Arnold carries Germantown to title
OSHKOSH - It was the stuff legends are made of.
All knotted up on the scoreboard as the waning stretch of the state championship game approached, Germantown guard Kamorea Arnold announced herself on the biggest stage in high school basketball.
Arnold twisted her way between defenders for layups, scored through fouls, dished out full-court outlet passes and no-look dimes leading to baskets. She flexed for the Germantown student section. She left no doubt: she is the best player in the state.
And she’s only a sophomore.
“I just said, ‘We can’t lose,’” Arnold said. “I just didn’t want it to end like that, so I just turned it up a notch.”
Arnold scored or assisted on 20 of Germantown’s final 23 points as it pulled away in a frenetic flurry, turning a tie game with eight minutes to play into a 63-48 victory and WIAA Division 1 state title at Menominee Nation Arena.
“She really showed why she could arguably be the best player in the state today,” Hudson head coach Jess Vadnais said.
Arnold, a five-star recruit with 30 NCAA Division-I offers who goes simply by "KK", finished with 31 points and seven assists. With the Warhawks mired in a scoring drought of nearly five minutes over the middle stretch of the second half, Arnold’s offensive attack shifted the tides.
She caught a pass from teammate Jaelyn Acker off a steal and led the break, dropping off a bounce pass in stride to Natalie Palzkill for a fastbreak layup that gave Germantown a 42-40 lead. The 5-foot-9 Arnold scored on the next possession with a layup in a sea of Hudson’s tall frontcourt players, then made a free throw
the ensuing trip down.
Arnold led Leah Hess with a 60-foot pass for another layup and scored at the rim herself 50 seconds later, extending Germantown's lead to nine.
“Number one here did some pretty magical things,” Germantown head coach Matt Stuve said of Arnold.
Acker buried a three out of a timeout to extend the Warhawks' lead and punctuate a record-setting day herself. The senior guard made 12 threes over Germantown's two games, including a 5 of 12 performance from deep against the Raiders, to break the all-time girls state tournament mark.
The previous record was 10 and was set over three games. Acker, who finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds, did it in two games over one day, often tickling the twine from well beyond the NBA three-point line drawn on the replica MECCA floor in Oshkosh.
“I don't really see where I am on the floor,” Acker said. “If I like it, if I'm feeling it, I'll put it up. But, yeah, I'm not looking at where my feet are.”
Germantown didn't look back from there as Arnold scored on another pair of layups and completed an acrobatic three-point play that included a flex and shout at the Warhawks' frenzied student section in front of her.
The end was storybook, but the path to get there against the Raiders was anything but.
The Warhawks, who rattled off a 20-0 run to open their semifinal against Verona earlier in the day, found themselves flummoxed by the size of Hudson out of the gates. Forward Audrey Hatfield scored six points in the paint as the Raiders opened up a 15-3 lead with 12 minutes, 50 seconds to play in the first half.
“We talked about the other day Mike Tyson's famous quote that everyone's got a plan until they get punched in the mouth,” Stuve said. “Our M.O. has been that we come out and punch teams in the mouth and see how they respond. Then lo and behold we get here to the state final and we get a big punch in our mouths.”
Behind Acker and Arnold, the Warhawks reeled off a 13-2 run to draw within a point. Acker's 24-footer tied the score at 21, then moments later she knocked down a three from even deeper to give Germantown its first lead of the night at 26-25.
The two guards scored the Warhawks' first 29 points, leading the charge as the team took a 32-28 lead into the half despite Hudson shooting 52% to their 34%.
On the night, Acker and Arnold combined for 50 of the team's 63 points.
“The way they played offensively, to just have that on display for the whole state to see is really awesome,” Stuve said. “I think that's what you want to see in a state tournament, you want to showcase the best players in the state. Those two definitely qualify as some of the best players in the state.”
While Acker and Arnold spearheaded the offensive charge, the Warhawks entire rotation buckled down defensively after a shaky start. Despite not playing a player over 5-9, they held the Raiders to 38% shooting in the second half and only allowed five free throws for the game.
While Hudson committed 16 turnovers, Germantown had just five, a direct result of their lineup of five smaller, quicker ball-handlers.
Palzkill finished with nine points and 10 rebounds. Katie Pampuch, who didn't score, still delivered an impact with three steals and stifling defense that forced the ball out of Hatfield's hands in the post. Both were among the undersized Germantown guards battling in the paint throughout the evening.
“I'll take skill kids over size any day,” Stuve said.
For years, the Warhawks have been one of the better teams in not only the Milwaukee area, but the entire state.
They have won 187 games as a program over the previous eight seasons, but for one reason or another seemed to always be knocking on the door of the state tournament, never kicking it down. In five of the previous seven years, Germantown lost in the sectional round and never once had it ever qualified for state before.
The Warhawks boys program had one of the all-time dynasties in prep hoops, winning three consecutive state titles from 2012-14. They have won 201 games dating back to the 2010-11 season.
The Germantown girls had been even better over the last 11 seasons, winning 202 going into Saturday night; they simply lacked that elusive victory in the final game of the season.
They also lacked KK Arnold for nearly all of those years.
Turns out that a mesmerizing performance from Arnold and a record-setting day for her running mate was the golden ticket.