Barnum breezes by South Ridge

The Barnum girls basketball team showed the tall and the short of it against South Ridge Friday night in Barnum. In the first half, the Bombers rode the height of Allison Marine to a 32-20 lead over the Panthers - in the second half it was outside shooting of guard MaKenzee Schleret that led them to a final score of 71-48.

"I was pretty happy with the way we started the game, but then we had a bit of a slow period in the second half where we were a step or two slow," said Barnum coach AJ Palmer. "South Ridge is a good shooting team and Olesiak is a good player. She hit some tough shots even when we were playing some pretty tough defense on her."

While the Bombers tried to find answers to stopping Adella Olesiak (who had 15 points), the Panthers had the double whammy of trying to stop the 6'2" Marine and the speedy Schleret. Marine had 10 first half points and ended the game with 14 points, while Schleret scored 16 of her 19 points in the second half.

"We went man-to-man to start the game, but Marine hurt us inside so we switched up to a zone and tried to keep our off-guard on Schleret, but she got loose and hit those outside shots in the second half," said Panther head coach Brad Olesiak. "Then we went back to man-to-man defense, but by then the damage was done and we were too far behind."

As for Barnum, they tried hard to work the ball to Marine and then make the defense adjust.

"Our goal is to usually work the ball into the post and then, if the shot isn't there, to get it outside after that," Coach Palmer said. "Schleret can hit the 3-pointers and it just worked out where she had the shot and didn't pass it up. I've told the girls all year that I will never yell at you for shooting the ball. I tell them if they are open to take the shot and they are slowly starting to buy into that."

Kendal Miletich, another senior guard for the Bombers, also had a big first half by scoring all of her eight points before the halftime buzzer

One of the biggest issues for the Panthers will be trying to figure out how to overcome a youthful roster that is finding out just how physical varsity basketball can be.

"We have three new starters and at times had two eighth graders, a ninth grader and two juniors on the court. We have to learn how to be much more physical," Olesiak said. "Barnum handled the physical side of the game and we have to learn from that."

Olesiak had 11 first-half points, but the Bombers allowed just one field goal and a pair of free throws to the crafty guard in the second half. Alana Young was also in double-digit scoring with 12 points for the Panthers. Both Rylee Young and Lexi Bergum added five points, Leanna Olson scored four, Phylesha Preston had three and Laura Olson and Svea Snickers each scored two.

"Adella is a competitor and she works hard in the gym and sometimes it is tough to get her out of the gym," Coach Olesiak said. "Unfortunately, she found out a while ago she had Lyme disease. She finally just finished her round of antibiotics and is just starting to feel better and I think it showed."

Also scoring for the Bombers were Olivia Bogenholm with nine points and Kendal Miletich with eight. Rayna Klejeski chipped in with seven points, while Gracie Nelson and Madison Warnygora both added four points. Kyra Heaton and Anessa Davis each finished with three points.

With the win, the Bombers improved to 3-5 on the season, while the Panthers drop to 5-3 with the loss.