Heights girls drop two games

Bill Sullivan is thrilled his Wisconsin Heights girls basketball team is having a season. Now, Sullivan would just like it if his Vanguards starting playing a little bit better. Heights dropped a pair of games last week and fell to 1-3 on the season. New Glarus defeated Heights, 70-35, on Jan. 12 and Waterloo upended the Vanguards, 46-41, on Jan. 16. “Our effort has been good,” Sullivan said. “Defensively I think we have done a good job on the opponent’s top players, but our struggle has been finishing shots off. With our struggles on offense, we have to be near perfect in all other aspects of the game.” Kylee Doherty had 10 points in the Vanguards’ loss to New Glarus. Hanna King added seven points and Kaya Teela had six. New Glarus raced to a 41-17 halftime lead, shot 63% on the night and cruised home. “We struggled vs pressure and shooting the ball,” Sullivan said. “They had players that on film did not shoot well from the outside, so we tried to help with the dribble drive and the shooters knocked down shots. We had good looks throughout the game, but just can’t get the ball to fall.” Heights was far more competitive against host Waterloo. King led the way with 12 points and Emily Van Riper added seven. The Pirates built a 27-18 halftime lead. Heights made a second half charge, but couldn’t get over the hump. “We struggled the first half valuing the ball,” Sullivan said. “We struggle vs pressure, we can’t simulate it due to social distancing guidelines in practice. Once we settled in we did a better job in the second half with the ball. It is tough to dig yourself out of a deficit when our shooting woes continue. We need to stretch the floor and have failed to connect from outside to allow that to happen.” Despite the rough week, Sullivan is encouraged about what lies ahead. “We are getting good shot selection and seeing better movement on offense, but just need to see shots fall,” he said. “Once that happens, their confidence will grow. We have to remember that most teams we are playing have played 12-14 games and we are four games into our season. We will continue to plug away and hopefully our shots start to fall.”  • On deck: Heights was at Riverdale Monday, then travels to Belleville Thursday at 7 p.m. The Vanguards then travel to Lancaster Saturday at 3 p.m.   Jan. 16 WATERLOO 46,  WISCONSIN HEIGHTS 41 Heights .................. 18 23 — 41 Waterloo ……….. 27 19 — 46 WISCONSIN HEIGHTS (fg ft-fta pts) — Payne 2 0-2 4; Van Ripek 3 1-2 7; Teela 1 0-0 2; Duhr 3 0-0 6; King 2 7-10 12; Bartel 2 0-0 4; Schaefer 2 1-4 5; Mickelson 0 1-2 1. Totals 15 10-19 41. WATERLOO — Schneider 2 0-2 6; Webster 0 1-2 1; Powers 4 6-6 15; Jaehnke 4 7-10 15; Huebner 0 1-2 1; Wolff 4 0-0 8. Totals 14 15-22 46. 3-point goals: WH 1 (King); Wat 3 (Schneider 2, Powers 1). Total fouls: WH 20; Wat 19. Fouled out: Van Ripek, Schneider.