Riley Ketterhagen's big night sparks Oostburg girls basketball in state-ranked battle
SHEBOYGAN — Riley Ketterhagen channeled her inner Caitlin Clark on Thursday for the Oostburg Flying Dutchmen girls basketball team.
Like the Iowa Hawkeyes superstar, Ketterhagen wasn’t afraid to shoot from anywhere on the court and erupted for 31 points, including six 3-pointers, to help Oostburg knock off the Sheboygan Lutheran Crusaders 76-62.
Both teams entered the evening undefeated in Big East South play, and ranked top 10 in the state. Oostburg is No. 3 in Division 3 in the latest Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association while Sheboygan Lutheran is No. 7 in D4.
Ketterhagen got hot early, draining four 3’s in the first half which impressed Crusaders coach Tyler Thomas.
“She shot six 3’s and most of those were with a hand in her face,” Thomas said. “She did a good job shooting the ball, that was the difference.”
Flying Dutchmen coach and Riley Ketterhagen’s father, Isaiah Ketterhagen, saw real value in how tenacious Lutheran played in the game.
“We got face guarded again so its a good practice of how do we play when we’re getting face guarded,” Isaiah said. “It’s hard to do that in practice so when you can see it against another opponent, against a good opponent, we’ll take it.”
Riley’s twin sister Ady Ketterhagen, along with Brynn Wisse, gives Oostburg three players who average at least 15 points and are capable of taking over a game on any given night.
“It’s one heck of a luxury,” Isaiah said of his three offensive weapons with a smile. “We just hope one of them are on. If two of them are one, we’re really good. If three of them are on, look out.”
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And on a night where Wisse was limited to nine points and Ady 14, eight below her average, Riley knows how important her hot shooting was.
“You want those nights, especially against a great team like this,” Riley said. “To have those opportunities and be able to knock down those shots was a huge key in tonight's win.”
“Riley had a really good night, the girls found her,” Isaiah said.
The Crusaders were more balanced in the contest with Taylor Brigham scoring a team-high 15 while Addy Verhagen and Faith Pape were right behind with 14 and 13, respectively.
Verhagen says not allowing the Flying Dutchmen to pull away too far, erasing a double-digit deficit on at least one occasion, will go a long way towards Lutheran’s confidence later in the season.
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“I think it shows how we can stick in the game no matter how far we’re down,” Verhagen said.
Both team has visions of a deep playoff run, so nights like Thursday will provide blueprints for when the calendar turns into February and creeps into March.
“We want these games,” Riley said. “We scheduled a lot of tough non-conference games and I think those games helped us get where we are.”
Contact Tom Dombeck at 920-686-2965 or tdombeck@htrnews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Tom_Dombeck.
This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Riley Ketterhagen lifts Oostburg past Sheboygan Lutheran
