest of the game,” Kirby said.

Wausa held a 12-11 lead after the first frame and extended that lead to 28-25 at the break. The second half belonged to the Purple and Gold, though, as the Viking girls outscored Santee 33-17 over the final 16 minutes.

Blair Wakeley had 13 points and Morgan Kleinschmit had 12 points. Anika Alonzo put in 10 points, with seven coming in the first quarter.

“Overall, I felt that the girls are starting to make a turn and are starting to be more constant,” Kirby said. “The girls did a great job of responding.”

The team flipped the script against Randolph, Kirby said and that did not bode well.

“We started off great with a quick 5-0 lead and after that we could only muster another two points for the first quarter and five points in the second quarter,” Kirby said. “Simply put, we did not put the ball in the bucket. Scoring only 33 points for the night was all we could do. It just looked like we had no life and most of the time the harder the girls looked to try, they just dug themselves into a bigger hole.

Wakeley lead Wausa with 10 points and Alexa Cunningham added seven points with 12 rebounds.

“On the defensive side of the ball, we had a breakdown communicating effectively,” Kirby said. “We just needed a little life, and we could never find it. The most frustrating thing is when you know a kid can perform at a level, and they are struggling to do so.”

It’s essentially a case of Jekyll-Hyde ball at times.

“In the Santee game we were able to keep our heads and not let the game get away,” Kirby said. “There were chances at first. Anika Alonzo came off the bench and settled things down. After that the girls did a great job on the defensive side of the ball and hit open buckets.

“The Randolph game came down to coming off a snow day and trying to turn the engine back on. We stuttered more times than we started. We did have moments of good things. To start the second half, we did a great job of getting a steal then a bucket and then did it again. It just looked that every time we had a bit of momentum, we struggled to keep it.”

Now it’s all about navigating a difficult stretch of games.

“I think we have a good chance at winning some ball games this week,” Kirby said. “We for sure have no room to take any team lightly. We must approach every game with the mentality that we are the underdog, and we have to fight. Same as in the past, we need to take care of the ball and do a better job of understanding the in-and-outs of the game of basketball.”

District play will heat up now as just over a month of the regular season remains.

“That is where things get interesting,” Kirby said. “On Thursday we play Tri-County Northeast who is in our sub-district. So, it will be interesting to see where they are. Other than that, the district is a bit away from really taking any shape.”

Cunningham, who Kirby calls the type of player “every coach wants on their team.”, was disappointed with the loss to her rival.

“I thought we would come out firing, but our defense didn’t start out right,” Cunningham said. “It was a lot of communication issues.”

One issue they don’t have is expecting Cunningham continually to improve and contribute.

“I am one of those people who always try to get better even if I am at my peak,” she said. “I think my season has been overall pretty good, even though I had some rough games, but I always try to come back the next game and get rebounds and get some more scores.

“It’s about more motivation: I am always motivating myself. As I get better, I see the change in myself and it makes me to want to get even better. I try to remember the good things I do, and I also try to notice the negatives to use them as motivation to get better in those places and they can carry on.”

Cunningham wants to keep improving as a rebounder and keep hustling without fouling too much.

She also wants to score some more on the interior.

“I have been doing better in the middle of the season with not fouling, but I have been having some struggles lately,” she said.

WAUSA 7 5 9 12 — 33

RANDOLPH 9 8 9 20 — 46

SCORING WAUSA - Blair Wakeley, 10; Alexa Cunningham, 7; Brooke Kumm, 5; Anika Alonzo, 3; Abby Kaiser, 3; Morgan Kleinschmit, 3; Sienna West, 2.

REBOUNDS WAUSA - Alexa Cunningham, 12; Brooke Kumm,6; Anika Alonzo, 5; Abby Kaiser, 2; Sienna West, 2; Blair Wakeley, 1; Kilee Thorell, 1.

ASSISTS WAUSA - Anika Alonzo, 4; Brooke Kumm, 2; Abby Kaiser, 1; Alexa Cunningham, 1; Morgan Kleinschmit, 1.

STEALS WAUSA - Blair Wakeley, 5; Morgan Kleinschmit, 3; Abby Kaiser, 2; Charlie Price, 1; Alexa Cunningham, 1; Anika Alonzo, 1.

WAUSA 12 16 17 16 — 61

SANTEE 11 14 6 11 — 42

SCORING WAUSA - Blair Wakeley, 13; Morgan Kleinschmit, 12; Anika Alonzo, 10; Abby Kaiser, 7; Brooke Kumm, 7; Alexa Cunningham, 5; Clara Schindler, 2; Kylee Thorell, 2; Christina Martinson, 2; Sienna West, 1.

REBOUNDS WAUSA - Brooke Kumm, 10; Abby Kaiser, 9; Anika Alonzo, 6; Alexa Cunningham, 5; Morgan Kleinschmit, 4; Clara Schindler, 2; Blair Wakeley, 2; Sienna West, 2; Charlie Price, 1.

ASSISTS WAUSA - Brooke Kumm, 3; Anika Alonzo, 2; Blair Wakeley, 2; Abby Kaiser, 1; Morgan Kleinschmit, 1; Clara Schindler, 1.

STEALS WAUSA - Abby Kaiser, 7; Blair Wakeley, 3; Morgan Kleinschmit, 2; Brooke Kumm, 2; Clara Schindler, 2; Anika Alonzo, 1; Kilee Thorell, 1.

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