Rough week for Heights girls

It was a tough week for Wisconsin Heights’ girls basketball team. The Vanguards lost at Marshall, 61-49, last Tuesday. New Glarus then came to Heights and defeated the Vanguards, 52-39, last Friday. Heights is now 7-9 overall and 3-3 in the Southern Capitol Conference. Ashlee Adler scored 12 points and Natalie Hering added 11 in the Vanguards’ loss to Marshall, which entered the game ranked No. 7 in Division 3. The Vanguards trailed by as many as 21 points in the second half, but rallied back within 53-46 with 4 minutes left. But the Cardinals were solid from the line down the stretch and pulled away. “I thought the girls fought back hard and we shot the ball well from outside,” said Heights coach Bill Sullivan, whose team made 7-of-18 three-pointers in the second half. “They have two quality ball players that hurt us in the paint. We held them below their season averages, but a couple others hit some key shots for them.” Heights was also hurt by a slow start. The game was tied, 6-6, early on when Marshall went on a 28-7 run and took a 34-13 lead. The Vanguards closed within 34-20 by halftime, but the Cardinals pushed their lead to as many as 21 again. While Heights gave a valiant effort down the stretch, its deficit was simply too deep to crawl out of. “Marshall had 15 points more points off turnovers than us and that was the difference in the game,” Sullivan said. Heights also suffered a disappointing loss to New Glarus, a team it had defeated back on Jan. 9. Adler led the Vanguards with 13 points and Kelsi Handel added eight. Heights trailed, 19-16, following a low-scoring first half. “We looked sluggish in the first half,” Sullivan said. “So we came out and tried to pressure them in the full court.” Unfortunately for the Vanguards, that didn’t work either. In the second half, New Glarus took advantage of its speed and pulled away for a win. “Playing a zone, we need to do better job of moving our feet and communicating to keep people out of the paint and off the free throw line,” Sullivan said. “We struggled shooting the ball from the field (28%), which in turn led to our low point production. We had opportunities, but the ball just did not go in.” • On deck: Heights is at Cambridge Thursday at 7:30 p.m., then faces Cuba City on Saturday at 5:50 p.m. at JustAGame Fieldhouse in Wisconsin Dells.   Jan. 28 Marshall 61,  Wisconsin Heights 49 Heights ……....….. 20 29 — 49 Marshall ……….. 34 27 — 61 WISCONSIN HEIGHTS —Adler 4 2-2 12, Hering 4 0-0 11, Handel 3 1-2 8, Keith 2 3-4 7, Schaefer 2 1-3 6, King 1 0-0 2, Wood 1 0-0 2, Doherty 0 1-2 1. Totals 18 8-13 49. MARSHALL — Lutz 7 2-4 19, Nickel 3 7-13 13, Ward 4 1-2 11, Held 2 2-6 6, Andrews 2 1-2 5, Rateike 1 1-3 4, Assaba 1 0-1 2. Totals 20 14-31 61. 3-point goals: WH 8 (Hering 3, Adler 2, Handel 1, Schaefer 1); M 7 (Lutz 3, Ward 2, Rateike 1, Assaba 1). Fouls: WH 20; M 14. Fouled out: WH Schaefer     Jan. 31 NEW GLARUS 52,  WISCONSIN HEIGHTS 39 New Glarus ……… 19 33 — 52 Heights …....…….. 16 23 — 39 NEW GLARUS (fg ft-fta pts) — Watrud 1 0-0 2, Leonard 0 0-1 0, Eichelkraut 1 4-4 6, Himmelman 4 1-2 9, Klosterman-Havens 1 0-0 2, Benson 5 9-13 19, Noll 3 3-4 9, Marty 2 0-0 5. Totals 16 17-24 52. WISCONSIN HEIGHTS — Van Riper 0 2-2 2, Teela 1 0-0 2, King 1 1-2 3, Adler 3 7-8 13, Keith 0 1-2 1, Handel 3 2-3 8, Hering 2 0-0 5, Schaefer 1 0-1 3 Mickelson 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 13-18 39. 3-point goals: NG 1 (Marty); WH 2 (Hering 1, Schaefer 1). Total fouls: NG 15; WH 15.