Kimberly stymies Appleton East in Division 1 semifinal at WIAA State Girls Basketball Tournament

By Paul Lecker
AppletonSportsPage.com

GREEN BAY – Appleton East was very familiar with Kimberly’s stifling defense.

During the regular season, Appleton East was held under 50 points just four times, which included both Fox Valley Association matchups against the Papermakers.

In a Division 1 semifinal at the 2025 WIAA State Girls Basketball Tournament on Friday night, it was more of the same as Kimberly forced 17 turnovers, held the Patriots to 40 percent shooting, and cruised to a 55-34 victory at the Resch Center.

Kimberly (28-1) will play for its fourth state championship, and first since 1998, when it takes on Muskego (25-4) in the Division 1 title game Saturday at 8:15 p.m.

“They are very good on the defensive end of the floor and really kept us from getting into our offense,” Appleton East coach Brian Paschen said. “We got a couple of open looks early, didn’t knock them down, and they actually made two 3s to open up the score a little bit.

“They know how to position themselves defensively and they’re always anticipating where the passes are going to go. They kind of beat you to the spot.”

Appleton East (19-9) held its own early after a fastbreak layup by Emilia MontMarquette and a basket inside from Ella Jazdzewski brought the Patriots to within 12-9 eight minutes into the game.

From there, Kimberly took control. An 11-2 run sparked by five points from Kate McGinnis and four from Ava Van Vonderen, pushed the Papermakers lead to 23-11.

East stabilized for a moment, scoring on consecutive possessions on baskets from Jazdzewski and Torie Neubauer, but the Papermakers scored seven of the final nine points of the half and led 30-17 at the break.

Neubauer opened the second half with a 3-pointer and Jazdzewski, who was the only East player to reach double figures in scoring with 10, made a pair of free throws to cut it back to eight. That would be as close the Patriots would be.

Kimberly used a 9-0 run, capped by a pair of hoops from Raegen Krueger, to go up 43-24 with 10 minutes left.

MontMarquette hit a 3-pointer to end a 6-0 run in response for the Patriots, but they would only score four points over the final seven minutes and saw their season come to an end.

McGinnis, a Belmont University recruit, led the Papermakers with 17 points, while Van Vonderen added 14, and Haylie Dulas and Raegen Krueger both had 10 in the victory.

“I don’t know if anybody thought we’d be here,” Neubauer said. “Looking back at it, we fought in those (sectional) games and fought to get to this moment. That’s something huge to look back on. Although we couldn’t pull out this first game, we fought and we played hard. We wanted it more, but we weren’t able to get it.”

Papermakers 55, Patriots 34
Appleton East   17   17   –   34
Kimberly   30   25   –   55
APPLETON EAST (34): Torie Neubauer 3-6 0-0 7, Ella Sweeney 3-5 0-0 6, Ella Jazdzewski 3-4 4-6 10, Lilly Meulemans 2-6 0-0 4, Emilia MontMarquette 2-4 0-0 5, Ava Schwan 0-3 0-0 0, Jenna Ott 0-4 0-0 0, Aubrie Erickson 0-2 0-0 0, Ella Mielke 0-0 0-0 0, Grace Fecteau 0-0 0-0 0, Allena Neubauer 0-0 0-0 0, Ambria Fischer 0-0 0-0 0, Jaci Demerath 1-1 0-0 2, Brooklyn Feller 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 14-35. FT: 4-6. 3-pointers: 2-13 (T. Neubauer 1-2, MontMarquette 1-2, Sweeney 0-1, Meulemans 0-2, Schwan 0-2, Ott 0-4). Rebounds: 19 (Sweeney 3, Jazdzewski 3, MontMarquette 3). Turnovers: 17. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: none. Record: 19-9.
KIMBERLY (55): Haylie Dulas 4-8 1-1 10, Raegen Krueger 5-8 0-1 10, Emily Urban 2-3 0-0 4, Kate McGinnis 5-10 4-6 17, Ava Van Vonderen 4-6 5-6 14, Kennedy Ebben 0-2 0-0 0, Kendyll Brochtrup 0-0 0-0 0, Bently Drout 0-2 0-0 0, Claudia Asman 0-0 0-0 0, Sydney Woelfel 0-0 0-0 0, Ayla Raasch 0-0 0-0 0, Kylie VerBockel 0-0 0-0 0, Laney Sitek 0-0 0-0 0, Vada Sousek 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 20-39. FT: 10-14. 3-pointers: 5-12 (McGinnis 3-6, Van Vonderen 1-1, Dulas 1-3, Ebben 0-1, Drout 0-1). Rebounds: 26 (Van Vonderen 8). Turnovers: 10. Fouls: 8. Fouled out: none. Record: 28-1.