Kettle Moraine girls move closer to repeat
The Milwaukee area had 21 girls basketball programs across the four divisions heading into the two-round sectionals that started last Thursday.
Six teams remain after Saturday's sectional finals. Here's a glance at how all six advanced to the Resch Center for the three-day event starting on Thursday, starting with the defending Division 1 champions.
Kettle Moraine continues title defense with dominant win over Franklin
For the fifth time in her basketball (and volleyball) career, Kettle Moraine star and West Virginia commit Grace Grocholski will play inside the Resch Center for a state championship.
The future Mountaineer hit 4 threepointers and scored a game-high 27 points in the top-seeded Lasers' 87-59 victory over No. 2 seed Franklin to send Kettle Moraine back to state for the second straight season after winning last season's Division 1 title over Appleton East.
"It means everything to go back up there with this team," Grocholski said. "This is number five, which is just a crazy amount of times to go there for anything in any sport. I feel like we have that experience of knowing what it's like to be there and we've been playing every game like it's our last."
Grocholski's partner on the hardwood since seventh grade, Northern Michigan commit Braelyn Torres, poured in 18 points in the first 18 minutes Saturday night against the Sabers to help the dynamic duo almost outscore the Sabers by themselves with a masterful 45-point performance.
"They're special," Lasers coach Todd Hansen said with a net from the Kenosha Tremper gym dangling around his neck following the win. "They're our hardest-working kids. They're great leaders.
"All the time after practice, they're staying after and shooting. On the weekends when don't have practice on a Sunday or something, they're shooting. They're just phenomenal. Everybody is watching them, all the way down to the youth kids. You got a kid that's got about 2,200 points and another kid that's got about 1,400 points ... I mean, you just don't have that elsewhere. I'm just so fortunate to coach those two young ladies."
As good as Grocholski and Torres were against the Sabers, it was the rest of the Kettle Moraine rotation that gave the Lasers a much-needed boost heading into state.
Briana Binagi poured in a career-high 16 points with 11 coming in the opening half and Maddie Schopf cashed home four 3-pointers in an offensive barrage that saw the Lasers hit 15 triples on the night.
"(Briana) played phenomenally tonight," Hansen said. "To win, you need kids like her to step up and she did a really great job for us. Maddie Schopf hit some threes like she has all year. Claire Vosburg got some things down low as well. You know, we lost a lot from last year. We lost three starters and our top two off the bench, so for us to come back and make it back to state, it's a testament to Grace and Braelyn as leaders, and to the younger kids that have stepped up in new roles and contributed to us getting back."
Milwaukee Academy of Science advances to first state tournament since 2019
In the paraphrased words of the great Michael Jordan during The Last Dance documentary, Milwaukee Academy of Science coach Giovanni Riley had a simple message for his team before their sectional final matchup with Racine Lutheran, the team that eliminated them during last year's postseason.
“He just said, ‘It was personal. We owed them,'”' Novas star Beautiful Waheed said.
Waheed, one-half of Milwaukee Academy of Science's stellar duo with Lalani Ellis, scored 19 points, including a late three-pointer from the right corner for her 1,000th career point in a 74-33 blowout victory to complete the revenge tour and clinch the Novas' first state tournament berth since 2019.
“She's our leader. She's our go-to,” Riley said after the victory. “Since she's been with me for the last four years, we hadn't gotten past the second round, so all of this is new to us, but she's been pushing for this. We've really been pushing for this. We had two goals for today: make it to state and get (Waheed) to 1,000 (points).”
Mission accomplished on both fronts.
The Novas raced out to a 15-8 advantage inside of the game's first five minutes on the back of eight of Waheed's 19 points and some excellent two-way play from Ellis, who led all scorers with 25 points on the afternoon.
“Our seniors get us going. When Beautiful and (Lalani) Ellis get going, they just get us going as a team,” Riley said. “All we preached all week was, ‘We're not a two-man team. We need everybody here to be prepared because teams are keying in on them.' We needed everybody to contribute and they all stepped up.”
Dasharia Williams was a house of fire to start the second half and splashed home a quartet of triples in the contest, while Jaeda Turner and Ellis Williams also combined for 12 points.
“We kinda figured after watching film that they were going to play a 2-3 (zone),” Riley said. “For us, it was really about making the right reads, faking and hitting the extra pass. Last year, we played them and they beat us at home. We were a one-seed at home, up 15 at halftime and we just rushed everything and jacked up shots. This year, the main focus was just being patient and getting good shots.”
Saturday was personal on another level for Riley and the Novas.
During the early portion of this season in November, Riley's father Michael, an assistant coach on his son's staff during a good portion of his six seasons at the helm, unexpectedly passed away.
“I know he's looking down on us and he's proud of us,” Riley said. “A lot of it this year was really for him. These girls have been playing their butts off. They do what I ask of them, they listen, we compete … to get past the second round, to make it up to state, it's all just a blessing through everything.”
Four others join Kettle Moraine and Milwaukee Academy of Science at state next weekend
Brookfield East's defense suffocated Arrowhead in a 53-33 win to advance to the Division 1 state tournament for the second straight season and the seventh time in program history. The Spartans haven't lost since Jan. 26 (to Pewaukee) and their only other defeat this season was to Neenah all the way back on Nov. 26.
On the other side of the D1 bracket, Germantown steamrolled its way into the Division 1 state semifinals with a 94-67 rout of Kimberly to round out the field with three of the four semifinalists from the Milwaukee area and two coming from the Greater Metro Conference. Connecticut commit KK Arnold was utter perfection, pouring in 38 points with 12 rebounds and 11 assists on 12-of-19 shooting with 5 three-pointers against the Papermakers.
In Division 2, the Pewaukee Pirates are in the final four and playing for a gold ball for the third time in the last four postseasons. The Pirates defeated Woodland West rival Pius XI Catholic for the third time this season to advance to the Division 2 state tournament with a 75-59 victory over the Lady Popes. Anna Terrian was sensational, pouring in a game-high 26 points with 6 threepointers for the Pirates.
There's still one hurdle to clear for both teams on Friday, but there's a potential 2022 state title game rematch coming between the Pirates and topranked Notre Dame, who cruised into the state tournament against Cedarburg on Saturday, 86-60.
To round out the group of six programs that qualified for state tournaments, Kewaskum kept their late-season magic going with a 48-46 victory over top seed Freedom in the Division 3 postseason to join Milwaukee Academy of Science at the Resch Center this week as two of the four participants. Madilyn Dogs led the way with 14 points, while both Morgan Adams and Julia Steger each chipped in with 11 points.
The victory for Kewaskum avenged a 52-43 defeat to the Irish back on Jan. 10; the last time Kewaskum lost a game.
They'll ride a 12-game winning streak into the final four and their appearance in Thursday's semifinals will be the first appearance for the program at state since 1982.
State tournament schedule Division 1
No. 1 Brookfield East vs. No. 4 Germantown, Friday at approximately 6:35 p.m.
No. 2 Hortonville vs. No. 3 Kettle Moraine, Friday at approximately 8:15 p.m.
Division 2
No. 1 Pewaukee vs. No. 4 Lakeland Union, Friday at approximately 1:35 p.m.
No. 2 Notre Dame vs. No. 3 McFarland, Friday at approximately 3:15 p.m.
Division 3
No. 1 Waupun vs. No. 4 Milwaukee Academy of Science, Thursday at approximately 1:35 p.m.
No. 2 West Salem vs. No. 3 Kewaskum, Friday at approximately 3:15 p.m.
Division 4
No. 1 Aquinas vs. No. 4 Mishicot, Thursday at approximately 6:35 p.m.
No. 2 Laconia vs. No. 3 Colfax, Thursday at approximately 8:15 p.m.
Division 5
No. 1 McDonell Central Catholic vs. No. 4 Albany, Friday at approximately 9:05 a.m.
No. 2 Blair-Taylor vs. No. 3 Wabeno/ Laona, Friday at approximately 10:45 a.m.
WIAA GIRLS BASKETBALL SECTIONAL FINAL RESULTS