“Girls hoops: North corrals Oostburg”

Posted: 24 Dec 2010 02:06 AM PST

Golden Raiders too strong

"Point guard" carries with it a pretty tough job description.

Anyone who plays that heady position must be able to handle the ball against pressure, read defenses on the run and perhaps trickiest of all, know when to shoot and when to get teammates involved in the scoring.

If Thursday night's non-conference basketball game between Sheboygan North and Oostburg is any indication, Golden Raiders junior Lizze Free has taken her point guard skills to another level.

Free scored a career-high 22 points in North's 61-44 victory, but that didn't define her night. Rather, it was her decision-making that give Oostburg fits. One minute, she was pulling up for a 3-pointer. The next, she was slashing through traffic or dishing to fast-flying teammate Lauren Salzbrenner.

"She played amazing tonight," said North head coach Susie Runaas of Free, who hit two 3-pointers, served up five assists, went 7-of-11 from the field and grabbed five rebounds for good measure.

North (5-1 and winner of five straight) scored 11 of the first half's final 14 points to take a 28-14 lead, then scored the first 10 points of the third quarter to blow it open.

"We are just playing a little better every game," said an obviously pleased Runaas. "There are things I could nit-pick about, but we are getting better, making steady progress."

North got plenty of contributions. Salzbrenner slashed through traffic and hit three 3-pointers for 16 points; Maddie Bauer was an early offensive spark and Riley Fullerton had a key stretch in the second quarter when she scored on a stick-back and a baseline jumper on back-to-back possessions.

Salzbrenner and Morgan Parise each had six rebounds for the Golden Raiders.

Most impressive about North's offense was the way the Raiders attacked the basket without hesitation. One time, Salzbrenner used a sweet little hesitation dribble, then burst into the paint for a strong shot when her defender let up for just an instant.

"We like to keep things wide and drive hard," said Free, who added, "We have a lot of good chemistry. We really read each other well and know where and when to pass to each other."

(2 of 2)

Allie Paluchniak paced the Flying Dutchmen with 16 points, including four 3-pointers. Freshman Maranda Huibregtse added 10 points and showed flashes of true greatness.

"I think our youth really showed tonight," said Oostburg head coach Lisa Immel, whose team (5-1) lost its first game of the season. "North is a good team but we're pretty young and we don't have the chemistry we need just yet."

"This is a great wakeup call for us," Immel continued. "Being 5-0 for such a young team isn't necessarily a great thing. This teaches us that we cannot take a night off on defense, ever."

Immel blamed herself for Oostburg's trouble against North's 1-3-1 zone and later, a 2-1-2 look with matchup principles.

"I didn't prepare us well enough for that," she said. "That's my fault."

There was a time when North was pretty much a straight-up man-to-man team. No longer. Now they're switching to those two zones at any given moment — the latter of which is named "buzz" — with their trademark man-to-man and so far it's paying big dividends.

"We're definitely trying to mix things up," said Runaas.

So far, so good for the Golden Raiders.

Oostburg 3 11 14 16 — 44

Sheb. North 7 21 18 15 — 61

Oostburg: Paluchniak 16, Huibregtse 10, VanStelle 9, Stemper 6, Huibregtse 2, VanStelle 1. 3 pt: Paluchniak 4, Huibregtse 2. FTs: 4-6. Fouls: 13.

Sheb. North: Free 22, Salzbrenner 16, Parise 8, Bauer 7, Fullerton 4, Maletzke 2, Werner 2. 3 pt: Salzbrenner 3, Free 2, Parise 1. FTs: 11-15. Fouls: 9.

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Job Description

Friday, December 24, 2010