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By Joelle Doye
The Dodgeville girls basketball team nearly put on a clinic on how to erase a large deficit to claim victory, while the Mineral Point girls team almost allowed a game to slip away.
Almost.
The Pointers were up 28-8 midway through the second quarter, but the Dodgers slowly battled back throughout the second half to nearly force overtime before Mineral Point escaped with a hard-fought 61-58 non-conference win Monday.
The Pointers started strong with a hoop from Emily Mitchell and a three from Caitlyn Qualley, but the Dodgers responded with baskets from Megan Zoet and Rebecca Veinberg to pull within one midway through the first. Seven points from Pointer freshman Jessica Schultz, and a three from Mitchell, in the final 2:43 helped the home team hold a 16-8 lead at the end of one.
Everything was going Mineral Point's way in the second quarter, as the Pointers opened with a 12-0 run to take a 28-8 lead. Clara Chambers, Lauren Graber, Paula Pittz, and Schultz all got in on the scoring action. Mitchell picked up her 3rd foul at the 2:13 mark and Samantha Crowley cashed in on the free throws. Two more tosses from Zoet, and a three from Crowley got the Dodgers within 30-17 with 45 seconds left, but Schultz's basket right before the break kept the momentum on Point's side at 32-17.
Dodgeville came out of the halftime break with renewed energy and focus and compiled a 10-1 stretch , six courtesy of Crowley, to cut their deficit to 33-27 with 5:25 to go. Point then fired off an 8-2 burst that featured an old fashioned three point play from Schultz, but the Dodgers again got things within six on hoops by Caitlyn Bauer and Crowley. Qualley's basket with 1:20 to go would be the final scoring of the frame by either team as the Pointers still led 43-35 entering the fourth.
After a quick bucket by Taylor Stanek, Schultz went on a 7-0 run of her own. The Dodgers began to chip away at the Pointer lead and got it down to just five on a Crowley basket at the 3:14 mark. Natalie Chubb's three point play the hard way gave Mineral Point a slight cushion at 57-48 with 2:24 to go, but the Dodgers hit back to back threes by Zoet and Crowley, and suddenly the Pointer lead had dwindled to just three at 57-54. Schultz hit two free throws, but the lead was down to just two after a three point play from Crowley with 1:03 remaining. Mitchell missed her two charity tosses, and Zoet had a chance to tie things at the line but only hit her second charity toss. Chambers missed the front end of her double bonus with 11 seconds to go. After a Dodgeville timeout, Crowley had a good look for a layup on the inside, but the shot just missed. Mitchell hit her second free throw, and the long three point attempt to tie by Dodgeville was off the mark as the Pointers escaped.
Crowley led all scorers with 26 points as Zoet chipped in 19.
Schultz added 25 to pace the Pointers.
"I joked with the girls after the game that I don't get gray hair anymore. Now it just falls out after a game like that," said Pointer coach Mitch Wainwright. "We played some of our best ball of the season when we were able to build that lead in the second quarter, but in the second half we let them control the tempo and we just would not run our half court offense."
"We got into some foul trouble in the second half, and that fourth foul on Emily Mitchell was a real tough call. But we had other kids step up, and our good ball movement really helped us find the open man, which seemed to be Jessica Schultz more often than not."
"We worked hard the entire game, and we got lucky this ended well for us. We did just enough things down the stretch to win, but I wish we would've done a few more things right as well. We needed a game like this though, in all honesty. Dodgeville is a very good team, and hopefully we will be able to take a lot of things away from this, both good and bad, and learn from it," concluded Wainwright.
The Mineral Point girls are at Boscobel Thursday to wrap up the SWAL season and have a bye the first round of the tourney next Tuesday. As the #3 seed, they will host the winner of #11 Orfordville Parkview at #6 Fennimore on Friday, March 1.
Dodgeville will host Prairie du Chien to conclude SWC conference play on Thursday. The Dodgers received the #4 seed and will host #13 Viroqua on Tuesday in WIAA opening round play.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
D: 8--9-18-23--58
MP: 16-16-11-18--61
BOX SCORE
DODGEVILLE (fg-ft-tp) 58: Stanek 1-2/7-4, Bauer 2-0-5, Crowley 9-6/7-26, Zoet 6-5/6-19, Veinberg 2-0/1-4. Totals: 20-13/21-58. Fouls: 23. Three pointers: Crowley 2, Zoet 2, Bauer 1.
MINERAL POINT 61: Pittz 2-2/4-6, Qualley 3-1/2-8, Mitchell 2-1/3-5, Chambers 1-2/6-4, Chubb 3-1/2-7, Schultz 9-7/9-25. Totals: 22-14/26-61. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: Schultz. Three pointers: Mitchell 1, Qualley 1.