South Shore tops Northwood again

When Northwood and South Shore met during the regular season, the South Shore girls walked away with a 53-44 victory.

Thursday the Cardinals and Evergreens faced off again in the WIAA Division 5 sectional semifinals at Hayward, and South Shore once again came out on top, 57-48.

The Cardinals play Owen-Withee at 7 p.m. Saturday in Spooner in the sectional finals. Owen-Withee, last year’s sectional champion, advanced with a 73-46 victory over Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran on Thursday.

South Shore (25-0), outscored Northwood 11-1 in the final two minutes of Thursday’s game. Sophomore Megan Gustafson took the lead for the Cardinals during the final run, scoring seven points. She finished with 26 points — 18 in the second half — to lead South Shore.

Northwood (18-7) was led by sophomore McKayla Waggoner, who had 27 points.

The Evergreens went inside to Waggoner right away, and she scored all 12 of Northwood’s points in the first quarter. South Shore spread its scoring around, with Megan Gustafson scoring four points, Jenna Sorenson scoring three, and Janice Anderson and Emily Gustafson both scoring two points each.

Northwood led 12-11 at the end of one, but South Shore quickly took over the lead with a 3-pointer from Alyssa Kavajecz and a shot inside by Megan Gustafson.

Elise Burns put Northwood within two with a pair of free throws, 16-14, but South Shore answered with an 8-0 run.

At halftime, the Cardinals led 25-17. Northwood scored only five points in the second quarter, three of them coming at the free-throw line.

Northwood came out hot to start the second half. Waggoner scored six straight points for the Evergreens, Sarah Benson had two steals and Amber Denninger had a block in the opening 1:30 of the third quarter to make it 25-23 in favor of South Shore.

Megan Gustafson stopped the skid with a layup to make it 27-23, but the Evergreens kept chipping away.

A 3-pointer from Northwood’s Kaitlyn Harwick put the score at 37-35 with about a minute left in the third quarter, and Jessica Hill tied the game at 37-37 with a pair of free throws.

A free throw from Sorenson put the Cardinals back in front, 38-37, to end the third quarter.

Northwood took over the lead to start the fourth quarter and built a 45-40 advantage with 5:04 left to play, but the last half of the quarter belonged to the Cardinals.

Three Northwood players fouled out in the final four minutes of the game, and the Evergreens were held to just one field goal and one free throw during that stretch.

Northwood’s last lead of the game came at 3:18, when a Waggoner jumper made it 46-45. Back-to-back shots by Megan and Emily Gustafson put South Shore in front, and the Cardinals outscored Northwood 7-1 in the final 1:30.

For the night, South Shore was 19-of-27 from the free-throw line. The Evergreens were 6-of-9.

Northwood 12 5 20 11 — 48

South Shore 11 14 13 19 — 57

Northwood — McKayla Waggoner 27, Kaitlyn Harwick 6, Amber Denninger 6, Elise Burns 4, Sarah Benson 3, Jessica Hill 2.

3-point goals — Benson, Harwick.

South Shore — Megan Gustafson 26, Emily Gustafson 12, Janice Anderson 8, Jenna Sorenson 6, Alyssa Kavajecz 5.

3-point goals — J. Sorenson, Kavajecz.

Tags: sports, preps, basketball, updates