Oshkosh West's fourth quarter leads it past Appleton North

APPLETON - The fourth quarter hasn’t always been kind to the Oshkosh West girls basketball team this season.

In fact, the Wildcats were coming off a loss where they were outscored, 17-6, in the fourth quarter by Kimberly last Thursday. So when the Wildcats found themselves down, 34-31, with one quarter to go at Appleton North on Tuesday night, things were looking a little bleak.

However, West decided it was time to turn the tables on its fourth-quarter play and put together a quarter that keeps it alive for the Fox Valley Association title.

The Wildcats scored the quarter’s first eight points and maintained the lead from there, completing a season sweep of the Lightning with a key 45-42 win. With the win, West moves to within one game of first place in the FVA after leader Appleton East lost Tuesday to Fond du Lac.

“Huge win, especially after the loss to Kimberly last week,” West coach Niki Sutter said. “Hopefully it’s a springboard for us the rest of conference play and into the tournament.”

Added West leading scorer Ashley Neustifter: “We wanted to get the win for seeding purposes, but it’s also important for us because we want to stay in the top of our conference and we want to have momentum going into the rest of the season.”

Because of the logjam in the top half of the FVA – East held a two-game lead to start the day over four teams – this could’ve been called an elimination game in terms of at least sharing the league title.

North and West were two of those second-place teams and played like it was a must-win. Neither team could run and hide from the other as the game’s biggest lead was five points by West late in the game.

Notwithstanding, West trailed entering the fourth quarter after North’s Kati Baker scored eight of her game-high 15 points in the third. This was a good sign for North and a bad one for West, which lost two of three entering Tuesday and in each case it was outscored by at least eight points in the decisive fourth.

West, though, stopped Baker and finished strong. West’s Lauren Zuleger scored four points to start the fourth quarter and Neustifter and Marina Hereford added two points each as the Wildcats opened a 39-34 lead.

West fed off its defense, which held North, the FVA’s top-scoring offense at 51.2 points per game, scoreless on its first seven possessions. What also aided West was North’s leading scorer Jennie Stage picked up her fourth foul early in the fourth and had to go to the bench.

“We rely on our defense and we held them scoreless for six minutes and in those six minutes we were able to convert on offense,” Sutter said. “Finishing out the fourth quarter was huge.”

Neustifter said it was about not letting the situation get to the players.

“We wanted to finish the game out strong,” Neustifter said. “We didn’t let ourselves get pressured, so we finished the game strong and continued to work hard in the fourth quarter.”

West wasn’t safe, however, until the final seconds. Leading 43-42, Neustifter stepped to the free throw line and buried two free throws with 3.1 seconds left. North couldn’t get off a quality shot and West captured a big win.

Neustifter displayed her cool under pressure and talked about her approach at the free throw line.

“Kind of just think it’s practice; just make the free throws and get back on defense,” said Neustifter, who scored nine points.

West hopes this win is a sign of good things to come.

“Confidence booster and once we won this game we’re going to have momentum going into the rest of the games,” Neustifter said. “Kimberly wasn’t too good so we came out this game with all our anger after that game and took it into this game.”

• Notes: West won the first meeting, 49-39. …. Sophomore Deidra Unger led West with 12 points. … Stage scored 10 points for North before fouling out. ... West was 8-of-9 at the free throw line in the fourth quarter. … North is ranked No. 10 in the FOX 11 Top 11 girls basketball poll. … The loss snaps North’s four-game winning streak. … West next hosts Menasha on Friday, while North plays at Neenah.
• Game ball: Neustifter, who not only scored nine points, but hit clutch free throws and handled the ball well against North’s pressure defense.
• Numbers game: 1 Game out of first place West is in the FVA.

OSHKOSH WEST 45, APPLETON NORTH 42
Oshkosh West……10 10 11 14 - 45
Appleton North… ...9   9  16   8 - 42
Oshkosh West (12-5, 10-3)
Deidra Unger 12, Ashley Neustifter 9, Lena Wells 4, Marina Hereford 8, Katie Nichols 4, Lauren Zuleger 7, Kate Pawelkiewicz 1. 3-PT: 1 (Neustifter 1). FG: 16-41. FT: 12-15. Turnovers: 16. F: 13. Fouled out: None.
Appleton North (12-4, 9-4)
Kati Baker 15, Jennie Stage 10, Jordyn Dudley 6, Meg Riebau 5, Sierra Wudle 4, Mackenzie Greisch 2. 3-PT: 4 (Baker 3, Riebau 1). FG: 16-44. FT: 6-6. Turnovers: 14. F: 16. Fouled out: Stage.

doug.ritchay@wluk.com