Dominant outings in crosstown rivalry basketball games between Oshkosh schools

OSHKOSH – It was the first matchup of the season for crosstown rivals Oshkosh North and Oshkosh West boys and girls basketball.

Oshkosh West was the host as the and its girls team came away with a 67-39 win. It was Oshkosh West’s 13th straight win against Oshkosh North according to MaxPreps. With the win, Oshkosh West improved to 7-7 and snapped a three-game losing streak while Oshkosh North fell to 2-10.

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“I think we played really good team basketball,” Oshkosh West girls basketball coach Kenisha Goss said. “We gave up a lot of good shots for some great shots. We actually shot the ball really well which helps too. So I think we played really good team basketball.”

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The boys game played out similarly, but with Oshkosh North coming out on top by a score of 76-44.

“This team works extremely hard and tonight was another night,” Oshkosh North boys basketball coach Brad Weber said. “I think when you have a cross-town rivalry like this it’s easy to get caught up in the games within the games and I thought we did a nice job of just doing what we do and that’s going out, working hard and playing for each other.”

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Here are takeaways from the boys and girls games.

Girls

Kamryn Stauffacher’s big first half

Oshkosh West sophomore Kamryn Stauffacher finished with a game-high 18 points. In the first half she had 12 points, which included two 3-pointers. Stauffacher wasn’t just settling for one look but drove to the basket and took jump shots.

“It’s huge for her. We wanted her to get in the scoring column for the last few games and we just need her to build her confidence. We knew this game would probably be where she comes out because last year she had a really big game against them,” Goss said.

The 18 points are a season high, topping 13 points which she had against Appleton West and Wausau West.

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Turnovers

Oshkosh West thrived on making things difficult for Oshkosh North’s offense and did so by forcing turnovers. In the first half Oshkosh North had 10 turnovers compared to Oshkosh West’s eight.

“That’s kind of the way we have to play. Sometimes our shooting isn’t there so we really rely on our defense to allow us to get some extra shots on offense which has kept us in games lately,” Goss said. “We really emphasize defense, we do practice that a little more than offense.”

Oshkosh North coach Rick Leib saw it as something that his younger team can learn from.

“I think sometimes with youth and inexperience we don’t identify that quick enough with some of the things and I think that’s where the turnovers come in,” Leib said. "I think if we can learn from this experience, then youth and inexperience will no longer be an excuse.”

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Spread out scoring

Coming into the game, Oshkosh West didn’t have a player averaging over 10 points per game as it thrives on a spread out offense. The Wildcats had 10 players score two or more points.

Stauffacher led the team with 18, followed by Mya Johnson who had 10, Samantha Panske had eight while Kinslee Nelson and Colleen Fitzpatrick each had seven to round out the top five leaders in scoring.

“We’re always just looking to play good, team basketball,” Goss said.

Oshkosh North was led by Awut Alic who finished with 16 points, while Brinna Paulson added eight more.

Boys

Rivalry and conference win

The boys game featured two teams fighting to climb the standings within the Fox Valley Association. Heading into the game Oshkosh North sat in fifth while Oshkosh West was in sixth.

Of Oshkosh North’s four losses, three of them were by four or fewer points.

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“This is a tough, tough conference. I love these city rivalry games because of the crowd. It’s pretty cool for these kids who’ve grown up with each other, they play on the weekends at the Y(MCA) with each other. It’s great for the community to come out and see quality basketball,” Weber said.

Setting the tone

Oshkosh North took an early lead and never looked back. Less than seven minutes into the game Oshkosh North led 15-4 and Oshkosh West used an early timeout.

“I think execution has been something we’ve struggled with. It’s been a reason we’ve lost close games and so I was proud of our way to go out and just execute, make the right reads and match the intensity of the environment,” Weber said.

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At halftime Oshkosh North led 42-18 and kept its foot on the gas in the second to come away with the win.

Sharing the rock

Oshkosh North has had nights where a single player has a big scoring game and the rest of the scoring fills in after that. But against Oshkosh West that was not the case.

The Spartans had three players with more than 10 points and were led by Bryce Ott who finished with 18 points. Owen Weber added 13 points while Jackson Anderson had 12. There were nine different players that scored.

“I think on any night, somebody can go off for 20 and I think defensively it’s really tough to key in on certain people,” Weber said. “Bryce is, I think, a strong candidate for player of the year, yet he’s as unselfish as the rest and so if you’re going to put too much attention to him, somebody is going to be wide open and get the job done.”

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Oshkosh West was led by Joey Ware who had a game-high 22 points and was aggressive from start to finish attacking the paint.

“Joey plays extremely hard. He’s the most physical guy we have and our best athlete,” Oshkosh West coach Dan Weisse said. "We just got to get some other guys to kind of step up and help him out in some of those places.”

Contact or send game stats/info to Ben Schultz at BSchultz@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @benschultz52.

This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: Takeaways from Oshkosh West vs Oshkosh North girls and boys basketball