Oswego's 11-0 start sinks Rosary

Oswego had an ideal formula to turn back Rosary in postseason play Thursday night at home.

The second-seeded Panthers scored the first 11 points of their Class 3A girls basketball regional final against Rosary, and the Royals never recovered.

Top-seeded Rosary had its bid for a third consecutive regional title evaporate on a horrendous shooting night as the Royals' 26 percent accuracy (14-for-54) resulted in a 47-35 loss in Oswego.

The Panthers (23-5) have yet to lose this calendar year, and Rosary became their 15th consecutive victim.

The Royals bowed out at 21-7.

"We haven't shot that poor all season," Rosary coach Dave Beebe said. "We didn't take the best of shots. Their defense had something to do with it."

Four different players scored for Oswego coming out of the gate; the Panthers took an 11-0 lead midway through the first quarter as Rosary misfired on its first 8 attempts from the field.

"We really came out ready and focused to play," Oswego coach Chad Pohlmann said.

In the final game of her junior campaign, three-year starter Jordan Rettig kept Rosary within shouting distance for the remainder of the game.

Rettig finished with game-highs of 20 points and 12 rebounds, but Rosary did not have more than two players score from the field in any of the four quarters.

Rettig began the second quarter with a field goal, only to see Oswego respond behind two 3-point possessions by Oswego reserve Brittany Collier.

Oswego doubled its lead to 24-12 on a Collier 3-point play, but Rosary clamped down over the final five minutes of the second quarter to creep within 26-17 at the break.

Rettig once again carried the scoring load for Rosary after the intermission, tallying four more third-quarter field goals.

But every Rosary effort to reduce its deficit to single digits was answered in kind by Oswego, which was led by 27 combined points from backcourt mates Samiya Wrights (15 points) and Katie Ziemnik (12).

"We all tried really hard," said Rettig. "We just couldn't finish (our shots from the field). We tried to fight through (our shooting woes) and come back."

With Rosary trailing 39-29 entering the final quarter, Rettig had a putback on the opening possession of the final eight minutes.

But it proved to be the last conversion of the year for the Royals.

Oswego harassed Rosary into missing its final 11 field-goal attempts.

"I couldn't have asked for a better effort defensively," Pohlmann said.

In one final telling sequence, Oswego missed the front end of three straight bonus free-throw situations, only to deny Rosary on the ensuing possession.

"It wasn't for a lack of effort," Beebe said.

Stephanie Haugen (6 points) and Katie Petrando (4) were the only Rosary players other than Rettig to score from the field.