SCHOFIELD – In a jam-packed D.C. Everest gym on March 5, Mosinee girls basketball had two things to overcome in order to advance to the sectional championship for an opportunity to reach the state tournament.
A well-travelled Wittenberg-Birnamwood crowd, and the Chargers group that entered the sectional semifinal game 26-0. And after a back-and-forth battle that went down to the wire, Mosinee came out on top, handing Wittenberg-Birnamwood their first loss of the season at 58-53.
Mosinee girls basketball coach Joshua Hau’s season-long mantra has been, “anybody, anytime, and any place,” and the group proved that to be more than just words.
The team knew in order to reach their ultimate goals, they would need to right a previous wrong, but after jumping into an early lead, Hau knew his team was up to the task.
“This team ran us out of our own gym the first game of the year,” Hau said. “You know, you try to tell the girls don’t worry, one game at a time, but in the back of our mind, we knew it was going to have to go through Wittenberg and the athletes they have and how hard they play, we knew it was going to be tough. We knew it was going to be a dog fight and I’m really proud of how our girls played.”
Hau said the message before the game was about understanding that Wittenberg-Birnamwood would throw some heavy haymakers early on, and that the result would come down to how the team responded. He feels the group’s vamped up non-conference schedule turned out to be more sweet than bitter.
“You plan all these nonconference games against really tough opponents, and you tell yourself as a coach, ‘It’ll pay off. It’ll pay off,’” Hau said. “But you don’t 100 percent believe it until you get to a game like this.
“In those big key moments, we just weren’t rattled. We were really solid, and I’m incredibly proud of the girls for that.”
Mosinee knocking off Wittenberg-Birnamwood not only pushed the Indians into the sectional championship on Saturday against No. 1 Saint Croix Central at Eau Claire Memorial , but also kept the team scorching hot.
The Indians will ride into the state-clinching game on Saturday having won 18 consecutive games dating back to early January.
“We’re really confident right now,” Hau said. “We’re playing really, really good basketball. I don’t know who we’re going to see on Saturday, but I know we’re going to come out and our coaching staff will have a game plan, and the girls are going to play their tails off.”
Other sectional semifinal results:
Pacelli 74, Almond-Bancroft 51
Elva-Strum 62, Owen-Withee 38
Saint Mary Catholic 52, Stratford 21
Neillsville 40, Regis 23
SPASH 67, De Pere 51.
Contact or send game stats/info to Sports Reporter Alfred Smith III at alfred.smith@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @AlfredS_III.
This article originally appeared on Wausau Daily Herald: Mosinee downs Wittenberg-Birnamwood to advance to sectional final
Reporting by Alfred Smith III, Wausau Daily Herald / Wausau Daily Herald
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
