Xavier girls basketball uses long ball to take down Omro in WIAA Division 3 regional final
By Dustin Riese
For AppletonSportsPage.com
APPLETON – In what was a rematch of last year’s Division 3 regional final, won by Xavier, the No. 3 seed Omro Foxes traveled to Torchy Clark Gymnasium to face off against the No. 2-seeded Hawks in a 2025 WIAA Division 3 girls basketball regional championship game.
Fresh off a dominating 63-33 victory over Berlin the night before, the Hawks were looking to make yet another trip to sectionals in what has become the norm for the program.
In what was almost a carbon copy of last season, the Hawks used relentless defensive pressure from start to finish, mixed with their superb shooting from distance in a 68-42 victory Saturday night.
Xavier (16-10) moves on to a D-3 sectional semifinal against No. 1 seed Winneconne (23-3) on Thursday at Brillion. Xavier defeated Winneconne 58-51 back on Dec. 28.
“I am very proud of the girls for how they played tonight,” Xavier head coach Andy Vande Hey said. “They played with hearts, made a lot of great decisions, and kept the pressure on a very good Omro team.”
The 3-point shot ultimately decided the game as the Hawks not only came out strong with a pair of triples from Brynn Krull and Joy Krull, but didn’t stop there as a large part of their offense was based on their success from deep. Had it not been for Ava Koch and her quick five points for the Foxes, Xavier would’ve put the Foxes in panic mode almost as quickly as the game began.
Omro’s lone lead came from a Koch triple to make it 8-6, but it was a short-lived, with Xavier tying things up shortly after on a pair of free throws. Another 3-pointer from Ali Tylinski put the Hawks back in front 11-8, and they would never look back.
The Hawks pulled away with a 13-2 run, pushing their lead to 24-12.
Joy Krull started that run with the first five points, with Braelee Kiepert and Hailey Hafner getting involved toward the end. As if the hot start from distance wasn’t good enough for the Hawks, why not have Faith Hafner connect for back-to-back triples midway through the first half as the Hawks pushed their lead over the Foxes to 30-14.
“The girls shot the ball outstanding tonight,” Vande Hey said. “That was nice to see, especially since we didn’t shoot the ball well in warmups. When that happens, you never know how things are going to go once the game starts, but we have been working on a few things at practice this week to help with our looks, and that has led to an increased shooting percentage from deep.”
With the Hawks firmly in command 37-19, it was time for Omro to use a small run of its own to get back into the game. Once again, it was the 3-point shot that played a role in that run as Holly Sell and Annabelle Chase connected for a pair of triples as part of an 8-0 run to it 37-27. Not to be outdone, the Hawks closed out the first half on an 8-4 run, with Brynn Krull and Faith Hafner adding two more 3s to push the Hawks lead to 45-31 at the break. Krull led Xavier with 22 points.
Despite holding a 14-point lead at the half, all good teams have that killer instinct mindset of looking to finish teams off. That is precisely what Xavier did to start the second half, as it scored the first 10 points of the half and flipped the score to 55-31 for their largest lead of the night. Brynn Krull was the entire run for the Hawks to start the second half as she scored all 10 of those points, with six of them coming from beyond the arc. Xavier finished with 12 3-pointers in all.
“The girls were extremely excited coming out of the break, but they had the mindset of this being a 0-0 game,” Vande Hey said. “They knew the adjustments us coaches wanted to make, and they just got after it right from the start.”
Omro (19-7) did its best to battle back, with Sell hitting another three, but once the Hawks went down and answered with a three of their own, the game was as good as over.
With the win, the Hawks are back in the sectional semifinals, where it will once again be deja vu as they beat Winneconne handily in this spot last year on their way to the state tournament.
“Winneconne is a great team,” Vande Hey said. “We played them last year and once this year over Christmas. They are an extremely young and talented team that is playing some great ball right now. I am sure they are just as excited for this rematch as we are.”
Hawks 68, Foxes 42
Omro 31 11 – 42
Xavier 45 23 – 68
OMRO (42): Shayli Carter 4, Mae Johnston 3, Holly Sell 14, Ariana King 2, Lillian Schoonover 1, Annabelle Chase 3, Ava Koch 15. FG: 14. FT: 9-12. 3-pointers: 5 (Sell 3, Chase 1, Koch 1). Record: 19-7.
XAVIER (68): Hailey Hafner 6, Brynn Krull 22, Braelee Kiepert 5, Joy Krull 11, Ali Tylinski 8, Faith Hafner 14, Annika Heimann 2. FG: 22. FT: 12-17. 3-pointers 12 (B. Krull 4, J. Krull 3, F. Hafner 3, Tylinski 1, Kiepert 1). Record: 16-10.