Ciara Roepke connected a 3-pointer and added a short jumper to extend the lead to 27-11 two minutes into the second period. The Lady Eagles cut the gap to 10 points, 31-21, but Niemerg struck again in the final moments. The senior guard hit a jumper and then canned a three-pointer, got fouled and completed the four-point play to send the Lady Shoes to the locker room with a 41-23 advantage at intermission.

“I really liked how the girls weren’t afraid to look to score and weren’t afraid to make mistakes,” Thompson noted. “I thought we ran the floor well, made some nice passes and also had some nice finishes.

“We need to learn what a good shot and a bad shot is,” the veteran coach added. “We also need to communicate better on defense and we need to rebound better. But these are all things we can fix.”

After Newton scored the first two points of the second half, the Lady Shoes responded with a 12-0 run that broke the game wide open. Roepke scored five points during that run, while Karsyn Mette pumped in four and Bushur added a three-point play to extend the margin to 53-25.

It was still a 26-point bulge, 56-30, heading into the final quarter. A 3-pointer by Grace Tegeler and a basket by Emily Konkel gave T-Town its biggest lead of the contest, 66-36.

The Lady Shoes played without Lexie Niebrugge and Hope Bueker, who were both out due to injury. But that gave Coach Thompson the opportunity to play sophomores – Tegeler, Kaitlyn Schumacher, Zoe Cremens and Isabella Hardiek; and freshmen – Konkel and Kaylee Niebrugge. Thompson believes each of those girls will be contributors to this year’s team.

“There will be some growing pains. That’s just part of it,” the coach noted. “But there is a ton of potential on this team.”

While the defense forced 22 total turnovers in the contest, Coach Thompson was totally satisfied.

“We have a long ways to go defensively,” she said. “There were some fundamental things we just didn’t do. I thought our full-court pressure, at times, looked good. We trapped and rotated pretty well.

“But our half-court defense needs work,” Thompson added. “Our communication needs to be better. Plus, we need to do a better job of boxing out for rebounding. But, again, these are all fixable.”

Niemerg scored a game-high 15 points, while Roepke added 14 and Bushur finished with 12. Bushur also pulled down nine rebounds.

“I thought Olivia took some nice shots,” Thompson said. “We want the ball in her hands and she came up big. I liked seeing that.

“Ciara also had a good game,” the coach noted. “She and Olivia have started making a connection on the floor. They were looking for each other, which is a good sign.”

The Lady Shoes will now participate in the 19th annual Lady Wildcat Thanksgiving Tournament in Salem. They will face the tourney hosts at 6 p.m. Friday and then play twice on Saturday – at noon against Highland and at 5:30 p.m. against Carterville.

The tournament will conclude on Saturday, Nov. 30. T-Town will play Centralia at 1:30 p.m.