Laconia uses quick start to down De Pere

Laconia was firing the ball around on the offensive end, finding open shooters and quickly built a sizeable lead on Friday afternoon at the Sentry Classic.

The Spartans jumped all over De Pere early on their way to a 61-50 win at UW-Stevens Point.

Laconia led 7-0 just 2:30 into the game, early dominance that would see its lead balloon to 35-10 with 3:01 left in the first half.

Finley and Payton Morgan combined to score the first 13 for Laconia and accounted for 21 first-half points. The sisters hit five 3-pointers in the first half and eight on the afternoon.

Finley led all scorers with 21. So far this season, Laconia has had three different players lead them in scoring.

"That really makes us dangerous," Finley said. "It's hard to scout against us because honestly, I trust everyone on our team either starting or coming off the bench. Everyone can make plays and that's what makes us so powerful."

The Spartans led 37-16 at half.

Coach Chris Morgan said the team was good with the ball offensively and solid on the defensive end.

"We had a really good first half," Morgan said. "I thought our defense was good for the most part. A couple of breakdowns that cost us points, but when you only give up 16, you're kind of nitpicking a little bit.

"It was a really dominant first half."

De Pere, which is ranked No. 5 in Division 1, started to battle back in the second half. The Redbirds (7-2) got hot from deep, making eight 3s.

Late in the game, De Pere cranked up the full-court defensive pressure. Laconia turned to senior point guard Aubrey Leonard to break the press using her speed and ball-handling.

"Aubrey's just got such quick-twitch muscles, so she's really hard to stay in front of," Morgan said. "If you're going to come out and pressure, I think you're asking for trouble.

"From our standpoint, I like to see pressure because we've got a bunch of kids who can handle it."

Despite the improvement in the second half, the hole was too deep to climb out of for De Pere, for the closest it got was the 11-point final.

Laconia (8-1) was excellent from the free-throw line, where the Spartans went 12-for-14, including 9-for-10 in the second half.

Morgan said the team has improved recently in not only converting at the line, but also in getting there in the first place.

"We've done a better job of getting to the line, being confident and relaxing a little bit," Morgan said. "Those are going to be important; you get into big games late in the season and you've got to be able to step to the free-throw line and finish games out."

In both games at the Sentry Classic, the Spartans were outscored in the second half. Lakeland cut an 8-point halftime lead to 4 and De Pere chipped away at a 21-point deficit down to 11.

"What we've got to learn how to do is take a dominant first half and continue into the second half against a good team," Morgan said. "I thought we relaxed a little bit and against good teams, you can't do that."

PHOTO GALLERY: Laconia vs. De Pere girls basketball - 12/27/2024