ASHWAUBENON – The Green Bay Notre Dame girls basketball team hung with the best in the state for all 36 minutes of its WIAA Division 1 state semifinal.
But time finally ran out on the season.
Wauwatosa East beat Notre Dame 62-58 on March 13 at the Resch Center, inching one win closer to becoming the first D1 team to go undefeated since Appleton North in 2017.
Reaching the title game wasn’t easy.
The Tritons (24-5) were just the third team in 29 games this season to come within single digits of the Red Raiders (29-0), who beat opponents by more than 40 points a contest and defeated all four of their regional and sectional opponents by an average of 49.5.
“I’m just really proud of these girls for how hard they worked,” Notre Dame coach Sara Rohde said. “I thought we just got in a couple holes at times, got down by 8 or 10 points, I don’t even remember what it was.
“But proud of their fight. Proud of never giving up. Just playing hard. They just made a couple more shots than us tonight. They are a very good team, very talented. We didn’t get stops when we needed to, and I think that’s the difference in games like these.”
Notre Dame had a chance to tie or take a lead with 23 seconds remaining and down 60-58, but a pass attempt from the top of the key went over the outstretched left hand of standout senior forward Kaia Waldrop and out of bounds.
The Red Raiders sealed the win with two free throws from DePaul commit Mikaia Litza with 5 seconds left.
Wauwatosa East could finally exhale after almost giving away the game with turnovers and missed free throws in the final minutes.
It went up 60-52 on a layup from senior guard Ellie Deprey with 5:45 remaining, but it went the rest of the game without a field goal.
Of course, much of that was by design.
After a layup from Notre Dame sophomore guard Maisie Hinz cut the deficit to 6 points with 4:27 remaining, Wauwatosa East did not attempt another shot as it did its best to play keep away.
The Tritons committed five fouls to put the Red Devils in the bonus with 2:13 left.
That’s when the fun started.
Wauwatosa East missed the front end of a one-and-one and Waldrop made a layup on the other end.
The Red Raiders turned the ball over with 1:28 remaining on a steal from sophomore guard Olivia Waldrop before senior guard Destiny Webster hit a jumper to cut Notre Dame’s deficit to 2 points with 1:09 left.
Wauwatosa East again missed the front end of a one-and-one to give Notre Dame the chance for that tie, only for the turnover to end its hopes.
Stall ball worked out in the end.
“I know there is this debate about the shot clock, and I think in cases like this, you watch the college level, you go down and you know you have chances to go back down and score, you are going to get the ball if you get a stop,” Rohde said. “Yeah, that does get frustrating at times, but it’s just the situation we are in as this point. That has happened multiple times [in the state semifinal round this season] where teams are stalling with 5 minutes to go.
“I mean, I would probably do the same thing on my end if we have a 6- to 8-point lead. It is what it is at this point. With that said, I thought we came out and we started trapping them a little bit better and got some good steals. We were right in it at the end.”
Wauwatosa East overcomes cold first half
The Red Raiders shot 55% overall and 38% from 3 during their dominating regular season.
That wasn’t the case in the opening 18 minutes against Notre Dame.
They were just 4-for-18 from long range in the first half and shot 38% overall (13-for-34).
Wauwatosa East still led 33-27 at the break, mostly because Notre Dame wasn’t much better after shooting 39% overall (11-for-28) and 27% from 3 (3-for-11). It also had six turnovers that led to 8 points.
Notre Dame freshman Ava Cumicek led the charge out of the gate in the second half to help her team tie the score at 38 with 15:03 left.
Cumicek started the half with a 3-pointer off a fast break. A short time later, she hit another 3 and followed that with a layup and free throw.
The Red Raiders responded by scoring 11 of the next 16 points, which included a 3-pointer on three consecutive trips down court, with Litza hitting the first and senior guard Emma Close following with the next two.
Wauwatosa East never allowed Notre Dame to tie or take a lead after that, although the Tritons kept hanging around.
The Red Raiders pushed their advantage to 8 on three occasions in the final 8:57, but they could never build the lead any larger.
“Hats off to Notre Dame, they are a very solid team,” Wauwatosa East coach Mary Merg said. “They are always well-coached. Sara does a great job over there at Notre Dame. They really gave us a fight.
“I’m really proud of our team for playing possession by possession. Both teams went on their own runs, and I thought at the end of the day, our runs just lasted a little longer than their runs.”
Close scored a game-high 21 points for Wauwatosa East and shot 8-for-13 overall and 5-for-8 from 3.
She was one of four players in double figures for the Red Raiders, who looked a lot more like the quality shooting team they are during the second half.
They shot 50% overall (10-for-20) and 66.7% from 3 (6-for-9).
Kaia Waldrop led Notre Dame with 16 points and 13 rebounds, Cumicek had 12 points, Webster and Hinz each had 9 and senior guard Aspen Abel had 8.
Notre Dame outrebounded Wauwatosa East 39-25 and outscored it 36-26 in the paint. But the Red Raiders won the turnover battle 11-2 and outscored the Tritons 13-5 on the miscues.
“I know a lot of teams, especially players, don’t know what it’s like to make state,” Webster said. “I hope my teammates and all of our families, I hope they realize that we made it here and not a lot of teams do.
“I’m really proud of us. Obviously, we didn’t have the outcome we wanted. But I know my teammates, the juniors and freshmen and sophomores, I know they can get back if they continue to practice hard and continue to put in the work for next year.”
Notre Dame was making its first appearance at D1 state after previously making the big stage 11 times in D2 and winning six state championships.
“We were so motivated this year to be back at the Resch and show that we deserve to be here based off of last season,” Kaia Waldrop said. “We did, and now we are just going to embrace what we were given and just not take anything for granted.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Green Bay Notre Dame girls basketball falls short in state semifinal
Reporting by Scott Venci, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
