Polar Bears cruise in home games
By Greg Seubert
It’s been four years since the Hortonville girls’ basketball team could call itself a conference championship.
The wait is over, as the Polar Bears have wrapped up their first Fox Valley Association championship since the 2015-16 season.
The team isn’t showing any sign of slowing down, as they outscored Appleton North and Neenah 155-87 in a pair of home games Feb. 14-15.
The latest win, an 84-39 victory over Appleton North, came less than a day after the Polar Bears handed Neenah a 71-48 loss.
Hortonville 84, Appleton North 39
Fourteen three-pointers and a stingy defense helped the Polar Bears pull away from the Lightning.
The Polar Bears made seven threes in each half and had built a 31-point lead before halftime.
“Any time you can shoot the basketball well, it helps you out,” coach Celeste Ratka said. “It makes everything easier when the ball goes in.”
The Polar Bears led 43-23 at halftime without a point from leading scorer Macy McGlone, who picked up two fouls in the half.
“I really like the depth that we have,” Ratka said. “That really sets us apart and makes our team very special. One of the best players in the state is sitting on the bench for most of the first half and we don’t miss a beat.”
Morgan Jensema led five players in double figures with 13 points. Lyric Johnson and Kamy Peppler added 11 points each and Lexi Day and Maggie Werner finished with 10 each.
Karissa Smith led the Lightning with eight points.
“Give our kids a lot of credit,” Ratka said. “We played the previous night and didn’t know how our legs were going to be. I think they really answered the challenge and came out focused. I didn’t see fatigue as being an issue.”
Hortonville 71, Neenah 48
The Polar Bears outscored the Rockets 39-19 in the first half and 32-29 in the second.
McGlone, Day and Morgan Draheim led Hortonville with 19, 17 and 10 points, respectively.
Hortonville will wrap up the regular season at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20, at Oshkosh North.
The latest wins give the Polar Bears a 20-1 overall record that includes a 17-0 mark in the FVA.
“This started back in the summer and the work that they put in,” Ratka said. “It’s really tough to go through and FVA season and battle the teams that we do night in and night out. You can’t take a night off. There are just too many talented teams.”