---

When you're facing a team that has beat you twice already and you have four seniors and a coach who has been sick all day long, the signs may not point in your favor.
The having beat you twice never entered anyone's mind, but the not feeling well may've played into the fact that the Richland Center girls jumped off to a 25-4 first quarter bulge. But it was their press that kept the Dodgers from getting the ball across half court or at least near the basket in that frame.
The end result was the Dodgers battled back to be only outscored 51-49 the rest of the way, but that first quarter was too much to overcome in a 76-53 Division 3 Regional Final girls basketball game played at Richland Center Saturday night.
"We basically watched them play defense in the first quarter instead of attacking," said coach Josh Busch following the contest. "They (Center) made a point of attacking and rebounding and we didn't match their intensity and physicality. We gave them way too many second and third chance points."
The Dodgers trailed 37-17 at the half and got the score to within 11 in the third quarter. They had the ball and a chance to cut it to single digits, but a shot from the side left a Dodger player on the floor - Center rebounded and quickly got the ball down the court for an easy two points. Their press, a couple of steals and Dodger turnovers, led to a 9-0 Hornet run and the margin was quickly 20 again.
"We fought back to get to within 11 in the third and had a chance to cut it to single digits," Busch said, adding "but they went on that 9-0 run and we didn't have an answer."
A lot of that 9-0 run and scoring for the Hornets came from 5'5" senior Kelsey Collins who scored 31 points on the night. She hit 20 of those in the second half and had five three pointers.
5'9" senior Abby Beranek joined her in double figures with 12, 10 coming in the first quarter. She injured her knee early in the second frame and never returned to the contest.
Another senior, 5' 7" Kelly Lynch, also hit 12 points.
"Credit the girls for coming back like they did, Busch added. "This group of seniors have been through a lot of injuries as we've been trying to rebuild the program. We got to the regional finals this season and that in itself is a big step in the right direction. I'm going to miss this group of seniors."
The Dodgers were led in scoring by senior Rachel Pope, who leaves the program as the all-time leading girls basketball scorer. She had 16 points in her finale with 13 of those coming in the second half.
Freshman Taylor Stanek popped in 14 with all but one coming in the first half.
Besides Pope, playing their final game for the Dodgers were: Laura Ley, Laura Neil, Maria Bakker, Macy McConnell and Megan Dalsing.
Richland Center (23-1) moves on in the tourney to face unbeaten (24-0) Adams-Friendship at Baraboo tonight in a sectional semifinal.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Dodgeville 4 13 18 18-53
Richland Center 25 12 23 16-76
BOX SCORE
Dodgeville 53 (fg, ft, tp) Dressler 0-0-0, Stanek 4-6/7-14, Pope 6-1/4-16, Crowley 2-0-4, Ley 0-2/4-2. Neil 2-0-4, Bakker 2-0-4, McConnell 3-1/2-7, Baumann 0-0-0, Lee 1-0-2, Dalsing 0-0-0, Zoet 0-0-0. Totals 20-10/18-53. F-20. 3-pointers: Pope 3.
Richland Center 76: Wilson 0-2/3-2, Anderson 1-0/4-2, Collins 9-8/10-31, Ewing 0-1/2-1, Beranek 6-0-12, Schauf 3-0-7, Campbell 0-0-0, Gunderson 0-0-0, Deets 1-0-2, Schmidt 0-1/4-1, Lynch 6-0/4-12, Meeker 0-0-0, Schultz 2-0-4. Totals 28-14/29-76. F-0. 3-pointers: Collins 5, Schauf.