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Winnebago off to 3-0 start at Forreston Thanksgiving Tournament
By Trenten Scheidegger
The Winnebago Indians faced off with some well-matched competition when they opened the 2024-25 girls’ basketball season at this year’s Forreston Thanksgiving Tournament. In their first three games, the Indians faced off with the Eastland Cougars, the Forreston Cardinals, and the Stockton Blackhawks.
Despite it being a holiday tournament to begin the season, the Indians found themselves in some heated matchups. In the very first game of the season, the Indians and Cougars went down to the wire. In a low-scoring affair, Winnebago came out on top 28-24 to start their season 1-0.
After a scrappy start to the season, Winnebago saw their offense let it fly in game two. On Nov. 22, the Indians put up almost 50 points when they faced off with the host team in the Forreston Cardinals. Forreston has gotten off to a slow start to the season as they scored just 43 points in all of their first three games combined.
That includes just 15 points in their game against Winnebago. On the other end, Winnebago racked up the points as they ran away with a 47-15 victory over the Cardinals. After sneaking past Eastland, it was nice for Winnebago to come away with a comfortable victory.
It was especially nice when the Indians found themselves facing an uphill battle against the Stockton Blackhawks on Nov. 23. That morning, Stockton posed a serious threat to Winnebago’s hot start. Not only had the Blackhawks beaten Eastland by a score of 39-29, but they would get off to a red-hot start over the Indians.
Stockton’s Madalyn Mammoser was too much for the Winnebago defense in the opening quarter. Mammoser quickly put up seven points, including going three for four at the free throw line, in the first quarter.
Winnebago tried to keep pace by getting to the line themselves. Grace Corl went one for two in her lone trip to the line in the first. Karsyn Palmer went two for four in two trips to the line. The only field goal of the first came by way of an Avery Brûlé three-pointer.
By the end of the first, Winnebago found themselves trailing 14-6. It looked like the Blackhawks were going to run away with a victory if the Indians couldn’t stop Mammoser. Stockton had already blown a big lead in a previous game at the tournament, however.
The Indians didn’t completely erase the deficit in the second, but they clawed their way right back into the game. Four points from Alyssa Zambrovitz helped the Indians get the comeback started. Brûlé put up five more points, including a three-pointer.
Defensively, Winnebago held Stockton to just three points in the second quarter. That allowed them to fight their way back as they went into the break trailing 17-12.
Despite facing a deficit at the break, Winnebago had swung the momentum back in their favor. That trend continued in the second half, when the Indians outscored Stockton 21-10 for a massive comeback.
It wasn’t just a strong second half performance that got the victory. The Winnebago defense didn’t allow a single point in the fourth quarter. In that fourth quarter alone, they outscored Stockton 10-0. That’s where the Indians won the game as they picked up a 33-27 victory over the Blackhawks.
Brûlé led the team in scoring with 10 points. She was the only Indian in double figures for scoring. Zambrovitz was next up with eight, while Corl added seven. The Indians improved to 3-0 with the win.
Winnebago will be on the road a lot in the early part of the season. Their next home game is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 14, when they play host to Kaneland at 6 p.m.
