Xavier pulls ahead late, holds off Kettle Moraine Lutheran in WIAA girls basketball Division 3 state semifinal

By Dustin Riese
For AppletonSportsPage.com

ASHWAUBENON – The Xavier girls basketball team has never won a state title. The Hawks will have a chance for their first on Saturday.

Trailing for most of the second, Xavier used a late surge to upend Kettle Moraine Lutheran 56-52 in a Division 3 semifinal at the 2024 WIAA State Girls Basketball Tournament at the Resch Center on Thursday afternoon.

Xavier (22-7) will play Madiosn Edgewood (26-3) in the Division 3 championship game at approximately 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The game will be televised on WCWF of Green Bay and live-streamed on the station’s website.

Chargers guard Makenzie Luehring scored 20 of her game-high 32 points in the second half, but it was the Hawks finding a way to get the job done as their defense stepped up when needed while freshman Elle Krull came through with 20 massive points to lift the Hawks to the victory.

“I am super proud of these young ladies and the effort they showed,” Xavier head coach Andy Vande Hey said. “They were relentless and kept fighting, even though we got punched in the mouth to begin the second half.”

Xavier didn’t waste any time getting the scoring going as Molly Martine went inside for the first points of the game. Martine was the offense in the early going for the Hawks as she scored the team’s first four points. Trailing 7-4 after Luehring and Taylor Ignatowski scored seven-straight for KML, Hailey Hess continued added another hoop and the Hawks found themselves down 9-4 early.

After Kylee Standish connected on a triple to pull the Hawks within 9-7, Elle Krull started what was a massive game for her as four quick points pulled the Hawks back within two before Halle Vande Hey went inside to tie things up 13-13.

 Kettle Moraine responded with five points in a row from Luehring and Taylor Schwalenberg to retake the lead, before a pair of 3-pointers from Standish and Martine had the Hawks in front for the first time since the opening bucket at 19-18. Elle Krull connected for a late triple with the half winding down, but it was the Chargers who held a narrow 25-23 lead after one half of play.

Happy to be in the game, the Hawks couldn’t have asked for a worst start to their second half as the Chargers showed why many felt they were the favorites to leave Green Bay with the Gold Ball. Four quick points from Luehring played a role in that, as did five points from Madeline Leffel, and the Chargers opened the second half up on a 9-0 run to take their largest lead of the game 36-23 in the blink of an eye. It was at that point when Vande Hey called a timeout as he needed to get his team to regroup.

“We were out of rhythm throughout the game, but that really started to show to start the second half,” he said. “I will take some responsibility for that as a coach. We knew they were a fast team so we backed off a little more than we usually do. Eventually we got back to playing our style and it worked out.’

The only hopes Xavier had to come back in this game was to weather the storm and a pair of triples from Joy Krull helped as the Hawks pulled to within seven. Throw in the third 3 of the night from Martine and it was the Hawks on a 14-5 run as they were within four at 41-37.

It was at this point in the game when Luehring took over as she was going to put her team on her back. After having a much more balanced scoring attack in the first half, the Chargers were a one-woman wrecking crew in the second half as Luehring accounted for 20 of her team’s 27 points. That included the final 11 points of the game as she single-handedly kept her team in front most of the second half.

Trailing 41-38, Faith Hafner came through with a clutch triple for the Hawks to tie things up, only to have Luehring respond to put the Chargers back in front 44-41. For the Hawks to win this game, they knew they were going to have to match Luehring and with Elle Krull picking up five quick ones, Xavier pulled to within 48-46.

With the defense now taking over for Xavier down the stretch, the Hawks found themselves down 52-48 and with less than three minutes to go. That is when arguably the biggest play of the game happened as Elle Krull was in the right place at the right time as Martine tipped a rebound to her at the top of the key as he stepped up to knock down the triple, pulling the Hawks to within 52-51.

Elle Krull was just getting started as another defensive stop on the other end of the court saw the Hawks get out in transition as she was able to get free for another look. Despite the miss, she was fouled on that shot and was sent to the line with a chance to give the Hawks the lead late. Knowing the magnitude of these shots, you would’ve never guessed Elle Krull was a freshman as she knocked down all three shots to put the Hawks back in front 54-52.

“We have been in so many close games that playing from behind doesn’t bother us,” Krull said. “We’ve had massive comebacks all season and those are the games that prepare you to be here.”

Holding that two-point lead and less than a minute to go, Luehring did everything she could to will her team back, but it was the Hawks’ defense that tightened up at the right time as Martine closed things out from the free throw line to finish with 14 points and sent the Hawks to the Division 3 title game with 56-52 win.

“We never doubted ourselves that we couldn’t win this game,” Martine said. “As a group, we always play for each other and we know that no matter what the results are we will be there for one another. Despite trailing most of the game, we continued to play our game and eventually we broke through.”

“This is such a great group of girls,” Vande Hey added. “We are truly blessed to be on this journey together and to have one more practice and game together this season.”

Xavier finished 11-for-20 from 3-point range, which were much needed as it was only 6-for-32 inside the ar. However, KML was a bit worse, making only 18 of 56 shots from the field and went just 4-for-22 from 3-point range. Other than Luehring (11-for-24), the Chargers were 7-for-32.

Hawks 56, Chargers 52
Xavier   23   33   –   56
Kettle Moraine Lutheran   24   28   –   52
XAVIER (56): Kylee Standish 2-6 0-0 6, Joy Krull 2-3 0-0 6, Halle Vande Hey 1-6 0-0 2, Molly Martine 4-11 4-5 14, Carsyn Stempa 1-8 0-1 3, Elle Krull 6-12 3-4 20, Faith Hafner 1-5 2-4 5, Annika Heimann 0-1 0-0 0. FG: 17-52. FT: 11-16. 3-pointers: 11-20 (E. Krull 3-4, J. Krull 2-2, Standish 2-4, Martine 2-4, Hafner 1-1, Stempa 1-3, Vande Hey 0-2). Rebounds: 37 (Vande Hey 9). Assists: 9 (Vande Hey 3). Fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. Record; 22-7.
KETTLE MORAINE LUTHERAN (52): Taylor Ignatowski 1-5 0-0 3, Makenzie Luehring 11-24 8-9 32, Taylor Schwalbenberg 1-7 1-4 3, Mollie Murphy 1-1 0-0 2, Madeline Leffel 3-13 2-2 9, Hayden Lauer 0-4 1-2 1, Ava Walz 0-0 0-0 0, Hailey Hess 1-2 0-0 2. FG: 18-56. FT: 12-17. 3-pointers: 4-22 (Luehring 2-7, Ignatowski 1-5, Leffel 1-7, Schwalenberg 0-1, Lauer 0-2). Rebounds: 41 (Leffel 10). Assists: 15 (Schwalenberg 3). Fouls: 15. Fouled out: none. Record: 24-5.

Click here to view the state tournament scoreboard and schedule