MONTICELLO — Tied at 47 with 11 ticks on the clock, Argyle-Pecatonica sophomore Brooke Wellnitz stole the ball from Albany-Monticello senior Abby Hollis in the backcourt and had a clear path to the basket for the game-winning bucket. Hollis nearly made up for the mistake with a half-court buzzer-beater, but her shot hit the rim, resulting in a 49-47 Oriole victory.
“Honestly, all I’m thinking is, just don’t miss,” Wellnitz said of the winning shot. “Just go. It’s an easy lay up; don’t miss.”
Flash back four weeks prior, and Argyle-Pecatonica was on the other side of the outcome. It was the Orioles’ first loss of the season. Five days after D4 No. 7 AP’s loss to D5 No. 1 AM, the team lost to D5 No. 5 Barneveld 80-68. It could have easily turned into a downward spiral for the Orioles, but they used it as a lesson.
“We just went back and we said, ‘Okay, why did we lose the last two times?’” Argyle-Pecatonica head coach Jen Krogman said. “Outside shooting killed us all the time. So we’re like, ‘If they’re gonna beat us, they’re gonna beat us on the inside. We’re not gonna allow them to hit a bunch of threes.’”
The Orioles stuck to their gameplan, which allowed Dalana Trumpy to score at will in the post. She tallied the first 10 Space Stallion points. In fact, it wasn’t until eight minutes into the contest that someone other than Trumpy scored for AM. It was Anna Ellinger’s bucket that had the Space Stallions double up the Orioles, 12-6.
“Credit to Dalana early on,” Albany-Monticello head coach Derik Doescher said. “She said, ‘okay, I’ll take that challenge,’ and really put us on her back and scored some buckets early and kept us in it.”
That’s when Diana Hendrickson turned it on for AP. Hendrickson played her sophomore season for Pecatonica with her mother, Linda, as head coach. When Argyle and Pecatonica formed a co-op last season — Krogman now head coach with Linda Hendrickson as JV coach — Diana did not go out. It wasn’t until after the Barneveld loss that Diana Hendrickson joined the team and her brother AJ joined the coaching staff, too.
“We need as much of a bench as we can,” Krogman said of Diana Hendrickson joining. “A kid with basketball experience. She’s 5’10” and comes from a basketball family. Her brother is on the bench now, too. She’s stepping up huge for us.”
Hendrickson was the recipient of a back-door pass and bucket from Avari Steiner. She then returned the favor, kicking out to Steiner for a 3-pointer that made it a one-possession game. Three minutes later, Steiner tied the game at 16 with an old-fashioned three-point play.
“I was hitting that night, and I came in with the confidence tonight to start hitting again,” Steiner said of dropping a career-high 30 points against River Ridge Jan. 31 and how it helped against AM.
Trumpy scored the final six points of the half compared to AP’s four, giving AM a 22-20 edge at halftime.
While the Orioles’ defensive adjustment allowed inside scoring, the man-to-man scheme also led to more rebounds. After Aleah Harris went to the charity stripe and made her first free throw, Wellnitz grabbed the board of the second. The possession ended in a 3-pointer for Steiner. Moments later, Harris grabbed her own rebound and dished to Wellnitz for two, giving AP its first lead in the second half, 28-27.
Ellinger, given space, quickly regained the advantage. It was the start of a 10-3 run for AM, resulting in the Space Stallions’ largest spread at 37-30. The rally ended with a 3-pointer from Molly Olson, just one of three in the game for AM.
Despite the deficit with time ticking away, the Orioles clawed back. With 6:22 left in the contest, Loretta Tisch hit a game-tying three. While AP went on to take the lead, AM managed to tie the game another three times — Ellinger’s perimeter shot with an assist from Hollis, Heidi Olson’s jumper and her 1-for-2 trip at the line.
The Orioles had chances to put the game away with bonus free throws, but the team was 0-for-3 on its chances in the final four minutes and 2-for-8 overall. But it didn’t matter, as a Space Stallion late-game turnover cost the game. Ironically, AM had fewer turnovers and more steals than AP — it just came down to timeliness.
“We didn’t do things well enough in situations down the stretch — the last 15 seconds — and I will take the fault there because we have to be better prepared for those situations. That’s my bad,” Doescher said.
Although his team’s undefeated season was tarnished, Doescher reminded his players that they shouldn’t hang their heads. With wins over Shullsburg and Juda, AM can still claim the outright Six Rivers East conference title. Even if the Space Stallions split, they’d likely have a share.
“We might reflect back on this in three or four weeks and say it’s the best thing for us,” Doescher said. “Now we’re not carrying this monster of an undefeated season. All our goals are still in front of us — outright conference champs and a deep run in the tournament.”
