Bull’s 30 not enough to save top-seeded Broncos
By Tim Wester
Sports Correspondent
By its own admission, the Milton High girls basketball team has not been a good shooting team.
Judging by the stunned looks on the faces of the Union Grove girls basketball team, the Red Hawks may have hustled everyone.
Milton shot nearly 60 percent in the first half and shut down the Broncos’ high-powered offense to pull off a stunning 70-61 upset victory in a WIAA Division 2 regional final Feb. 25.
Milton will battle Wilmot in a sectional semifinal game Thursday at Fort Atkinson, the same site where the Broncos knocked off the Red Hawks in the sectionals last season.
But a repeat performance from last season just didn’t materialize as the Broncos failed to get their offense going beyond an impressive 30-point effort from junior guard Brooklyn Bull.
“They have been shooting well, and I think they shot close to 60 percent all together in the first half,” said Union Grove senior Janelle Shiffler, who became just the fourth 1,000-point scorer in school history this season. “It just didn’t go our way, hats off to them, they are a good team.”
The Broncos looked to be a step behind Milton from the opening tip, which allowed the Red Hawks to capitalize with a 14-3 run that turned a 16-16 game into a 31-19 advantage. Milton led by as many 13 in the first half before Bull and Jenna Rainey combined to score eight straight points to cut the deficit to 36-31 late in the first half.
Karlee Krebs then answered with a baseline jumper in the final seconds of the half to give Milton a 38-31 halftime lead.
“It’s hard to gauge how we played when a team like that made open shots,” Union Grove coach Rob Domagalski said. “Milton shot phenomenally this game.”
Unfortunately for Domagalski and the Broncos, Milton kept its torrid pace going into the second half.
The Red Hawks drained three consecutive 3-pointers during a game-changing 14-0 run that pushed their advantage to 58-36 with nine minutes to play.
With the game quickly slipping away, Bull jump-started the stagnant Broncos’ offense with 12 points during a 19-3 run that drew the Broncos to within 63-57 with 1:09 to play.
“After Milton got the big lead, I’m proud of the girls for fighting back,” Domagalski said. “One thing I’ll take out of this game was to make it a two-possession game after being down by 22, I’m proud of my girls for doing that.”
Unfortunately for Domagalski, two possessions were as close as his team would get as the Red Hawks sank six clutch free throws in the final minute to pull off the upset and avenge last season’s playoff loss to Union Grove.
“We played Union Grove last season, and we owed them after they eliminated us from the playoffs,” Milton coach Stacy Skemp said. “And that was our goal to have the roles reversed.”
While the Red Hawks got their revenge, Domagalski was forced to say goodbye to his seniors much earlier than he expected.
“For me as a coach, this is very difficult,” Domagalski said. “It’s like a train hitting a wall at 100 miles per hour because now I go from being a coach to a math teacher in a matter of a second.”
Shiffler added, “I’m proud of our season and I told the girls that we accomplished so much this season, and this season has been the best season of my life, and I couldn’t ask for more.”
Shiffler and the Broncos are certainly going out with their heads high.
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