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When it came to heart, the Barneveld girls basketball team had plenty of it Saturday when they took on Heritage Christian in the WIAA Division 5 sectional finals at Fort Atkinson.
When it came to speed, the Eagles came up a little short.
The Patriots, a team that played in Division 4 last season and lost in overtime in the sectional finals, outquicked the Eagles, wearing them down as the game went on, and earned a berth in the 2012 State Girls Basketball Tournament with a convincing 59-38 win.
"We play teams all year that have two and maybe three good players but Heritage Christian has a whole team of good players," veteran Barneveld coach Jim Myers said. "You can coach just about anything but speed. We haven't seen that type of pressure and that quickness."
The Patriots earned the state berth without a senior on the team.
Ramiyah Bennett, a 5-7 sophomore guard gave the Patriots the lead with a basket when the game was six seconds old and had five of the first seven points of the match-up, sending her team to a 7-0 lead. She keyed a 13-8 first quarter advantage with seven points.
Shelby Meyer drove the baseline and scored with 4:05 to play for Barneveld's first score. The rest of the first quarter points came at the line as freshman Rachel Slaney put in two of three and junior Madi Laube both of her attempts.
The Eagles struggled with the swarming defense the Patriots used and made only 10 baskets the entire game on 37 tries. That came in at a cool 27%.
The Patriots were far more successful. They drilled 20 of 38 for 52%.
The Eagles struggled with their shots early and had too many in and outers.
"We got the shots we wanted but they wouldn't drop," Myers said. "If some of them would have gone in, the game could have been closer."
It was fairly close for the first half. The Eagles trailed 13-8 at the end of the first frame thanks to an 8-4 run. The margin was 10 at halftime with Heritage Christian leading 28-18.
The third quarter was the undoing for the Eagles. That was when 5-11 junior Jazmine Harris scored 10 of her game high 22 points and 5-8 sophomore Tiersa Gille picked up all six of hers. The duo keyed a 16-3 run with the Eagles scoreless until the 1:47 mark when sophomore Hailey Kleppe made a free throw. A half minute later Barneveld got its lone basket of the quarter on a bank shot by senior Hailey Cannoy.
Junior guard Madi Laube emerged as Barneveld's scoring leader with 10 points. She made the only two three pointers of the game of the 10 treys the Eagles took.
Besides the 22 put in by Harris the Patriots got double figures from Ramiyah Bennett who finished with 13.
The Eagles also had trouble buying a free throw. They were 16 of 28 from the line for a slim 57%.
The Patriots also had the rebound advantage with a 40-30 spread. Shelby Meyer and McKenzie Sporle both grabbed seven for the Eagles and Cannoy snagged five.
The Patriots had a dozen steals and converted on most of them. Barneveld had five with Cannoy getting two.
Cannoy also dished out two assists.
Heritage Christian coughed up the basketball nine times while Barneveld had 15 miscues.
Defensively the Eagles did their best to negate the weapons. They held all-state candidate 5-7 junior guard Moriah Begin scoreless but 5-8 freshman Mariana Bautista came off the bench to contribute eight. Begin carried a 10.9 scoring average into the game.
The Eagles also cooled off Ramiyah Bennett after the first quarter.
"We did what we could and the kids played hard," Myers said. "They are a very strong team inside and we had trouble with that. We gave them too many third and fourth opportunities on the boards."
The Eagles closed out the year as Six Rivers East co-champs with Black Hawk and won the Regional championship.
"Our seniors did it for us all season," Myers said. "They have set the bar pretty high and we hope it continues."
"On top of that this was a nice bunch of young ladies," Myers said. "They were great to be around."
The Eagles say goodbye to Cannoy, a three year varsity player who worked hard at her game to be a threat from anywhere on the floor.
"Hailey has been a solid defender and will play in the D 4/5 all star game this summer," Myers said. "She has done a real nice job for us."
Heidi Chapman moved into a starting role her senior season and made many contributions.
"When teams focused on shutting down Cannoy, Slaney and Laube, Heidi would step in an score," Myers said. "She has worked hard to improve her game."
Shelby Meyer was named captain this season and Myers said she accepted the role successfully.
"She has handled the ball really well, is a solid passer and tough rebounder," Myers added. "She plays a nice floor game."
Also leaving the Eagles line-up is Becka Owens who helped the team off the bench.
"She probably didn't get the minutes she wanted but she always made the most of her opportunities," Myers said. "She played a heck of a game when we beat Black Hawk on our home floor and earned more minutes because of that."
The Eagles finished the season 23-4 and were 11-1 in SRE play.
The Patriots head to the Division 5 bracket of the WIAA state tournament with a 22-4 mark. They play undefeated (26-0) Seneca in the second game of the Thursday afternoon session.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
HC 13 15 16 15 59
B 8 10 3 17 38
BOX SCORE
HERITAGE CHRISTIAN 59: (fg-ft-tp) R. Bennett 5-3-13, Bautista 2-4-8, T. Bennett 0-0-0, Mudd 0-1-1, Begin 0-0-0, Gordon 1-0-2, Sandifer 3-1-7, Harris 7-8-22, Gille 2-2-6, Jefferson 0-0-0 Totals 20-19/39-59 Fouls-22
BARNEVELD 38: Bahr 0-1-1, Sporle 1-0-2, Straubhaar 0-0-0, Kleppe 0-1-1, Chapman 1-2-4, Crawfis 0-0-0, Laube 2-4-10, Owens 0-0-0, Meyer 2-0-4, Evans 0-0-0, Cannoy 3-1-7, Slaney 1-6-8, Carden 0-0-0, Oimoen 0-1-1 Totals 10-16/28-38 Fouls-21 Fouled out-Slaney
3 point goals:
B-Laube 2