Welcome Home
There will be a Welcome H ome Celebration in the MHS gymnasium starting sometime between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. today.
MADISON - The Lady Cheesemakers have made strides to shed their "young" label all season long. Friday afternoon, they added eons of experience by holding off athletic Altoona, 49-47, in the WIAA Division 2 state semifinal at the Alliant Energy Center.
Monroe sprinted out to a 12-1 lead through the first seven minutes of the ballgame and led 35-16 after the first of two Jamie Armstrong 3s with 5:18 left to play in the third. But then the Railroaders finally got on track.
After nearly two-and-a-half quarters of uncharacteristic stone-cold shooting, Altoona got hot in a hurry. First, 6-foot, 3-inch sophomore Kate Hanson answered the bomb by Armstrong with a 3-pointer of her own from just to the right of the circle.
After Railroaders junior Brittany Gregorich, who finished 5-for-20 from the field, finally cut cord on her only 3-pointer from the right angle, her sister Tiffany, a senior captain, followed suit off a reload to cut the deficit to 10 at 35-25 with a minute left in the third.
"We just kept shooting, that's all you can do," Tiffany Gregorich said. "If you don't take the shot, you'll never know. They're gonna fall, and they did eventually today."
Gregorich's faith helped her lead her club with 16 points, while Armstrong and sophomore classmate Ashley Hermanson led all scorers with 17 apiece.
The Railroaders used suffocating full-court pressure to continue hacking away at the disadvantage, which had nearly finally vanished when Aimee Reyzer hit one of two free throws to put her club down just 45-44 with 1:09 to play.
Sensing her team's plight, Armstrong leaped on an opportunity when a ball was poked free from Emily Rufenacht's grip in the left corner on the next possession. The ball found its way to Armstrong's hands, and her feet were in her favorite spot, right near the top of the key once again.
"We all wanted this, and I could tell the team was getting down and needed a big play," Armstrong said.
She obliged by splashing her second triple.
"Jamie's got the green light to shoot that any time. She's a great 3-point shooter," Keen said. "In hindsight, maybe we say we shouldn't have taken it, but I'm not going to argue now."
"She's just an amazing player," Rufenacht said. "She can do it inside and out, we've just gotta get it to her."
A Kyleigh Sellnow free throw made the lead five points at 49-44 before a Monica Rassmussen deuce cut it to three with just 3.3 seconds left.
With the game seemingly in hand, Monroe watched its inbounds pass skip off Rufenacht's fingertips and out of bounds.
Altoona coach Scott Harmon drew up a play for his captain with two ticks left.
Gregorich leaned inside Calyn Bidlingmaier's stance and got off an attempt, drawing some contact from Monroe's senior in the process.
Monroe's five players stood, some praying, some with hands over their mouths in anticipation, as the officials convened and agreed to award just two free throws, as Gregorich's left foot had snuck inside the arc.
The senior hit her first throw and deliberately missed the second with just two-tenths of a second left, but a flailing Hanson couldn't tip the rebound over the cylinder.
"We were feeling pretty good in the third with that 19-point lead, but we knew they weren't going to let up," Keen said. "Right now a win's a win and we live to play another game and play for a ball."
Keen cited Monroe's cool, collected demeanor as a potential trapping, but that was anything but the case as his captains set the tone in the game-opening surge. Rufenacht ripped the nylon on a 3-pointer from the right wing off a no-look dish by Gwen Sutter before the junior took her defender off the dribble and all the way to the glass for a layin to complete a personal 5-0 run and take a 7-0 lead less than four minutes into the game.
"I knew I had to be a leader out there and show the team that it's just another game," Rufenacht said.
Keen was more than pleased as Rufenacht clicked and fellow captain Bidlingmaier took it to the opposition with ferocity.
But he was perhaps even more pleased by how the rest of the club reacted to the shot in its arm.
"They did light a little fire for us, but it's a total team effort for us," Keen said. "Ashley had a great first half and Kyleigh Sellnow helped her as she made a few great passes."
Sellnow, who has developed a knack for hitting Hermanson with timely passes, assisted on three of Hermanson's first-quarter buckets, the first a fine-touch lob over traffic and the second coming on a bullet pass to the vacated right block, where Hermanson gave her club a 23-14 lead. The physically-solid 6-foot sophomore forward followed up two Armstrong free throws by catching, turning and railroading her defender before laying it in with her left hand.
Two minutes earlier, Hermanson had exhibited her tender touch when she fell away from a double team toward the baseline and swished a 10-footer.
Perhaps jealous of her teammate's feather touch, Sellnow splashed a silent but deadly 3-pointer from the top of the key at the first-half buzzer.
Although she only scored one point on 1-for-4 free throw shooting, Bidlingmaier helped loosen up the defensive interior by going to hoop several times early on, a craft she's worked hard to improve.
And it was hard to stick with it on Friday.
"Every time I went the hole, though, I had to close my eyes because I got them poked a couple of times," Bidlingmaier said.
After its red-hot start, Monroe suffered a singlehanded 5-0 surge by Tiffany Gregorich to wrap up the first quarter, a harbinger of things to come from a ballclub that Rufenacht knew would not go away.
"They forced a lot of turnovers on us, but that's how all the teams are going to be at state," Rufenacht said. "Now we've just gotta get ready for tomorrow."
Tomorrow, now today, finds Monroe matched up with Freedom, as the Cheesemakers seek their second gold ball in three years. The game will follow the Division 4 championship game, which tips off at 12:05 p.m.
Monroe sprinted out to a 12-1 lead through the first seven minutes of the ballgame and led 35-16 after the first of two Jamie Armstrong 3s with 5:18 left to play in the third. But then the Railroaders finally got on track.
After nearly two-and-a-half quarters of uncharacteristic stone-cold shooting, Altoona got hot in a hurry. First, 6-foot, 3-inch sophomore Kate Hanson answered the bomb by Armstrong with a 3-pointer of her own from just to the right of the circle.
After Railroaders junior Brittany Gregorich, who finished 5-for-20 from the field, finally cut cord on her only 3-pointer from the right angle, her sister Tiffany, a senior captain, followed suit off a reload to cut the deficit to 10 at 35-25 with a minute left in the third.
"We just kept shooting, that's all you can do," Tiffany Gregorich said. "If you don't take the shot, you'll never know. They're gonna fall, and they did eventually today."
Gregorich's faith helped her lead her club with 16 points, while Armstrong and sophomore classmate Ashley Hermanson led all scorers with 17 apiece.
The Railroaders used suffocating full-court pressure to continue hacking away at the disadvantage, which had nearly finally vanished when Aimee Reyzer hit one of two free throws to put her club down just 45-44 with 1:09 to play.
Sensing her team's plight, Armstrong leaped on an opportunity when a ball was poked free from Emily Rufenacht's grip in the left corner on the next possession. The ball found its way to Armstrong's hands, and her feet were in her favorite spot, right near the top of the key once again.
"We all wanted this, and I could tell the team was getting down and needed a big play," Armstrong said.
She obliged by splashing her second triple.
"Jamie's got the green light to shoot that any time. She's a great 3-point shooter," Keen said. "In hindsight, maybe we say we shouldn't have taken it, but I'm not going to argue now."
"She's just an amazing player," Rufenacht said. "She can do it inside and out, we've just gotta get it to her."
A Kyleigh Sellnow free throw made the lead five points at 49-44 before a Monica Rassmussen deuce cut it to three with just 3.3 seconds left.
With the game seemingly in hand, Monroe watched its inbounds pass skip off Rufenacht's fingertips and out of bounds.
Altoona coach Scott Harmon drew up a play for his captain with two ticks left.
Gregorich leaned inside Calyn Bidlingmaier's stance and got off an attempt, drawing some contact from Monroe's senior in the process.
Monroe's five players stood, some praying, some with hands over their mouths in anticipation, as the officials convened and agreed to award just two free throws, as Gregorich's left foot had snuck inside the arc.
The senior hit her first throw and deliberately missed the second with just two-tenths of a second left, but a flailing Hanson couldn't tip the rebound over the cylinder.
"We were feeling pretty good in the third with that 19-point lead, but we knew they weren't going to let up," Keen said. "Right now a win's a win and we live to play another game and play for a ball."
Keen cited Monroe's cool, collected demeanor as a potential trapping, but that was anything but the case as his captains set the tone in the game-opening surge. Rufenacht ripped the nylon on a 3-pointer from the right wing off a no-look dish by Gwen Sutter before the junior took her defender off the dribble and all the way to the glass for a layin to complete a personal 5-0 run and take a 7-0 lead less than four minutes into the game.
"I knew I had to be a leader out there and show the team that it's just another game," Rufenacht said.
Keen was more than pleased as Rufenacht clicked and fellow captain Bidlingmaier took it to the opposition with ferocity.
But he was perhaps even more pleased by how the rest of the club reacted to the shot in its arm.
"They did light a little fire for us, but it's a total team effort for us," Keen said. "Ashley had a great first half and Kyleigh Sellnow helped her as she made a few great passes."
Sellnow, who has developed a knack for hitting Hermanson with timely passes, assisted on three of Hermanson's first-quarter buckets, the first a fine-touch lob over traffic and the second coming on a bullet pass to the vacated right block, where Hermanson gave her club a 23-14 lead. The physically-solid 6-foot sophomore forward followed up two Armstrong free throws by catching, turning and railroading her defender before laying it in with her left hand.
Two minutes earlier, Hermanson had exhibited her tender touch when she fell away from a double team toward the baseline and swished a 10-footer.
Perhaps jealous of her teammate's feather touch, Sellnow splashed a silent but deadly 3-pointer from the top of the key at the first-half buzzer.
Although she only scored one point on 1-for-4 free throw shooting, Bidlingmaier helped loosen up the defensive interior by going to hoop several times early on, a craft she's worked hard to improve.
And it was hard to stick with it on Friday.
"Every time I went the hole, though, I had to close my eyes because I got them poked a couple of times," Bidlingmaier said.
After its red-hot start, Monroe suffered a singlehanded 5-0 surge by Tiffany Gregorich to wrap up the first quarter, a harbinger of things to come from a ballclub that Rufenacht knew would not go away.
"They forced a lot of turnovers on us, but that's how all the teams are going to be at state," Rufenacht said. "Now we've just gotta get ready for tomorrow."
Tomorrow, now today, finds Monroe matched up with Freedom, as the Cheesemakers seek their second gold ball in three years. The game will follow the Division 4 championship game, which tips off at 12:05 p.m.