Waterford finishes season 23-3, best record since 2006
By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
This time, the comeback never came.
What resulted was a gut-wrenching loss that left an entire team and community heartbroken, as reality sunk in that a strong chance to make it to state quickly turned into the end of a season.
On Saturday afternoon in a Division 2 sectional final at Janesville Craig High School, the Waterford girls basketball could never find a consistent rhythm, and Waunakee’s Jada Dayne was too much in a 68-55 victory.
Waunakee improved to 15-12 overall and will play in the WIAA Division 2 state tournament at the Resch Center in Green Bay Friday.
Waterford finished its season 23-3.
Dayne led all scorers with 19 points, and Ciara Rindy added 12 for Waunakee, which played a very physical style down low that was hard for Waterford to overcome.
Waunakee outscored the Wolverines, 19-11, in the second quarter to take a 34-26 halftime lead, and the Wolverines, who overcame double-digit fourth-quarter deficits in their two previous games, never caught up.
Waunakee opened a 42-30 lead in the third, and Waterford never got closer than five points the rest of the game.
The referees were certainly letting the girls play, as it seemed Waterford wasn’t getting any favors when it took the ball to the hoop.
There were several instances where Waterford players were fouled on shot attempts or rebounds and nothing was called.
The inconsistenty boiled over in the fourth, when a Waterford and Waunakee player each had a hand on the ball, and the referees gave Waunakee a timeout.
Waterford head coach Dena Brechtl was livid and walked right up to the referee for an explanation. It was a frustrating game at times for Waterford.
“It was a very physical game, and things didn’t always go our way,” she said. “Whether it was the whistle being blown or a ball not falling. We didn’t stop fighting. The seniors didn’t want to go home. They had a tough player in Jada Dayne, and it was tough to pinch that gap.”
Whenever Waterford pulled to within five points, which happened three times in the fourth, it couldn’t knock down another shot to close the gap.
Waterford hit six of 26 triples for the game.
Tiffany Stiewe knocked down 3-pointers to cut the Waunakee lead to 51-46 and 55-50, but Waunakee kept hitting its free throws.
Waunakee hit six straight foul shots in the fourth at one point, and it quickly built the lead back up to 59-51 with 1:34 left.
Madison Blair, who was held to only nine points, hit a layup to cut the lead to 62-55 with a minute left, but Waunakee closed out the game on a 6-0 run.
Shauna Malchine led the Wolverines with 18 points, and Stiewe added 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Malchine, Stiewe, Jenna Bouffiou, Hannah Duerst and Rylee Chart all fouled out for Waterford.
“I felt like none of the interesting situations went our way,” Brechtl added about some questionable calls. “You don’t throw this game on the refs. We needed to handle the ball a little bit better. We didn’t quit. Some shots didn’t fall late in the game, and they knocked their free throws down.”
Salute the seniors
Waterford must say goodbye to Blair, Bouffiou, Duerst, Chart, Stiewe, Savannah Barry, Lori Bakke and Malchine.
After the game, Brechtl conducted a long post-game speech in the locker room where she thanked each of the seniors for their contributions.
“Basketball’s been my life for 18 years,” Blair said. “I love playing next to these girls, it’s just sad our time together is done. This team is my family. I love them. I’m really blessed I got to play for Coach Brechtl.”
On a bright note, Blair became Waterford’s all-time leading scorer with her first points in the game.
Duerst, a perimeter defensive stopper on the team, recalls how the eight seniors started playing together in grade school.
“We’ve come a long way, and we went farther than people thought,” she said. “We went to Woodfield together, and we got a team together in third grade. Madison transferred and joined us in eighth grade. We’re best friends off the court. I know these girls will be here for me in the future.”
Bakke, who didn’t see a lot of playing time this season but was a solid team leader, was proud of her squad.
“We put everything out there, but it’s a heartbreaker,” she said. “There were lots of tears in the locker room after the game.”
“I’ll miss the seniors and the whole team. In practices, we brought everything, and it was so much fun.”
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