SOUTH WAYNE - Black Hawk, the top-ranked team in Division 5, knew they had to schedule some tougher opponents along the way in order to grow as a team before tournament time. Coach Mike Flanagan went ahead and did just that, scheduling a four-game stretch that included Iowa state champions Springville, and then conference-rival Barneveld, followed by D-4 Darlington (7-3) and finally unbeaten Dodgeville, the 10th-ranked team in Division 3.
"This was a really tough stretch - which you need," Flanagan said.
How would the Warriors respond? By winning all four games convincingly, including blasting Dodgeville out of the gym Thursday night, 64-40.
In a battle of the unbeatens on Thursday, the Dodgers and Warriors jostled throughout the first half. But in just a few short minutes to open the second, Black Hawk took full control of the game in the way all other teams fear of the Warriors - defense and sharpshooting.
Black Hawk came out of the locker room after halftime and proceeded to go 7 of 8 from the field, including 4-for-4 from beyond the arc to take what was a 10-point lead at half and go up by 22 points. In just under 4 minutes of game time.
"One thing that we talked about at halftime was that we needed to start taking opportunities that presented themselves to us," Flanagan said. "(Dodgeville was) packing it in and we were taking the action to them. Once we started knocking down those perimeter shots we kind of broke the game open."
Freshman Bailey Butler hit three 3s in the stretch and scored 11 of her game-high 17 points in those first 4 minutes of the half to lead the charge. Then she picked up her fourth foul with 10:21 to play and had to sit much of the rest of the night.
"That's where you start to see that freshman side coming out," Flanagan said of the four fouls.
Hannah Butler scored nine of her 16 points in the second half. Seven different Warriors scored in the frame.
"Everything started going. Everyone started getting on their game," said sophomore Hannah Butler. "It's really fun. Everyone was getting into it."
Natalie Leuzinger had 11 points and 9 rebounds for Black Hawk, including 7 points and 7 boards in the first half. Black Hawk led at halftime just 26-16.
"We were going to try and see what we could do first, see if we could get them beat on the inside," Hannah Butler said of the first half. "But then we saw that they weren't coming out on us so hard, so we started to shoot some of those outside shots."
Despite the ups and the downs of both halves, Black Hawk had a running of constants it could fall back on. First, the defense. The Warriors smothering defense forced Dodgeville into many unforced errors and saw bodies on both sides hitting the floor for possession of loose balls. Another constant? Freshman bench player Kaylee Marty, who scored 5 points in the first half and 4 in the second - all after playing in the junior varsity game to open the evening.
"With Maddy Huschitt on the shelf for a little bit with an ankle injury, Kaylee has had to step in and fill some minutes for us," Flanagan said. "You could see tonight that she's that kid who can do that. She does it on the defensive end and she does it on the offensive end. She's able to play basketball."
Senior Hannah Jones led Dodgeville (8-1) with 14 points, including just 3 in the second half.
"We had to shut down (Jones). She's very good," Hannah Butler said. Jones averaged over 25 points per game before the matchup. In fact, Dodgeville was averaging over 65 points per game beforehand.
The Warriors (11-0, 4-0 Six Rivers East) are officially halfway through their regular season schedule. They return to action Jan. 4 against Albany (4-7, 2-2). The rest of the season features mostly conference games with likely a rematch against Potosi (6-1) and a nonconference game against Division 3's top ranked team, Platteville (7-1), left on the schedule. Black Hawk beat Potosi 69-43 back on Dec. 11.
"We're going to just keep going hard in practice and just keep getting better," Hannah Butler said.
"This was a really tough stretch - which you need," Flanagan said.
How would the Warriors respond? By winning all four games convincingly, including blasting Dodgeville out of the gym Thursday night, 64-40.
In a battle of the unbeatens on Thursday, the Dodgers and Warriors jostled throughout the first half. But in just a few short minutes to open the second, Black Hawk took full control of the game in the way all other teams fear of the Warriors - defense and sharpshooting.
Black Hawk came out of the locker room after halftime and proceeded to go 7 of 8 from the field, including 4-for-4 from beyond the arc to take what was a 10-point lead at half and go up by 22 points. In just under 4 minutes of game time.
"One thing that we talked about at halftime was that we needed to start taking opportunities that presented themselves to us," Flanagan said. "(Dodgeville was) packing it in and we were taking the action to them. Once we started knocking down those perimeter shots we kind of broke the game open."
Freshman Bailey Butler hit three 3s in the stretch and scored 11 of her game-high 17 points in those first 4 minutes of the half to lead the charge. Then she picked up her fourth foul with 10:21 to play and had to sit much of the rest of the night.
"That's where you start to see that freshman side coming out," Flanagan said of the four fouls.
Hannah Butler scored nine of her 16 points in the second half. Seven different Warriors scored in the frame.
"Everything started going. Everyone started getting on their game," said sophomore Hannah Butler. "It's really fun. Everyone was getting into it."
Natalie Leuzinger had 11 points and 9 rebounds for Black Hawk, including 7 points and 7 boards in the first half. Black Hawk led at halftime just 26-16.
"We were going to try and see what we could do first, see if we could get them beat on the inside," Hannah Butler said of the first half. "But then we saw that they weren't coming out on us so hard, so we started to shoot some of those outside shots."
Despite the ups and the downs of both halves, Black Hawk had a running of constants it could fall back on. First, the defense. The Warriors smothering defense forced Dodgeville into many unforced errors and saw bodies on both sides hitting the floor for possession of loose balls. Another constant? Freshman bench player Kaylee Marty, who scored 5 points in the first half and 4 in the second - all after playing in the junior varsity game to open the evening.
"With Maddy Huschitt on the shelf for a little bit with an ankle injury, Kaylee has had to step in and fill some minutes for us," Flanagan said. "You could see tonight that she's that kid who can do that. She does it on the defensive end and she does it on the offensive end. She's able to play basketball."
Senior Hannah Jones led Dodgeville (8-1) with 14 points, including just 3 in the second half.
"We had to shut down (Jones). She's very good," Hannah Butler said. Jones averaged over 25 points per game before the matchup. In fact, Dodgeville was averaging over 65 points per game beforehand.
The Warriors (11-0, 4-0 Six Rivers East) are officially halfway through their regular season schedule. They return to action Jan. 4 against Albany (4-7, 2-2). The rest of the season features mostly conference games with likely a rematch against Potosi (6-1) and a nonconference game against Division 3's top ranked team, Platteville (7-1), left on the schedule. Black Hawk beat Potosi 69-43 back on Dec. 11.
"We're going to just keep going hard in practice and just keep getting better," Hannah Butler said.
