MADISON - A successful season, let alone a state title, has been a long time in the making for Monroe's fearless freshman Kyleigh Sellnow.
A full schedule's worth of lessons learned came to fruition as the point guard tandemed with her mentor, Emily Rufenacht, to lead the way in bringing a second WIAA Division 2 girls basketball state title home to Monroe.
Rufenacht, a junior, led the Lady Cheesemakers with 13 points and reflects back to her rookie campaign, when she and her fellow Lady Cheese finshed on top in 2006, to recall when the prep puzzle finally made sense.
"Last time I just knew it was a team effort, and I had to show this team this year that we needed to come together," Rufenacht said.
Sellnow hit both of her field goals, one a 3-pointer, and went 6-for-8 at the free throw line to rack up 11 points, eight of which came in the first 14 minutes.
Monroe's starting point guard, sophomore Gwen Sutter, was forced to take a seat as she picked up a fourth foul with just more than six minutes to play. Monroe coach Kevin Keen was more than happy to turn the keys over to Sellnow, and her biggest play came off one of her few miscues.
After missing the second of two freebies with 2:43 left to play, giving her club a 35-31 lead, Sellnow chased down Jessica Kiecker from behind after the Irish guard grabbed the board and took off. Sellnow caught her near the timeline and poked the ball free and back to her club.
"When you miss a free throw, you've obviously got to get back at them," Sellnow said. "I just kept playing and wouldn't let my head down."
Seconds later, Rufenacht took two defenders off the dribble and all the way to the goal for a lay-in to take a six-point lead. But she's been leading the way for her mentee since day one.
"At the beginning of the season, coach Mathiason told me I needed to take (Sellnow) under my wing a little bit," Rufenacht said. "We just feed off each other and have worked so hard together."
Rufenacht applied her own lessons to keep a short-term memory as a sharpshooter when she missed the front end of a bonus with less than a minute left. But 6-foot, 1-inch sophomore Jamie Armstrong caused Freedom senior Stacie Van Handel to tip the ball out and, moments later, Rufenacht drew another foul and splashed both of her free throws to all but ice the title at 39-34.
Ashley Hermanson was tough as usual, grinding out a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Freedom showed its Irish grit. clawing back with the four-year varsity starter Van Handel scoring 10 of her club's 12 points after going 1-for-8 in the first half to get within five at 32-27 early in the third, evoking memories of a Cheesemaker near-miss escape Friday against Altoona.
"In the second half when they got close, we just thought about yesterday and how we weren't going to let it slip away," Armstrong said.
Ashley Hermanson tied Sellnow with 11 points, while Van Handel, a 6-1 tweener, led all scorers with 14. Armstrong only added four points but, along with Hermanson, altered numerous shots, particularly early in the game in much the way Monroe treated Altoona in the semis.
When her opponents couldn't adjust enough, Armstrong blocked five shots, the last of which was an emphatic two-handed stuff of Freedom's Nicole Bowers.
"That's my volleyball skill that shows through," Armstrong said. "and sometimes that gets me in trouble."
Much the way Rufenacht went to the goal late without regard for personal safety, Sellnow set the tone early. She scored five points in 22 seconds to give Monroe a 20-10 lead with two minutes left, first taking the ball to the rim down the left side and then splashing her only triple try from the left angle.
Sellnow started her first three ballgames down the homestretch when Armstrong sprained her right ankle. Taking over the point guard duties and moving Sutter to the off-guard role, where the physical sophomore belongs, Sellnow was happy to join the starting five from which she was never far removed.
"If there's such a thing as a sixth starter, she's sitting right beside me," Keen said of Sellnow.
"She's made huge strides this year. It took her seven ballgames just to hit a bucket and it was a banked in 3 at half-court at Stoughton."
While she needed some acclimation to the scoring column, Sellnow's never needed any help embracing the physical component of the game.
"I've learned it all my life," Sellnow said. "My dad, all my coaches, my brother, everyone's all told me that when I have the chance, go for us. I've been listening."
One can't help but wonder about the possibilities of consecutive titles, as Monroe started three sophomores, a junior and a senior in Bidlingmaier this season.
"We're going to enjoy this one first," Keen said.
As for Sellnow, she's quickly become familiar with a business-as-usual mentality.
"This was just another game that we were playing the way that I look at it," Sellnow deadpanned.
"Youthful exuberance," Keen added with a grin.
BONUS: Monroe's victory could not have come as any surprise to former Cheesemaker wrestling coach Curt Erickson, who became familiar with the stalwart era before becoming the Irish athletic director in 2004.
A full schedule's worth of lessons learned came to fruition as the point guard tandemed with her mentor, Emily Rufenacht, to lead the way in bringing a second WIAA Division 2 girls basketball state title home to Monroe.
Rufenacht, a junior, led the Lady Cheesemakers with 13 points and reflects back to her rookie campaign, when she and her fellow Lady Cheese finshed on top in 2006, to recall when the prep puzzle finally made sense.
"Last time I just knew it was a team effort, and I had to show this team this year that we needed to come together," Rufenacht said.
Sellnow hit both of her field goals, one a 3-pointer, and went 6-for-8 at the free throw line to rack up 11 points, eight of which came in the first 14 minutes.
Monroe's starting point guard, sophomore Gwen Sutter, was forced to take a seat as she picked up a fourth foul with just more than six minutes to play. Monroe coach Kevin Keen was more than happy to turn the keys over to Sellnow, and her biggest play came off one of her few miscues.
After missing the second of two freebies with 2:43 left to play, giving her club a 35-31 lead, Sellnow chased down Jessica Kiecker from behind after the Irish guard grabbed the board and took off. Sellnow caught her near the timeline and poked the ball free and back to her club.
"When you miss a free throw, you've obviously got to get back at them," Sellnow said. "I just kept playing and wouldn't let my head down."
Seconds later, Rufenacht took two defenders off the dribble and all the way to the goal for a lay-in to take a six-point lead. But she's been leading the way for her mentee since day one.
"At the beginning of the season, coach Mathiason told me I needed to take (Sellnow) under my wing a little bit," Rufenacht said. "We just feed off each other and have worked so hard together."
Rufenacht applied her own lessons to keep a short-term memory as a sharpshooter when she missed the front end of a bonus with less than a minute left. But 6-foot, 1-inch sophomore Jamie Armstrong caused Freedom senior Stacie Van Handel to tip the ball out and, moments later, Rufenacht drew another foul and splashed both of her free throws to all but ice the title at 39-34.
Ashley Hermanson was tough as usual, grinding out a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Freedom showed its Irish grit. clawing back with the four-year varsity starter Van Handel scoring 10 of her club's 12 points after going 1-for-8 in the first half to get within five at 32-27 early in the third, evoking memories of a Cheesemaker near-miss escape Friday against Altoona.
"In the second half when they got close, we just thought about yesterday and how we weren't going to let it slip away," Armstrong said.
Ashley Hermanson tied Sellnow with 11 points, while Van Handel, a 6-1 tweener, led all scorers with 14. Armstrong only added four points but, along with Hermanson, altered numerous shots, particularly early in the game in much the way Monroe treated Altoona in the semis.
When her opponents couldn't adjust enough, Armstrong blocked five shots, the last of which was an emphatic two-handed stuff of Freedom's Nicole Bowers.
"That's my volleyball skill that shows through," Armstrong said. "and sometimes that gets me in trouble."
Much the way Rufenacht went to the goal late without regard for personal safety, Sellnow set the tone early. She scored five points in 22 seconds to give Monroe a 20-10 lead with two minutes left, first taking the ball to the rim down the left side and then splashing her only triple try from the left angle.
Sellnow started her first three ballgames down the homestretch when Armstrong sprained her right ankle. Taking over the point guard duties and moving Sutter to the off-guard role, where the physical sophomore belongs, Sellnow was happy to join the starting five from which she was never far removed.
"If there's such a thing as a sixth starter, she's sitting right beside me," Keen said of Sellnow.
"She's made huge strides this year. It took her seven ballgames just to hit a bucket and it was a banked in 3 at half-court at Stoughton."
While she needed some acclimation to the scoring column, Sellnow's never needed any help embracing the physical component of the game.
"I've learned it all my life," Sellnow said. "My dad, all my coaches, my brother, everyone's all told me that when I have the chance, go for us. I've been listening."
One can't help but wonder about the possibilities of consecutive titles, as Monroe started three sophomores, a junior and a senior in Bidlingmaier this season.
"We're going to enjoy this one first," Keen said.
As for Sellnow, she's quickly become familiar with a business-as-usual mentality.
"This was just another game that we were playing the way that I look at it," Sellnow deadpanned.
"Youthful exuberance," Keen added with a grin.
BONUS: Monroe's victory could not have come as any surprise to former Cheesemaker wrestling coach Curt Erickson, who became familiar with the stalwart era before becoming the Irish athletic director in 2004.
