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Maybe now the bruises on Mineral Point senior guard Clara Chambers' knees will have time to heal.
The two free throws she made with 45 seconds left to underscore the 68-52 win over Kenosha St. Joseph's Catholic Academy should have helped as it assured the Pointers of the 2016 WIAA Division 4 championship in their first trip to state.
Chambers, part of the glue that held the Pointers together throughout their 26-2 season which included SWAL top honors along with regional and sectional titles as well as the championship, finished the game with 18 points, four assists and two steals.....and she wasn't even the top scorer for her team.
Those honors went to 6-3 senior Jessica Schultz who led with 21 and grabbed nine rebounds along with a couple swat-away blocks and to 5-11 junior Sydney Staver who finished with 20 points and five assists.
And don't forget about Destinee Kruser, a junior forward who battled inside all night, coming away with five points and eight rebounds.
KSJCA's 6-4 junior center Sidney Cooks led all scorers and rebounders with 30 points and 13 boards. She had all the baskets for her team the first half and 19 of their 22 points.
Staver stuck the dagger in deep six seconds before halftime when her three pointer made it a six point rather than a three point lead. Until then the score was tied twice and the lead changed hands six times.
A layup by Cooks at 14.22 gave the Lancers a 32-31 lead and it took until 7:27 for the Pointers to tie it at 46, They pulled away from there with nine points from Staver, 13 from Schultz and two by Chambers.
Mineral Point coach Mitch Wainwright took a page from Lou Gehrig's famous speech when he said, "I'm the luckiest coach in the state of Wisconsin to have been able to coach such a great group of girls. They believed in me and worked hard to get this."
"I have never coached a game where their were no runs," Wainwright said. "We wanted to control the tempo and make them use energy on both ends of the floor. This was a huge team victory for us."
"As for their comeback, we've been there before. We saw it against Cuba City and Wisconsin Heights. We knew it wouldn't be easy but the girls stayed calm and weathered the storm," Wainwright said. "I am the one who gets nervous. The girls stay calm. I love their mental approach."
Schultz took her team leading performance in stride.
"I was open so I shot it," she said. "Cooks had three fouls so I knew I could go inside on her. I just attacked the inside."
Staver, whose brother, Sy, made it to the state finals last season with the Pointer boys, said his experience helped her prepare for this year's trip.
"It was cool watching how people reacted to the boys and my brother last year," she said. "Our fans are great and pack the gym all the time. I'll bet there was not a person left in Mineral Point today."
"This has been a dream of ours to get here and win," she said. "Now we believe we can."
SCORE BY HALVES
K 22 30 52
MP 28 40 68
BOX SCORE
KSJCA 52: (fg-ft-tp) Cooks 12-4-30, Keene 0-4-4, Witt 1-0-2, Harris 2-3-7, Collins 3-0-7, Antony 0-0-0, Thomas 0-0-0, Cairo 0-0-0, Smith 0-0-0, Roffers 0-0-0, Jenewein 0-0-0, Munoz 0-0-0, Johnson 0-0-0 Totals 19-11/16-52 Fouls-20 Fouled out-Harris
MINERAL POINT 68: Staver 5-7-20, Chambers 6-4-18, Kruser 2-0-5, Bossert 0-0-0, Schultz 8-5-21, Smith 0-0-0, Ma. Aschliman 0-0-0, My. Aschliman 1-0-2, Chubb 0-0-0, Qualley 0-0-0, Reichling 1-0-2, Blume 0-0-0, Thornton 0-0-0, Schmitz 0-0-0 Totals 23-16/21-68 Fouls-14
3 point goals:
K-Cooks 2, Collins 1
MP-Staver3, Chambers 2, Kruser 1