By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Badger High School girls basketball team went from one extreme to the other in Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association regional basketball action last week.
The Badgers scored 64 points and dominated Beloit Memorial in the semi-final game on Friday night but struggled to score only 28 in losing the regional final to Mukwonago on Saturday night.
“Mukwonago is a good team,” Coach David Jooss said. “I was proud of our kids and their effort.”
Badger lost to Mukwonago 53-28. Mukwonago (18-6) had a distinct size advantage starting 6-foot-3-inch sophomore Morgan Glatczak along with 6-foot-2-inch senior Ellie Michalski. The Indians also have a sophomore who already has a commitment to play for the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay – Breanna Cera, a 5-foot-10-inch guard.
Badger defended well against all three for most of the game giving up just 53 points. Cera led all scorers but netted just 13 points to do it. The Badgers held Michalski to 12 and Glatczak to nine.
“I thought our kids did a good job of adjusting,” Jooss said. “As the game went on I didn’t think that (the size advantage) was what hurt us.”
What hurt the Badgers most was their inability to score. The Badgers were held to 11 first-half points and never scored more than nine in a quarter. So even though they held the Indian offense relatively in check, the Badgers could not recover when the Indians were able to pass over the Badger defense and get the ball inside to Michalski and Glatczak with some success in the second quarter.
“The ball just wouldn’t go in for us,” Jooss said. “Overall we played hard, executed our stuff OK, and defensively I was very pleased.”
Both teams struggled out of the gate with turnovers and missed shots and more than two minutes had passed before anyone scored. Both teams had 10 turnovers in the first half. Badger missed seven free throws and eight short inside shots or lay-ups in the first half alone.
“The final score was not indicative of how close the game really was,” Jooss said.
Badger trailed just 10-6 at the end of one. Mukwonago then went to work inside with Michalski and Glatczak each scoring six right under the basket. The Indians stretched the lead to 12 by halftime at 23-11.
Mukwonago scored the first five of the third quarter to go up by 17 on a basket and a three-pointer by Cera. Badger answered with a 9-2 run to cut the lead back down to 10, but Cera hit another three just before the quarter ended to push the lead back to 13.
“That three at the end of the quarter hurt a little bit,” Jooss said. “It put us down by 13 instead of 10 going into the fourth quarter.”
The momentum stayed with Mukwonago in the fourth quarter as they extended the lead to as many as 22 before the night was over. Needing a fast start, Badger started with two turnovers and Mukwonago scored the first five points of the quarter. Glatczak blocked two shot attempts by Lily Quinn and another by Maria Mieres-Rey in the process. Badger also missed six of eight freethrows early in the quarter.
Badger was led by Bianca Brown’s nine points.
“It was a team effort all year,” Brown said.
Mukwonago advanced to play Janesville Craig in tonight’s sectional semi-final at Beloit Memorial.
Semi-final win
Badger got to the final by beating up on Beloit Memorial (4-17) the night before 64-42. Badger again struggled to get on track offensively in the first quarter and led just 10-8 by its end, but then they turned up the defensive pressure and dominated the rest of the game.
“I was very happy with their effort,” Jooss said. “They got after it, they were on the floor, and they were hustling.”
Jooss substituted in waves, anticipating a fast-paced game that would wear down the Purple Knights.
“The way we play defense gets on you as the game goes on,” Jooss said.
Of course that is only true if the Badgers are hitting their shots. Unlike against Mukwonago, that was less of a problem after the first quarter. The offense fed off of the defense as Memorial struggled to even get shots off. There were 16 Knights’ possessions during which they lost the ball by turnover or Badger steal before getting off a shot in the second quarter alone. Badger outscored Memorial 21-8 and led 31-16 at the half.
Badger used an 11-0 run in the third quarter to ice it and led by as many as 28 in the fourth quarter.
Rey led the Badgers with 16 points. Quinn added 10, and Kortlyn Freeman had nine.
Season a success
“I like watching our team play,” Jooss said. “I think they do a good job. We have good leaders and the kids have bought into what we are doing and believe in it.”
Jooss said the team got great leadership from its seniors, was very unselfish, always put the team first, and just wanted to win. Jooss said the Badgers were picked to finish fourth in the Southern Lakes Conference but fought for a conference championship until the last week of the regular season before losing to Wilmot (13-1) 54-31 and Waterford (11-3) 55-43. Badger ended up third in the SLC at 10-4 (17-7 overall).
Badger’s 17 total wins were the most in Jooss’ five years and topped the 16 Badger won each of the two previous seasons.
“I was proud of our seniors,” Jooss said. “We were very lucky to have their leadership. They will leave a positive legacy that we will see in future players because they set a good example.”
Overseas help
One player the Badgers won’t have back next year is Mieres-Rey even though she is only a junior. Mieres-Rey is a foreign exchange student from Gijon on the northern coast of Spain.
Mieres-Rey said she traveled a lot before coming to America, so she was used to it and did not fear coming here alone. She said her father was a foreign exchange student in California in the 1980s.
Mieres-Rey said she felt she fit in well on the team.
“They were very nice to me and helped me out a lot,” she said.
Mieres-Rey said American basketball is a little different than the European variety but she likes them both. She said the American season is much shorter and there were some different rules she had to adjust to.
Mieres-Rey said she was excited to be in the playoffs, never expected to be the team’s leading scorer (12.6 points per game), and just wanted to be part of the team. Mieres-Rey ran cross country in the fall and is trying to decide between track and softball, two sports she has never tried, in the spring.
