March 12, 2015 at 12:48 p.m.
One game short
The Lady Dodgers, however, took the Lady Whitewater Whippets down to the wire in a 57-54 loss in the sectional finals at Middleton.
Whitewater, the number 1 ranked team in Division 3, led pretty much the entire game.
They held a 14-12 edge after the opening quarter with Sarah Schumacher (6'2") getting six points and 6'2" Myriama Smith-Traore putting in three free throws to lead them on the inside.
The Dodgers countered with a three pointer from Hannah Jones, baskets from Taylor Stanek and Kara Crowley, two free throws by Kennedy Stumpf and a charity toss by Stanek.
Smith-Traore and Schumacher continued their inside dominance in period two with six points apiece while the Dodgers got a three from Samantha Crowley, a two from Megan Pluemer and two free throws by Stumpf - but Whitewater took a 28-19 lead into the intermission.
The Dodgers pulled to within 38-32 by the close of three with Stanek and Kara Crowley both hitting threes and Jones and Samantha Crowley both scoring a bucket and free throw.
Then came the exciting fourth period.
Whitewater led by as many as nine again, but at the 5:00 mark Kara Crowley hit a three from the side.
Then came what could've been the turning point of the outcome. Jones got a steal of an inbound pass, scored on a layup and was fouled, but that play and subsequent free throw was all waived off because a referee at the other end of the court realized a timeout was called by the Whitewater coach - before the inbound pass was stolen.
At 2;20 the Dodgers came up with three shots at the basket on one possession, but couldn' get any to fall. Then Stanek made one of two free throws for a 50-46 Whippet lead.
Jones scored on a drive at 1:20 to make it a 54-48 score.
After two Smith-Traore free throws put her team up by six with :46 remaining, Jones buried a three.
Smith-Traore went 1x2 on the next possession for a 55-51 lead with :26 remaining and Jones nailed another trey at the :16.5 mark for a 55-54 score.
Smith-Traore went 2x2 from the line with :14 remaining and the Dodgers called time out at :10.8 trailing 57-54.
Needing a three, the Whippet defense played them tight on the perimeter and Smith-Traore deflected a pass into a teammate's hands and the ball was held as time expired.
Smith-Traore, a sophomore, hit a game-high 22 points with Sarah Schumacher, a senior, adding 16 as did her sophomore sister Rebekah. The younger Schumacher scored eight in the final frame and 12 overall in the second half.
"We knew they would go inside," said Dodgeville coach Mark Dooley. "We knew their bigs were ging to be tough. We knew we had to keep them off the offensive boards and we didn't do a very good job at that."
"I'm so proud of these girls - they never quit," he added. "We wanted to get the ball inside and attack their bigs and get them in foul trouble - then kick it our and shoot the three. When Hannah, Taylor, Kara and Sam get in a shooting rhythm, they can each hit the three."
"This was one of the great basketball games with two heavyweights duking it out," he said. "Our seniors did a great job - all four of them. The ones who didn't start pushed the others."
"It boiled down to us making a few free throws, but credit Whitewater for making theirs," Dooley pointed out. "But our girls had a fantastic season - setting a record for most wins and Taylor became the top scorer ever."
SCORE BY QUARTERS
WHITEWATER 14 14 10 19-57
DODGEVILLE 12 7 13 22-54
BOX SCORE
WHITEWATER 57 (fg, ft, tp) Reynolds1-0-2, Martinez 0-0/2-0, Re. Schumacher 5-6/6-16, Sa. Schumacher 6-4/4-16, Smith-Traore 6-10/10-22. Totals 18-21/23-57. F-16. FO-S. Schumacher.
DODGEVILLE 54: Bauer 0-0-0, Stanek 2-5/8-10, Jones 8-1/4-20, S. Crowley 2-1/2-6, Stumpf 0-4/4-4, K. Crowley 5-0-12, Binsfeld 0-0-0, Pluemer 1-0-2. Totals 18-11/18-54. F-18. 3-pointers Jones 3, K. Crowley 2, Stanek 1, S. Crowley 1.
