Xavier girls basketball falls just short of Madison Edgewood in WIAA Division 3 state title game

AppletonSportsPage.com

GREEN BAY – Xavier’s bid for its first-ever state championship came up a bucket short as the Hawks fell to Madison Edgewood 55-52 in the Division 3 title game at the 2024 WIAA State Girls Basketball Tournament on Saturday afternoon at the Resch Center.

Xavier led for all but 26 seconds of the first half.

Following free throws by Molly Martine and Elle Krull, the Hawks took a 10-9 lead, starting a 9-0 run that saw their lead balloon to eight after a layup by Faith Hafner and another free throw by Krull.

Edgewood closed to within two before Xavier went on a 8-2 run over the final 4½ minutes of the half that included two baskets by Carsyn Stemp and a 3-pointer from Joy Krull, and took a 29-21 lead into halftime.

Baskets by Stempa and Elle Krull pushed the Hawks’ lead back to 44-39 after Edgewood came to within a point, and Xavier held on to the lead until two free throws by Anna Miller with 2:44 left in the game gave the Crusaders a 50-49 lead.

The Hawks could not make up any ground as they missed on three shots and turned the ball over once on its next four possessions.

Edgewood got a layup from Erin Schauer and four three throws in the final 26 seconds to up its lead to six before Stempa hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to provide the final margin.

Stempa finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, Elle Krull added 11 points, and Kylee Standish had seven for the Hawks.

Miller topped Edgewood (26-3) with 20 points. The title is Crusaders second in program history, with the other coming in 2017. Xavier (22-8) was making its third state appearance and first since back-to-back trips in 2015 and 2016.

Crusaders 55, Hawks 52
Xavier   29   23   –   52
Edgewood   21   34   –   55
XAVIER (52): Halle Vande Hey 2-11 1-2 5, Molly Martine 1-4 1-2 4, Joy Krull 2-4 0-0 5, Carsyn Stempa 7-20 0-0 16, Kylee Standish 3-5 0-0 7, Elle Krull 3-7 5-8 11, Faith Hafner 1-4 2-2 4, Annika Heimann 0-1 0-0 0, Alexandra Tylinski 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 19-56. FT: 9-14. 3-pointers: 5-19 (Stempa 2-7, Martine 1-2, Standish 1-2, J. Krull 1-3, Vande Hey 0-2, E. Krull 0-3). Rebounds: 30 (Stempa 7). Assists: 10 (J. Krull 5). Fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 22-8.
EDGEWOOD (55): Maren Schmotzer 2-5 1-2 5, Lilly Moschkau 2-3 2-2 7, Taya Fernandez 0-3 2-2 2, Erin Schauer 5-12 2-4 14, Anna Miller 8-15 2-3 20, Beanie Thompson 2-3 3-4 7, Zhana Gneuwuch 0-1 0-0 0, Mya Tomlinson 0-1 0-0 0, Macey Faust 0-0 0-0 0, Olivia Schultz 0-1 0-0 0. FG: 19-44. FT: 12-17. 3-pointers: 5-17 (Schauer 2-6, Miller 2-6, Moschkau 1-2, Fernandez 0-1, Tomlinson 0-1, Schultz 0-1). Rebounds: 36 (Schmotzer 8, Thompson 8). Assists: 13 (Miller 4). Fouls: 12. Fouled out: none. Record: 26-3.