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Xavier storms back in second half to defeat Elk Mound, reach D-3 title game at WIAA State Girls Basketball Tournament

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By Dustin Riese
For AppletonSportsPage.com

GREEN BAY – The Xavier girls basketball team was in a familiar place, back at the Resch Center for a Division 3 semifinal at the WIAA State Girls Basketball Tournament.

Seeded No. 4 in the tournament, the Hawks are riding high as they not only went through a pair of No. 1 seeds (Winneconne and Wittenberg-Birnamwood) in the sectional just to get there, but Wittenberg was unbeaten heading into their match-up with the Hawks last Saturday.

The Hawks overcame a slow start to end the game with an 18-point second-half advantage to deliver a 45-35 victory over the top-seed Mounders. Xavier will now play for a gold ball for a second-straight season.

Xavier (19-10), which lost to Madison Edgewood in last year’s D-3 final, will try again for a state championship as it takes on Oostburg (27-2) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

“We knew that Elk Mound was a great team and they did a great job coming out of the blocks strong to hit a ton of shots,” Xavier head coach Andy Vande Hey said. “There are always nerves when it comes to the first game at a state tournament, so our goal was to keep battling throughout.”

Nerves were evident from both teams throughout the first half, as there were long stretches where neither team could find the hoop. That wasn’t the case in the first few minutes as Joy Krull and Ali Tylinski combined for the Hawks’ first nine points as they each connected for a 3-pointer. The only problem was the Mounders ability to get the ball inside, as their first eight points came in the paint, with Ellie Schiszik responsible for four of those eight.

Trailing 9-8, Elk Mound began to take over as the Hawks struggled to do much of anything on offense. That led to a brief 5-0 run, with Kendra Garnett connecting for a triple to put the Mounders in front 13-9. It only got worse from there for the Hawks as the Mounders used an 11-2 run to break the first half open and opened up a 19-11 advantage with less than four minutes to go. Annika Heimann was responsible for both of the Hawks points in that run as she knocked down a pair of free throws.

Xavier did its best to find some sort of positive on the offensive end late in the first half, with Brynn Krull scoring her first points of the game from the free throw line to keep things close, but it was another Schiszik bucket off a loose ball in the final minute that pushed the Mounders’ lead to 21-13 at the break.

Playing from behind hasn’t been an issue for the Hawks throughout the postseason. The first few minutes of the second half would be crucial for the Hawks as they not only needed to play tough on the defensive end but would have to figure out a way to knock down some shots on the offensive end.

Wouldn’t you know it, it was Tylinski opening the scoring in the second half as she knocked down her second 3-pointer to pull the Hawks within 21-16. That was the start of what was an 8-0 for the Hawks to open the second half as Hailey Hafner went inside for a layup, followed by the Faith Hafner triple to tie the game at 21-21. Those were the only points of the second half for nearly nine minutes until Allie Robel and Layna Peterson exchanged buckets to keep things tied 23-23.

The Hawks continued to give Elk Mound fits throughout the second half as forced shots and turnovers led to Xavier ripping off a 16-4 run to begin the half to grab their first lead since early on, 29-25. Another bucket on the inside from Faith Hafner upped the lead to six.

“We did not make shots in the first half and statistically we never shoot that poorly,” Vande Hey said. “It may have been the worst shooting performance we have had this season so we knew it would turn around.”

All it took for the Mounders to silence the crowd was to go with what was working as Robel got back on the inside and drew the foul to complete the three-point play. It took the Hawks nearly the entire game to find their groove from the outside, but after a trio of three-pointers from Joy Krull, Faith Hafner, and Ali Tylinski, put Xavier up 40-35 with less than two minutes to go.

That would be all the Hawks would need as Faith Hafner and Joy Krull iced the game from the free throw line to close out the 45-35 win. Xavier finished 14-for-16 at the free throw line as it was able to overcome a 26 percent shooting performance (12-for-46).

“The second half was all about the defense for us and simply to relax,” Vande Hey said. “We wanted to get after it and keep fighting and eventually those shots we were missing were starting to fall which was good.”

Hawks 45, Mounders 35
Xavier   13   32   –   45
Elk Mound   21   14   –   35
XAVIER (45): Ali Tylinski 3-7 1-2 10, Brynn Krull 1-8 4-4 6, Joy Krull 3-8 3-4 11, Faith Hafner 3-8 2-2 10, Annika Heimann 0-3 2-2 2, Hailey Hafner 1-6 0-0 2, Chloe Pfefferle 0-3 2-2 2, Layna Petersen 1-2 0-0 2, Braelee Kiepert 0-1 0-0 0, Makenna Brightman 0-0 0-0 0, Emma Lapp 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 12-46. FT: 14-16. 3-pointers: 7-30 (Tylinski 3-6, J. Krull 2-4, F. Hafner 2-7, Kiepert 0-1, Pfefferle 0-2, H. Hafner 0-2, Heimann 0-2). Rebounds: 33 (F. Hafner 6). Turnovers: 6. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: none. Record: 19-10.
ELK MOUND (35): Hailey Meyer 2-2 0-0 4, Allie Robel 5-9 3-3 13, Isabella Kongshaug 1-8 0-0 2, Ellie Schiszik 2-11 1-2 5, Allie Roder 2-6 1-2 6, Claire Roff 0-1 0-0 0, Kendra Garnett 2-4 0-0 5, Taylor Frinack 0-0 0-0 0, Jaidynn Sarauer 0-0 0-0 0, Elli Beskow 0-0 0-0 0, Teagan Mayer 0-0 0-0 0, Loftyn Awe 0-0 0-0 0, Abby Wolf 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 14-41. FT: 5-7. 3-pointers: 2-15 (Roder 1-1, Garnett 1-3, Schiszik 0-4, Kongshaug 0-7). Rebounds: 28 (Roder 11). Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 27-2.