February 1, 2021 at 9:40 a.m.
Busch's outside shooting, team play too much for Highland
Busch spent much of the night behind the arc and laid in six three pointers on the way to a game high 24 points.
Busch had help from senior JoJo Heimerl who spent a lot of time exploring the lane and added 14.
But for the Dodgers it was more than just the two scoring standouts. It was also a night when the entire team played their roles to near perfection.
"We played a really good team game tonight," said Dodgeville coach Josh Busch. "I think our tough week helped build what we did tonight."
The Dodgers played Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday last week and lost their top scorer, Olivia Argall to a knee injury.
The Dodgers shot their way to a 20-8 lead with 3:17 left in the first half but the Cardinals nearly caught up with a 10-0 run to end the half. Rachel Miller had six of those points with a four point play when fouled on a made three pointer and a basket.
After halftime AJ Phillips hit a basket to open the last 18 minutes. Maggie White made one of two free throws and Busch nailed one of her three pointers.
Highland made some noise with a baskets by Katelyn Mueller and Meg Tarrell.
But the Dodgers had an answer that started with two scores from Heimerl, a fast break basket by McKenna Reilly, a free throw from Maggie White and another bucket by Heimerl.
That made it a 38-26 game the Dodgers cruised to the 55-39 finale.
Coach Busch was also impressed with how the Dodgers performed on the defensive end of the court.
"Defensively we did a nice job as a group," Busch said. "Our communication was good for the most part but we had a stretch in the first half that we lost that communication in transition and allowed them to get back in the game. Highland did a nice job taking advantage of that."
"I was proud of the way we responded in the second half," Busch said. "We were able to stretch out our lead and really take control on the defensive side of the floor."
Busch credited senior leadership for how far the Dodgers have come this past week.
"Our three seniors have done a great job through this stretch of leading these younger kids," Busch said." "Tonight it showed by how we played together."
Highland coach Josh Tarrell said there was a point the second half when the Cardinals seemed to think they were not going to win the game.
"We really didn't show up the second half," Tarrell said. "We didn't shoot well tonight but some of that was due to their defensive pressure."
Tarrell said Marley Busch's three point shooting was a factor.
"We knew she was an inside player and I felt we did a good job stopping her there," Tarrell said. "But she killed us with her outside shooting."
He said part of the defensive plan was to be in Heimerl's face all night and he felt the Cardinals did that.
"She earned her points," Tarrell said.
"When the game started to get away from us things steamrolled," Tarrell added. "But it was nice to see Rachel Miller get back to scoring some points. I felt she got out of her slump tonight. It was nice to see her scoring tonight."
Miller led the Cardinals with 14 points.
SCORE BY HALVES
Highland 18 21 39
Dodgeville 20 35 55
BOX SCORE
HIGHLAND 39: (fg-ft-tp) James 0-0-0, Drury 0-0-0, Dreischmeier 0-2-2, Michek 0-0-0, Mueller 2-0-5, Meg Tarrell 2-1-5, M. Fredericks 2-1-5, Esser 3-1-7, Miller 4-6-15, Maya Terrall 0-0-0, Cody 0-0-0, Halverson 0-0-0, H. Fredericks 0-0-0 Totals 13-11/15-39 Fouls-9
DODGEVILLE 55: Phillips 3-0-7, A. White 0-0-0, Heimerl 6-1-14, Thompson 0-0-0, Reilly 2-0-4, M. White 0-2-2, Busch 9-0-24, Forsyth 0-0-0, Blume 2-0-4 Totals 22-3/10-55. Fouls-16
3 point goals:
H-(2) Miller 1, Mueller 1
D-(8) Busch 6, Phillips 1, Heimerl 1
