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When you get out to a good start in a game that's a good thing. When you let the other team back into the game, that's not such a good thing.
Both of these things happened to the Dodgeville girls basketball team Friday night when they traveled for 2 1/2 hours to number 3 seed Nekoosa for a Division 3 regional semifinal.
In the end, the Lady Dodgers made just enough free throws down the stretch to pull out a 49-46 win and a date with Richland Center the following night in the regional final.
The Dodgers jumped out to a 13-5 lead after the first quarter, but then gave most of that lead back to the Papermakers on an 18-13 Nekoosa advantage in period two.
Senior guard Rachel Pope hit six of her game-high 12 points in that frame with senior forward Laura Neil (8 points) adding five.
"We got out to a good start, but then game them too many second chance and easy opportunities in the second quarter," said Dodgeville coach Josh Busch.
The game went back and forth from then on out with Nekoosa tying the contest at 35 after three periods.
Pope hit four points and Neil three in the fourth quarter as the Dodgers held a 14-11 margin, the final distance of the victory.
Samantha Crowley hit a big bucket to put the Dodgers up by four, but Nekoosa's Taylor Halslmaier picked a good time to hit her only bucket of the game, a three pointer that pulled her team within one.
Dodger Laura Neil made one of two free throws then her team got a stop with a two point lead..
The big play of the final seconds came when senior Macy McConnell and freshman Taylor Stanek pressured a Nekoosa guard into a travel and Pope was fouled and hit one of two from the line to push the lead up to three.
Nekoosa got a good look at a three pointer to tie, but the ball rolled around on the rim and the final buzzer went off.
"The big thing was we didn't panic,"Busch pointed out. "Laura Neil stepped up and scored some big points tonight and Sam (Samantha Crowley) hit a big three for us too."
Nekoosa had eight payers score with Desi Schuh leading the way with 11 points, all coming in the second half.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Nekoosa 5 18 12 11-46
Dodgeville 13 13 9 14-49
BOX SCORE
Nekoosa 46 (fg, ft, tp) Brost 2-3/5-7, Schuh 3-4/4-11, Humphrey 2-0-4, Marcouex 0-1/2-1, Halslmaier 1-4/7-7, Coyer 3-2/2-8, Sorbo 1-0-2, Olson 2-2/4-6. Totals 12-16/24-46. F-23. 3-pointers: Schuh, Halslmaier.
Dodgeville 49: Stanek 2-2/4-6, Pope 4-4/11-12, Crowley 2-0-5, Ley 0-2/2-2, Neil 2-4/7-8, Bakker 2-2/4-6, McConnell 1-6/6-8, Lee 1-0-2, Dalsing 0-0-0, Zoet 0-0-0. Totals 12-20/34-49. Fouls 22. 3-pointers: Crowley.