Dashers’ defense makes all the difference this time around

There were no complaints this time.

When Divine Savior Holy Angels defeated Brookfield Central last month to clinch the Greater Metro title outright, the celebration was tempered by what Dashers coach Jeff Worzella said was an off night defensively. The team allowed 6 three-pointers and wasn’t able to pull away until the fourth quarter.

On Thursday the Dashers’ defense was as good as it gets.

“We were fantastic,” Worzella said after a 49-34 victory in a WIAA Division 1 sectional semifinal at Milwaukee South. “I think it may have been our best performance to date defensively.”

The victory extended DSHA’s winning streak to 21 games and set up a sectional final showdown with defending state champion Oak Creek at 1 p.m. Saturday at

Brookfield Central. The winner heads to the state tournament at the Resch Center in Ashwaubenon from March 12-14.

In a storied prep career, the experience will be a new one for Arike Ogunbowale, who previously had gotten as far as the sectional semifinals.

“We just want to get there,” she said. “We haven’t been in my years playing. Everyone who is playing, in their years hasn’t been there yet. We just want to get there and show everyone what we’re made of and how good of a team we are.”

This was a night when DSHA (23-3) showed that on both ends of the floor.

Defensively, it clamped down on Central’s shooters and held the Lancers to just one basket and eight points total in the second and third quarters. Offensively, the Dashers got 21 points from junior forward Taylor Drost, her most as a prep, 17 from Ogunbowale and some timely buckets from the rest of their teammates.

Central finished 16-9 with three of those losses coming to DSHA. Junior guard Rachel Kolb finished with 13 points for the Lancers, but the team’s top two threats were held in check. Sophomore guard Caroline Busch had six points, about eight below her average, and senior guard Emma Brauer, had five, about six below her average.

Central entered this contest with 94 threes, an average of about four per game, but hit just one.

“I thought offensively for us nothing was working,” Central coach Mallory Liebl said. “That’s a credit to DSHA and their defense. I thought they did a really good job of stepping up and stopping our shooters.

“And obviously with Arike, it’s tough to stop her. I thought their entire team played well, so even if you do somewhat stop Arike, it’s tough to be able the defend the whole entire team.”

In the first two meetings, DSHA took over the games in the fourth quarter. This time it assumed control in the second quarter. The only bucket it allowed during those 8 minutes was a drive sophomore forward Claire Haynes banked off the glass at about the 5-minute mark.

What marked the quarter, however, was DSHA’s offensive balance. With Central covering Ogunbowale with a box-and-one defense, five Dashers scored in the quarter to help the team turn an 8-8 game into a 26-12 halftime lead.

They went on an11-1run to close the half. Ogunbowale started the spurt with backto-back jumpers, then sophomore guard Ovi Young drained a three from the corner to make it a 20-11 game.

Drost followed with a runner to push the lead to nine and junior guard Grace Callan’s steal and layup gave DSHA a 24-11 lead.

Junior guard Megan Olson stopped the 11-0 run with a free throw for Central, but Ogunbowale fed Drost for an easy basket just before the buzzer to give DSHA its 14point halftime lead.

“So much attention is on Arike that I think now that it comes down to (the) playoffs everyone is going to have to step up and do their part to get the W,” Drost said. “I think we really did that tonight.”

DSHA’s lead hovered around 12-14 points throughout the third quarter and into the early minutes of the fourth. When Central had to turn up its pressure and switch to man-to-man, the Dashers scored points in bunches in the final minutes.

The night capped a nice season for a young Central squad that tied for second in the Greater Metro and defeated No. 1 seed Milwaukee King in a regional final last week.

DSHA, on other hand, is one victory away from its first state tournament appearance since 2006.

“Everyone is really excited, really pumped,” Drost said. “We want to do this for DSHA and the program.”