EVANSVILLE - With her team needing a spark during Saturday's WIAA Division 5 regional final against conference rival Barneveld, Black Hawk senior Rachel Rygh stepped up her game a notch.
"Knowing it's the regional finals and it could be your last game, there's so much intensity," Rygh said. "It's my senior year and you just know that any game could be your last. I don't want it to be my last for a long time."
A three-year starter, Rygh scored 11 of her game-high 18 points in the critical third quarter, including three 3-pointers that broke the game open.
"Coach always tells us that the first three minutes of the third quarter are the most important of every game," Rygh said. "We really wanted to come off to a fast start. It was just one of those things that the girls found me the ball."
Despite holding Barneveld scoreless for a 7 minute, 42 second stretch in the second quarter, Black Hawk held just an 18-13 lead on its top rival at halftime.
Senior Melissa Wellnitz opened the third quarter with a jumper off of a drive through the lane. Freshman Jen Wellnitz, Melissa's sister, scored moments later, and then drove and kicked-out to Rygh for a wide-open 3.
"We knew we had to get out and get after them right away," Melissa Wellnitz said. "We knew we had to keep playing hard."
Rygh scored again in transition with 3 minutes left in the third to make it 28-17. Melissa Wellnitz forced an immediate steal and Rygh found herself open for another 3. With 1:36 left in the frame, Jen Wellnitz again dished the rock to a wide-open Rygh for another 3. When the period ended, Black Hawk led 35-21.
"To tell you the truth I didn't look at the score. I thought it was still a 5- or 6-point game. Then I looked up at the score and was stunned," Melissa Wellnitz said.
The game didn't start as pretty in the third quarter. Barneveld (17-8) ran a heavy press that caused fits for the Warriors (24-0) in the opening minutes. Black Hawk turned the ball over five times and the Eagles took a quick 6-0 lead - just two minutes into the game. Then the Warriors figured out the press and added their own defensive pressure.
"After that first four or five minutes our kids just started losing their legs," Barneveld coach Jim Myers said. "It comes down to Black Hawk is just a better ball club. Their pressure just wears us down."
Black Hawk, the No. 1 ranked team in the state, was also hampered with early foul trouble. Jen Wellnitz picked up her second foul at the 6:02 mark in the first. Though she sat at first, Black Hawk coach Mike Flanagan continued to put his youngest player back into the rotation.
"I think sometimes you have to do that," Flanagan said. "At this stage there is no tomorrow so you can't pull a kid out and say that they're just going to learn. It's a risk/reward type of thing."
Jen Wellnitz finished with 12 points and Melissa Wellnitz had 9.
"All these times watching my sisters play (in regional games) I had to sit and take stats," Jen Wellnitz said. "It was crazy and fun to finally be able to play."
Barneveld senior Krista McSherry (11) was the only Eagle to score in double figures.
"It was what we expected against a good Barneveld team. We had to persevere early because we didn't start off very auspiciously, but I thought the girls stayed emotionally level and determined," said Flanagan, who has won a regional title the last five years as coach. "They kept trying to go out there and make plays. That's what it's all about this time of the year."
Now the Warriors, last year's state runner-up in Division 4, move on to the sectional semifinals, where they will play Burlington Catholic Central (12-13) at 7 p.m. Thursday in Clinton.
"You'd like to think that (experience) will help. We've been fortunate enough over the years to have that carry-over, those kids that have done it," Flanagan said. "A lot of these kids have seen that stage and have seen that atmosphere. But you still can make too much of it. It's still all about execution. Some nights the ball goes in and some nights it doesn't."
"Knowing it's the regional finals and it could be your last game, there's so much intensity," Rygh said. "It's my senior year and you just know that any game could be your last. I don't want it to be my last for a long time."
A three-year starter, Rygh scored 11 of her game-high 18 points in the critical third quarter, including three 3-pointers that broke the game open.
"Coach always tells us that the first three minutes of the third quarter are the most important of every game," Rygh said. "We really wanted to come off to a fast start. It was just one of those things that the girls found me the ball."
Despite holding Barneveld scoreless for a 7 minute, 42 second stretch in the second quarter, Black Hawk held just an 18-13 lead on its top rival at halftime.
Senior Melissa Wellnitz opened the third quarter with a jumper off of a drive through the lane. Freshman Jen Wellnitz, Melissa's sister, scored moments later, and then drove and kicked-out to Rygh for a wide-open 3.
"We knew we had to get out and get after them right away," Melissa Wellnitz said. "We knew we had to keep playing hard."
Rygh scored again in transition with 3 minutes left in the third to make it 28-17. Melissa Wellnitz forced an immediate steal and Rygh found herself open for another 3. With 1:36 left in the frame, Jen Wellnitz again dished the rock to a wide-open Rygh for another 3. When the period ended, Black Hawk led 35-21.
"To tell you the truth I didn't look at the score. I thought it was still a 5- or 6-point game. Then I looked up at the score and was stunned," Melissa Wellnitz said.
The game didn't start as pretty in the third quarter. Barneveld (17-8) ran a heavy press that caused fits for the Warriors (24-0) in the opening minutes. Black Hawk turned the ball over five times and the Eagles took a quick 6-0 lead - just two minutes into the game. Then the Warriors figured out the press and added their own defensive pressure.
"After that first four or five minutes our kids just started losing their legs," Barneveld coach Jim Myers said. "It comes down to Black Hawk is just a better ball club. Their pressure just wears us down."
Black Hawk, the No. 1 ranked team in the state, was also hampered with early foul trouble. Jen Wellnitz picked up her second foul at the 6:02 mark in the first. Though she sat at first, Black Hawk coach Mike Flanagan continued to put his youngest player back into the rotation.
"I think sometimes you have to do that," Flanagan said. "At this stage there is no tomorrow so you can't pull a kid out and say that they're just going to learn. It's a risk/reward type of thing."
Jen Wellnitz finished with 12 points and Melissa Wellnitz had 9.
"All these times watching my sisters play (in regional games) I had to sit and take stats," Jen Wellnitz said. "It was crazy and fun to finally be able to play."
Barneveld senior Krista McSherry (11) was the only Eagle to score in double figures.
"It was what we expected against a good Barneveld team. We had to persevere early because we didn't start off very auspiciously, but I thought the girls stayed emotionally level and determined," said Flanagan, who has won a regional title the last five years as coach. "They kept trying to go out there and make plays. That's what it's all about this time of the year."
Now the Warriors, last year's state runner-up in Division 4, move on to the sectional semifinals, where they will play Burlington Catholic Central (12-13) at 7 p.m. Thursday in Clinton.
"You'd like to think that (experience) will help. We've been fortunate enough over the years to have that carry-over, those kids that have done it," Flanagan said. "A lot of these kids have seen that stage and have seen that atmosphere. But you still can make too much of it. It's still all about execution. Some nights the ball goes in and some nights it doesn't."
