Xavier girls basketball clinches state tournament berth with dominant win over Wittenberg-Birnamwood in WIAA Division 3 sectional final

By Dustin Riese
For AppletonSportsPage.com

BRILLION – Every girls high school basketball season starts with one goal in mind, to be standing at the Resch Center in Green Bay holding up the gold ball. For the Xavier girls, that goal was no different as they took on the Wittenberg-Birnamwood Chargers on Saturday with a trip to state on the line.

In a matchup of two of the better defenses in all of Division 3, it was the Hawks’ defense who set the tone early before the offense took over. All Xavier needed to do was play its style, which proved to be too much as the Hawks have a chance to fulfill their goal next week with a 55-39 victory in a WIAA Division 3 sectional final at Brillion High School.

“You could tell that everyone was a bit nervous in the beginning,” Xavier head coach Andy Vande Hey said. “Once they shook that off, they did a great job looking at the task in front of them. Once the second half started, you could get a sense that they knew what was about to happen was real and they just played to win this game.”

Led by their full-court pressure defense, Xavier never let the Chargers feel comfortable as the Hawks raced out to an early 11-0 lead. Joy Krull and Hailey Hafner each hit for four points in the run that put the Hawks in front for good. Not only did Xavier not trail in this game, but it took the Chargers eight minutes to score their first bucket with Ava Brie converted an old-fashioned three-point play.

Once that bucket went in, it was time for the Chargers’ defense to take over as they were the ones forcing the miscues leading to a pair of buckets from Melaina Granquist to pull the Chargers within 11-7. That little run from the Chargers seemed to awaken the Hawks again as they responded with a 7-0 run of their own capped off by the Molly Martine triple. In total, it was the Hawks’ defense using a 13-4 run to stretch their lead to 24-11 as the Chargers were looking for answers.

“We know that defense wins championships,” Martine said. “When the game started we got in a huddle and set the goal of locking up our opponents right from the jump. We know that our shots are not always going to fall, but if you can get back on defense and prevent them from scoring, it gives us a chance to win.”

Martine had the hot hand for most of the first half as he connected on two of her three 3-pointers to get the offense rolling. Vande Hey loved the way she came out, and had a feeling she was in line to have a great game.

“Molly has not only been shooting the ball well, but has been playing the best defense of her career,” he said. “She has been feeling under the weather lately, but she was feeling great today. Whenever you see her smiling in warmups, you know she is dialed in and she played great for us today.”

It was at this moment when both offenses started to settle in a bit more, but Elle Krull converting on an open triple followed by a steal it was the Hawks in front 27-11. Granquist responded with the only three of the game for Wittenberg while Halle Vande Hey answered with one of her own to keep the Hawks in front 32-15. Harper Rogowski used her defense to create some offense late in the half, but after one half of play it was all Xavier leading 35-19.

The Chargers couldn’t have asked for a better start to the second half as Grandquist went right inside for the quick bucket to pull the Chargers within 35-21. A quick response from Carsyn Stempa and Vande Hey saw the Hawks build a 40-21 lead, but their offense wasn’t as sharp in the second half as they were held to just 20 points compared to their 35 first-half points. A big reason for that was the Chargers’ defense getting more physical, which took them out of their game leading to some costly turnovers and missed opportunities on the offensive end.

“They do a great job of trapping the ball and getting their hands in passing lanes,” Vande Hey said. “We had a higher turnover percentage than we normally do, but you have to give Wittenberg credit for that. We know it will get harder from here, so we just need to work on a few things in practice next week.”

With the Hawks’ offense starting to go cold, you had a sense that the Chargers were going to make a game out of it and with Faith Resch coming away with four quick points the lead was back to 15. Hafner would stretch that lead out to 19 midway through the second half, but once again it was the Chargers storming back as they used a 9-2 run to pull within 51-39. Rory Salvesen was the key contributor in that run as she got out in transition to help put home some easy buckets.

Fortunately for the Hawks, the Chargers (25-3) wouldn’t get any closer. In fact, they didn’t score the rest of the way as the Hawks put the game away for good before dribbling out the clock and capped off the 55-39 victory. With the win, Xavier (21-7) is heading to the state tournament for the first time since back-to-back trips in 2015 and 2016, and for Martine, this was everything she has been dreaming of since she started playing.

“This feeling is crazy,” she said. “I can’t even believe we are going to state. This has been a dream of mine since I first started playing as a kid and to be able to get there as a senior will be an incredible opportunity to end our season with.”

Xavier (21-7) will play a Division 3 semifinal at the WIAA State Girls Basketball Tournament at the Resch Center in Green Bay on Thursday at 3:15 p.m. against Kettle Moraine Lutheran (24-4).

Hawks 55, Chargers 39
Xavier   35   20   –   55
Wittenberg-Birnamwood   19   20   –   39
XAVIER (55): Kylee Standish 1 3-4 5, 5 1 2-2 4, Halle Vande Hey 4 2-3 11, Molly Martine 4 0-0 11, Elle Krull 3 1-2 8, Faith Hafner 3 0-0 6, Annika Heimann 0 1-2 1, Carsyn Stempa 4 0-0 9. FG: 20. FT: 9-13. 3-pointers: 6 (Martine 3, 20 1, Vande Hey 1, Stempa 1). Fouls: 15. Fouled out: none. Record: 21-7.
WITTENBERG-BIRNAMWOOD (39): Nora Bushman 0 0-0 0, Ava Brie 1 1-1 3, Brie Ladika 0 0-0 0, Harper Rogowski 2- 1-2 5, Rory Salvesen 3 2-5 8, Faith Resch 4 0-0 8, Melania Granquist 6 4-6 15. FG: 16. FT: 6-12. 3-pointers: 1 (42). Fouls: 15. Fouled out: none. Record: 25-3.