Pirates advance to state for the first time
CUDAHY – Pewaukee flipped the script.
One year ago, the Pirates trailed early and often and never truly threatened Whitefish Bay as they saw their season come to a screeching halt in the WIAA girls basketball sectional finals.
On Saturday, Pewaukee dominated both offensively and defensively as it rolled to a 73-42 Division 2 sectional final win over top-seeded Pius XI at Cudahy High School.
The Pirates are state-bound for the first time, and did so with such a margin of victory their starters were allowed to enjoy the final three-plus minutes from the bench.
“It was very different than last year,” Pewaukee head coach Jim Reuter said. “We had a great practice last night. We came out of the gates pretty quick and then our defense put them off-balanced and sort of off-kilter. Our best offense is our defense and when we can score off of that we're in pretty good shape.”
Senior guards Kennedy Osterman scored 18 points and Lauren Schill 17 to lead the Pirates, who went on a 37-7 run over the end of the first half and into the second.
“This is an unbelievable feeling,” Schill said. “To fall short the last three years and then to do it this year, to make it with the girls I have by my side, for all the girls that fell short, it's graet.”
Pius led, 24-23, with 3 minutes 28 seconds left in the first half.
That was the last time the Popes were above water.
With Pewaukee's full-court press not giving Pius a chance to breathe, the Pirates
unleashed 11 straight points to take a 34-24 lead. Schill provided the exclamation mark on the half with a three at the buzzer to take a 41-28 advantage, the Pirates' biggest to that point, into the locker room.
“There was so much energy,” Schill said. “I think, ‘Let's go' was the phrase that was used the most. We knew we couldn't drop off in the second half. That's something we struggled with a couple of times in big games, is dropping the energy, losing our lead a bit. But we didn't panic at all.”
Pewaukee relished a bit of an underdog mentality throughout the sectional after finishing third in the Woodland East this year behind Pius and New Berlin Eisenhower.
On Thursday, the Pirates topped Eisenhower. Two days later, it was the Popes.
“We knew we finished beneath them in the conference, so we were hungry to get another chance to prove ourselves against them,” Osterman said. “We felt confident even if they might have overlooked us.
“We knew that we were in the same place last year. This was redemption.”