Girls basketball: Onalaska holds off Norskies in regional final

They wouldn’t go away, until overtime arrived.

Unfortunately, Onalaska pulled out a tough 52-50 overtime WIAA regional final win over the Norskies to end their season.

“Unfortunately, it was another regional final heartbreaker,” said DeForest head coach Jerry Schwenn. “We fell behind early, and we were playing catch up most of the game.”

The Norskies took their first lead of the game with under a minute left in regulation, but Onalaska got the game to extra time, where the Hilltoppers outscored DeForest 6-4.

“We outrebounded them by eight, turned it over four less times, and played solid team defense,” said Schwenn. “However, we couldn’t get enough going offensively to allow us to pull out the win. Give credit to Onalaska they defended until the very end of the game.”

Jordyn Derlein led the Norskies with 14 points, to go with four rebounds and four assists. Alexis Accuardi had 12 points and seven boards, while Rylan Oberg finished with five points and a team-high nine rebounds. Jada Kelliher paced DeForest in assists with three.

To reach the regional finals, DeForest crushed La Crosse Central 73-46, as Kelliher erupted for 26 points. Derlein totaled 11 points and three steals, with Kelliher also collecting three steals. Oberg finished with seven points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Accuardi led DeForest in rebounds with nine. Brinley Goninen had four rebounds and four assists, and Raegan Smith added eight points.

For the team’s seniors, it’s the end of the road, as DeForest finished 16-10 in 2023-24.

“I’m proud of how we competed, and we put together a nice season,” said Schwenn. “Thank you to our seniors — Elyse (Snortum), Jada (Kelliher), Linea (Roed), Rylan (Oberg) and Sophie (Eiselt) for their contributions and dedication to our program.”