OSWEGO -- It was the battle that everyone expected between the top-seeded teams at the Class 3A Oswego Regional, but the host Panthers defense proved to be too stingy for Rosary in Thursday's final.
Using constant pressure rather than the stifling variety, Oswego held the Royals to one basket in the fourth quarter and 26 percent shooting for the game. The Panthers advanced to the Marengo Sectional with a 47-35 win.
"In the first half, our defense was just outstanding," Oswego coach Chad Pohlmann said. "In the first six minutes of the first half, it was awesome."
The Oswego defense didn't allow any scoring from Rosary until Katie Petrando's turnaround with 3:36 remaining in the first quarter as the Panthers led 15-8 after one. The game's tone was set as the Royals shot only 4-of-17 from the floor.
"Coach praises us on defense," said Brittany Collier, who was the pressure leader along with Samiya Wright, who led Oswego with 15 points. "We had to come together and play good defense on the help side."
Collier led off the second quarter with a trey, and Katie Ziemnik (12 points) drained a jumper from the right side at the 4:09 mark to give the Panthers their biggest lead at 26-12.
Jordan Rettig, who scored a game-high 20 points and pulled down 11 rebounds in a monster effort, had six second-quarter points to keep Rosary within striking distance at 26-17 at the break.
"Coach just told us that when Jordan got the ball to double down and help," Wright said. "She's a good player and we knew that she was going to get hers, but we tried to limit her and stop everybody else."
Colleen Purcell scored twice early in the third on perfect assists from Ziemnik and Paige Harmon, and Ziemnik knocked in a 3 to pace Oswego. But Rettig continued her yeoman effort by battling for four baskets, one coming on an assist from Lane Richmond on the press break. Stephanie Haugen had two strong drives, but the Royals still trailed 39-29 heading into the fourth.
Rettig scored on a putback to start the fourth quarter to cut the lead to eight, but it was Rosary's last field goal as Oswego's cumulative defensive effort seemed to have taken its toll.
Ziemnik drove for the Panthers' only fourth-quarter basket at 3:48 to bump the lead back to 42-31.
The teams spent the remainder of the period at the line where the Royals struggled by making 4-of-8 and Oswego was only 6-of-11, but it mattered little when the celebration began at the final horn.
Rosary shot just 1-of-14 in the final quarter and totaled 14-of-53 for the contest.
"(Poor shooting) was our biggest struggle tonight and was like a repeat of last year in the sectional," Rosary coach Dave Beebe said. "We shot really poorly, but give credit to them. They played good defense."
Oswego cruises into the sectional riding a winning streak which began after its Christmas tournament, and Pohlmann is liberal in praising his players.
"We like to press and by the end of the game, hopefully the other team is worn down a little bit," Pohlmann said. "We have some tough character kids, and they executed pretty well tonight."
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