By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
In the regional semifinal game against the New Berlin West Vikings, the Union Grove High School girls’ basketball team did not do one thing it needed to do well to have a chance to win.
“We didn’t shoot well,” noted head coach Rob Domagalski. “I was concerned about that going in. We just could not get the ball to go in the hole.”
The result was a 52-36 loss March 9 at New Berlin West that ended the Bronco girls’ season.
West came into the game with a 16-6 record, compared to Union Grove’s 13-9. After an 8-8 tie at the end of the first quarter, New Berlin West outscored the Broncos 20-6 in the second quarter to take a 28-14 lead at the half.
Union Grove cut the lead to 10 points in the third quarter with the ball.
“We missed a layup and they came down and scored,” Domagalski noted. “That kind of took the wind out of our sail.”
Domagalski said that it seemed that every time his team made a mistake the Vikings would take advantage of it.
“Our defense just couldn’t get the stops that we needed,” he said.
The Bronco girls made just three of 16 attempts from three-point range, and did not do much better inside the arc. One area they did do well was at the free-throw line where they converted 15 of 22 attempts.
Senior guard Alyssa Acker led Union Grove with 11 points, with Megan Lee, another senior guard, adding 10.
The game was the final game for six seniors: Acker, Lee, Lindsay Johnson, Helen Melonas, Ashley Miller, and Kassidy Jo Wilks.
Losing six seniors – four of them starters – off the 2010-11 Southern Lakes Conference championship team, the Bronco girls began the season winning just one of their first four games.
The girls turned things around by winning 12 of their next 17, before losing the final two games of the season to finish 13-10 overall.
Domagalski noted the team had repeat as SLC champions, finishing tied for second with a 10-4 mark, one game behind Lake Geneva.
“It took a while for the chemistry to get going. We’re a winning team,” he said. “I think our future is very promising.”
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