Craig girls to play for tournament title
Photo
Craig's Lauren McQueen is double teamed looking for an open Cougar under the net by West Allis Hale's Emily Grayson and Julie Acker (21).
The second half has been a nightmare for much of the season for Janesville Craig’s girls basketball team.
Friday night it was anything but that.
Craig erupted for 40 points in the final 16 minutes en route to a 69-34 win over West Allis Hale in the second game of the Janesville Optimist Classic in the Cougar gym.
The Cougars (4-4) will play Oregon in tonight’s title game at 7:45.
Alexis Hilden led four Cougars in double figures with 12 points, as Craig finally exorcized the second-half demons.
“We’ve been waiting for this,” Craig coach Mark Marsden said of his team’s strong second half. “In our three Big Eight losses, we were bad in the second half. We talked about that at halftime tonight, and then came out and played very well.
“It started with our defense, I that allowed us to get some easy transition baskets. And I really thought Alexis stepped up her game tonight.”
Hilden, a 5-foot-11 senior, made her first start of the season and responded with her game-high 12 points. She had 10 in the fourth quarter as Craig went on a 17-0 run to open up went on a 17-0 run to open up a bulging 65-30 lead.
Hale (2-5), which finished 0-21 a year ago, kept things close early on before freshman Amanda Hamilton and senior Danielle Straw hit back-to-back three-pointers to end the first quarter to give Craig a 17-12 lead. That’s as close as the Huskies would get the rest of the way.
Craig led by seven at halftime and quickly pushed the lead to 15 midway through the third quarter. Whitney Storbakken, who finished with 10 points for Craig, had eight in the third. The junior hit back-to-back jumpers to give the Cougars a 44-26 lead with 1:13 left to play in the third.
Marsden cleared his bench in the fourth with his team comfortably ahead.
“I liked the fact that we didn’t put everything on Kristy’s (Benson) shoulders tonight,” Marsden said of the team’s leading scorer who finished with 10. “We got everybody involved offensively, and I really like the spark that Lauren McQueen gave us off the bench tonight.
“Oregon will be a much tougher test tomorrow, but we did some good things tonight that I hope we can build off of.”
CRAIG 69, WEST ALLIS HALE 34
Hale (34)—Grayson, 3-1-8; Knitter, 1-2-4; Sujecki, 4-2-10; Cincotta, 1-0-2; Kraus, 0-1-1; Mettelmann, 2-1-5; Rindahl, 1-0-2; Acker, 1-0-2. Totals: 13-7-34.
Craig (69)—McQueen, 2-3-7; Benson, 4-2-10; Sanchez, 2-2-6; Storbakken, 5-0-10; Straw, 4-2-11; Morgan, 3-2-8; Hilden, 5-2-12; Hamilton, 1-0-3; Oliver, 0-2-2. Totals: 26-15-69.
West Allis Hale 12 10 6 6—34
Janesville Craig 17 12 17 23—69
Three-point goals—Hale 1 (Grayson), Craig 2 (Straw, Hamilton). Free throws missed—Hale 10, Craig 7. Total fouls—Hale 18, Craig 13.
Sophomores—Craig 64, Hale 42. Craig is 7-1 overall. Craig leading scorers: Kelsey Kennedy, 14; Taylor Storbakken, 11.
Oregon 62, West Bend West 46—Laura Atkinson scored eight of her 12 points in the first quarter as the Panthers advanced to tonight’s championship game against Craig.
Cayla Crowley led the Panthers with 14 points and Jenny Rietzlek added 12.
OREGON 62, WEST BEND WEST 46
West Bend West (46)—Hughes, 4-2-10; Farrand, 3-1-7; Hayes, 6-10-22; Krell, 1-0-2; Schroedl, 1-0-2; Stahl, 1-1-3. Totals: 16-14-46.
Oregon (62)—Crowley, 4-5-14; Gundlach, 2-2-7; Atkinson, 5-2-12; Hanson, 3-3-9; Cook, 3-2-8; Rietzlek, 5-2-12. Totals: 22-16-62.
W. Bend West 8 16 7 15—46
Oregon 19 11 18 14—62
Three-point goals—Oregon 2 (Crowley, Gundlach). Free throws missed—West 11, Oregon 9. Total fouls—West 24, Oregon 18. Fouled out—Hughes.
Dec 29, 2007 at 10:39 a.m.
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Actually, there have been 3 headline stories about the Parker girls in the past couple of days. The fact that Parker is #2 in Wisconsin does not make Craig non-existent. Here are your articles: Parker Girls Head to California, Parker Girls Shine in California Sun, and Parker Girls Overwhelm California Opponent.
http://www.gazettextra.com/news/2007/dec...
http://www.gazettextra.com/news/2007/dec...
http://www.gazettextra.com/news/2007/dec...
Dec 29, 2007 at 9:35 a.m.
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I believe the team Parker beat by a large margin had 6 Loses, hardly noteworthy ! California trip = National tournament , probabily not ! Yes Parker has a good team , currently ranked #2 in Wis but where they rank Nationwide will probabily never be known. I see no bias in the Gazette reporting or coverage of the 2 Janesville schools , and the Craig game was local, do you expect the Gazette to send a reporter to Calif to cover the game?? We will probabily see a big spread in the paper After the Tournament is over covering everything , after all this is High School Sports . Oh yes I am a Parker grad.
Dec 29, 2007 at 7:26 a.m.
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Where is the story about the Parker girls basketball team going to California and beating a team by a wide margin? This continues to show the Gazette bias toward Craig even when the Parker girls are the far better team and in a national tournament instead of a little local one. By the way, looks like this tournament in the Craig gym was well attended. (Picture online has one person in the stands in the background). Again, great sports coverage, Gazette. Way to ignore the better team.
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