LA CROSSE — This was just the way the Aquinas High School girls basketball team needed to play on Friday.
The Blugolds don’t lose often, and Monday’s loss at Eau Claire Regis was just their second of the season and ended a 12-game winning streak.
Aquinas needed to bounce back against a good team, and it did just that with a 86-44 victory over Saint Croix Central as part of the Midwest Players Classic at the La Crosse Center.
Senior Sammy Davis scored 22 of her game-high 28 points in the first half, and the Blugolds (13-2) buried the Panthers (10-3) early with pressure.
“It really is so much about our defensive pressure and intensity,” Aquinas coach Dave Donarski said. “I felt like, especially in that first 18 minutes, we were really getting after it.”
That wasn’t the case against the Ramblers — ranked fifth in Division 4 in this week’s Bound Wisconsin/Zaleski Sports media poll — on Monday. That intensity, he said, wasn’t there, and the Blugolds — ranked fifth in Division 3 — play better offensively when it is.
Davis dominated in the transition game against Saint Croix Central, finishing at the basket regularly as her team recorded 17 steals. She scored seven of her team’s points during a 12-0 run that gave Aquinas a 17-4 lead.
The Panthers’ next basket was followed by another 12-0 run — Davis scored six of those — that made it 29-6.
Davis, who made 10 of 22 shots, also had 13 rebounds and three of those steals for the Blugolds, who had 11 players score. Senior Alaina Elias added 10 points, eight rebounds and four steals, and junior Adi Bezemek scored nine points on three 3-pointers.
The performance wasn’t just essential following the loss to Regis. It also gave Aquinas some momentum going into Tuesday’s MVC showdown against Central (12-0). The teams are tied for first place at 5-0, and the RiverHawks are the state’s top-ranked Division 2 team.
The teams tip off at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday in a doubleheader that will be closed by the Aquinas and Central boys squaring off afterward at the Mark Sutton Memorial Gymnasium.
