Division 5:
Loyal rallies for a 74-61 victory, but the Academy of Science is on the basketball map.
ASHWAUBENON You could say that Shemera Williams accomplished her goal even though she and her teammates failed to claim the ultimate prize.
The Milwaukee Academy of Science sophomore wanted to put the tiny school on the basketball map, and by reaching the WIAA state tournament and advancing to the final the Novas have positioned themselves to be a team to watch for the next couple of years.
This year, however, they’ll have to play second fiddle to Loyal, which rallied from 13 points down in the second half to score a 74-61 victory over MAS in the Division 5 championship game at the Resch Center on Saturday.
“They put in so much work from the beginning of the year to this point,” MAS co-head coach David Ziegelbauer said. “This week they were in the gym every morning before school. We were practicing last night at 9 o’clock.”
Senior forward Karsyn Rueth had 25 points and nine rebounds for Loyal, “We made it this far and we’re still coming home with something. I can’t hold my head down from this.” which won its first state title in its first appearance and finished 25-4. Senior guard/forward Morgan Reinwand added 23 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
MAS, which also made its first state appearance, finished 23-5. The Novas, however, got a record performance from Williams. The 5-foot-9 guard finished with a single-gamerecord 40 points and for the tournament scored 73 points, another division record.
She left town with nine Division 5 records in all. She also set the mark for most field goals in the tournament (26), most field goals in a game (16), most field goals attempted in a game (26), most field-goal attempts in a tournament (54), threepointers attempted in a game (13) and three-pointers made in the tournament (nine). She also tied the single-game record for threes in a game with five.
Many of those numbers came from her 16-for-28 performance Saturday that included 5-for-13 shooting from the threepoint line.
Williams, who announced on Twitter on Friday that she received an offer from Minnesota, started hot, hitting 9 of 12 shots, including 4 of 5 from three-point range, in the first half. She had 22 of the team’s 30 points in the first half and 33 points to help the team build a 53-39 lead with 10 minutes 18 seconds to play.
“She’s been doing that all year long, carrying us, making us better,” Ziegelbauer said. “It’s even hard for me from a coaching perspective of trying to draw some things up with her because she’s such a creator that she’s able to make everything happen. … She’s a special player. I’m proud of her.”
MAS also go 10 points and 11 rebounds from senior center Tatianya Evans. She had six points during a 22-9 run that gave the Novas their largest lead. Williams then put an exclamation point on that stretch with seven straight points that included two steals for layups and a step-back three to push the lead to 52-39.
MAS was sitting pretty, for the moment.
“I thought the team continued to battle,” Loyal coach Mike Rueth said. “We hit some key shots.”
After scoring 22 points in a span of about 6 minutes, MAS had one bucket and five turnovers over the next 6 minutes.
Meanwhile, Karsyn Rueth (five points), freshman Remi Geiger (five), Reinwand (four) and junior Bryanna Rayhorn (two) contributed during the 16-2 run that gave Loyal a 55-54 lead with 5:06 to play.
The lead changed hands four times in the next 90 seconds, but sophomore Hailey Rueth’s bucket inside gave Loyal the lead for good.
“I’m a sophomore, so I have many years left,” Williams said. “We made it this far and we’re still coming home with something. I can’t hold my head down from this.”
SHEMERA WILLIAMS, MILWAUKEE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE SOPHOMORE