Black Hawk-Barneveld game moved to Monroe
MONROE - Black Hawk's Division 5 sectional semifinal showdown against Barneveld on Thursday has been moved to Monroe High School.
The game, which originally was scheduled at Sauk Prairie High School, will tip off at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at Black Hawk High School or in the Monroe High School office until noon on Thursday.
Black Hawk, which is attempting to reach the state semifinals for the fourth straight season, split a pair of games with Barneveld this season, with each team winning on its home floor.
BRODHEAD - No coach in his right mind would wish for a high school roster with no seniors, but it's working out pretty well for Brad Pickett.
The Brodhead girls basketball coach doesn't have that fourth-year player or two every coach loves to lean on in the pressure situations, but Pickett isn't complaining.
Not in the least.
That's because juniors Mariah Ahrens, Taylor Douglas and Amanda Pickel - all three-year varsity players - have combined to will the Cardinals to a place the program has never been before: the Division 3 sectional semifinals.
As the No. 2 seed, Brodhead (21-3) will step on the floor Thursday night at Fort Atkinson High School as an underdog against top-seeded East Troy (22-2), which beat the Cardinals 62-55 during the regular season.
Pickett isn't making any predictions on the game's outcome. But he is quite certain that his triumvirate of junior leaders will not let the Cardinals succumb to the mounting postseason pressure.
"They are all different in a lot of ways, but they're all very much team-oriented," Pickett said of Ahrens, Douglas and Pickel. "All three of them have bought into that team mentality and that's what comes first for all of them."
And when Pickett says the trio has bought in, he means wholeheartedly.
"It's amazing," Douglas said, "what can be done when no one cares who gets the recognition.
"That's what's amazing about this team. Everybody said, 'You're not going to be that good - you're young yet.' We were like, 'No, we want it to happen this year.' We started off with (winning the Rock Valley South) Conference and now we're in the (sectional) tournament, and it feels good."
Brodhead lost its leading scorer and rebounder in sophomore Carly Mohns to an season-ending knee injury on Feb. 7. All the Cardinals have done since is win seven straight games - five of them by double digits.
The beauty of Brodhead's winning streak and first regional title in program history has been that seemingly every player on the roster has contributed in some fashion. That list starts with Douglas, a two-time Rock Valley South first-teamer who is averaging 19.8 points per game during the winning streak - up from her average of 13 prior to Mohns' injury.
Douglas poured in a career-high 31 points in the 44-41 regional title victory against Clinton on Saturday.
"She's more than willing to do whatever it takes for us to be successful," Pickett said of Douglas, adding that the 5-foot-9 guard is quite happy to defer to a hot-shooting teammate.
Said Douglas: "I could care less about scoring points. It's not just one person, it's all of us."
That, said Pickett, has been the best part of the Cardinals' success.
"The nice thing about this team is it's hard to take one kid away because somebody else is waiting to step up," he said, crediting Ahrens, Pickel and sophomores Rachel Heller and Meg Duffield for all making instrumental contributions during the regional.
Ahrens said it's been impressive to watch the entire Cardinals roster step up their game since Mohns was hurt. The 5-9 guard/forward, for instance, has produced two of her five double-digit scoring outputs in the Cardinals' last three games - including 11 points in the regional championship game. She's averaging 6.9 points per game.
Pickel, a 5-6 guard, has had three of her four double-digit games since mid-February and tied Heller with a game-high 16 points Brodhead's regional semifinal win against Jefferson. She's averaging 7.1 points on the season.
"Everyone realized we have to fill in all the gaps," Ahrens said. "We have to box out more, some players have to score more points and others have to replace Carly's leadership."
"We're just a well-oiled machine," Pickel said. "Everybody has stepped up majorly. Taylor and Mariah are always willing to go 100 percent and that's great because it motivates everybody else."
The Cardinals are plenty motivated to pay back East Troy and extend an already history-making run..
"We don't want to lose; we don't want to be done," Ahrens said. "It's been a lot of fun and we're not ready for it to be done yet."
The Brodhead girls basketball coach doesn't have that fourth-year player or two every coach loves to lean on in the pressure situations, but Pickett isn't complaining.
Not in the least.
That's because juniors Mariah Ahrens, Taylor Douglas and Amanda Pickel - all three-year varsity players - have combined to will the Cardinals to a place the program has never been before: the Division 3 sectional semifinals.
As the No. 2 seed, Brodhead (21-3) will step on the floor Thursday night at Fort Atkinson High School as an underdog against top-seeded East Troy (22-2), which beat the Cardinals 62-55 during the regular season.
Pickett isn't making any predictions on the game's outcome. But he is quite certain that his triumvirate of junior leaders will not let the Cardinals succumb to the mounting postseason pressure.
"They are all different in a lot of ways, but they're all very much team-oriented," Pickett said of Ahrens, Douglas and Pickel. "All three of them have bought into that team mentality and that's what comes first for all of them."
And when Pickett says the trio has bought in, he means wholeheartedly.
"It's amazing," Douglas said, "what can be done when no one cares who gets the recognition.
"That's what's amazing about this team. Everybody said, 'You're not going to be that good - you're young yet.' We were like, 'No, we want it to happen this year.' We started off with (winning the Rock Valley South) Conference and now we're in the (sectional) tournament, and it feels good."
Brodhead lost its leading scorer and rebounder in sophomore Carly Mohns to an season-ending knee injury on Feb. 7. All the Cardinals have done since is win seven straight games - five of them by double digits.
The beauty of Brodhead's winning streak and first regional title in program history has been that seemingly every player on the roster has contributed in some fashion. That list starts with Douglas, a two-time Rock Valley South first-teamer who is averaging 19.8 points per game during the winning streak - up from her average of 13 prior to Mohns' injury.
Douglas poured in a career-high 31 points in the 44-41 regional title victory against Clinton on Saturday.
"She's more than willing to do whatever it takes for us to be successful," Pickett said of Douglas, adding that the 5-foot-9 guard is quite happy to defer to a hot-shooting teammate.
Said Douglas: "I could care less about scoring points. It's not just one person, it's all of us."
That, said Pickett, has been the best part of the Cardinals' success.
"The nice thing about this team is it's hard to take one kid away because somebody else is waiting to step up," he said, crediting Ahrens, Pickel and sophomores Rachel Heller and Meg Duffield for all making instrumental contributions during the regional.
Ahrens said it's been impressive to watch the entire Cardinals roster step up their game since Mohns was hurt. The 5-9 guard/forward, for instance, has produced two of her five double-digit scoring outputs in the Cardinals' last three games - including 11 points in the regional championship game. She's averaging 6.9 points per game.
Pickel, a 5-6 guard, has had three of her four double-digit games since mid-February and tied Heller with a game-high 16 points Brodhead's regional semifinal win against Jefferson. She's averaging 7.1 points on the season.
"Everyone realized we have to fill in all the gaps," Ahrens said. "We have to box out more, some players have to score more points and others have to replace Carly's leadership."
"We're just a well-oiled machine," Pickel said. "Everybody has stepped up majorly. Taylor and Mariah are always willing to go 100 percent and that's great because it motivates everybody else."
The Cardinals are plenty motivated to pay back East Troy and extend an already history-making run..
"We don't want to lose; we don't want to be done," Ahrens said. "It's been a lot of fun and we're not ready for it to be done yet."
