SOUTH WAYNE — Black Hawk captured its fourth straight WIAA Division 5 regional championship title at home on Saturday night, but the No. 1-ranked Warriors certainly had to work to pull away from the #7-ranked Shullsburg Miners.
Top-seeded Black Hawk (19-0) used a 9-2 scoring run at the start of the second half to put a little distance between themselves and the second-seeded Miners (18-7), and then outscored their guests 25-6 over the final 12 and a half minutes of play to lock down their 73rd consecutive victory and fourth regional crown with a 68-40 win at BHHS on Feb. 13.
“Regional championships are really special. We talked a lot last night about how the regional title we won 15 years ago spring-boarded our future successes. To win one against a very good basketball team like Shullsburg — and a friend like Nathan Russell — made it very rewarding. We, as coaches, are very proud of how the team responded and found a way to take care of business,” said Black Hawk head coach Michael Flanagan after the 11th regional title during his 15-year tenure with the program.
Shullsburg showed it was ready for a fight early on with senior Layla Alt sinking a 3-pointer and adding two free throws to put her team up 5-2 just 87 seconds into the game.
Black Hawk recovered as five different players scored during a 16-2 run to pull back into the lead to stay at 18-7. Senior Makayla Mau had a trey and two free throws during the run, while senior Macie Stauffacher added a 3 and senior Bailey Butler and sophomore Raylin Peterson chipped in with three-point plays.
The Miners used 3s from Alt and Brooklyn Strang to hang in the game, and then got the Warriors into a bit of foul trouble by getting to the line time and again the rest of the first half. Alt went 6-for-6 from the stripe and senior Madison Russell added two free throws and a basket to keep the guests within seven.
Butler — who is already the school’s all-time scoring leader for a career for both girls and boys — put her name on another girls’ scoring record by passing Jen Wellnitz’s single-season mark of 539 with her 10th point of the first half that put the Warriors up 32-23.
Butler finished the game with 26 points to run her season total to 556 points, and has her sights set on topping her brother, Heath’s, all-time school record of 647 points.
The Miners took a bit of momentum into the break when senior Anna Wiegel scored a last-second, three-point play to trim the gap to six at 32-26.
A basket by sophomore Tara Wellnitz extended the Warriors’ lead to 43-28 early in the second half. A trey by Wiegel and an And-1 by Russell brought the Miners back within nine with 14:25 to play, however Coach Flanagan’s crew reeled off 25 of the next 28 points to pull away for good.
“The defense that Coach Russell devised was something we had not seen before, and even though we tried to make some adjustments in timeouts during the first half, it is very difficult for players to actuate a system they have not used before,” said Flanagan. “When we had the time in the locker room to provide clarity, the players did a much better job of implementing what we talked about. We are also really proud of how hard the girls defended and rebounded in the second half, and we got contributions from a lot of different kids.”
Butler netted nine of those points, while Mau added five with another 3 and senior Kaylee Marty chipped in with fourth to help seal the outcome.
Butler nearly had a triple-double with 26 points, 10 assists and 9 steals. Mau finished with three 3s and 15 points and Marty provided 8 points and 7 rebounds, while Stauffacher and Wellnitz scored 6 points each and Peterson added 5.
Wellnitz and Peterson led the team with 9 rebounds apiece.
Alt tallied a team-high 16 points for Shullsburg to end her career fourth on the program’s scoring list with 1,152 points. Wiegel pumped in 8 points, while Madison Russell had 7 and freshman Camden Russell added 6 on two 3s.
Playing in their final prep game at Shullsburg on Saturday were seniors Brooklyn Strang, Madison Russell, Anna Wiegel, Kayla Klotz, Peyton Doyle, Cheyenne Burgess and Layla Alt.
Black Hawk advanced to Saturday night by defeating Six Rivers East rival Pecatonica, 72-30, in Friday’s WIAA Division 5 regional semifinal game at BHHS.
Bailey Butler sank five of her six 3-pointers and scored 19 of her game-high 30 points in the first half to put the Warriors up 42-18 at the half. She also tallied seven rebounds, seven steals and six assists.
Kaylee Marty scored 12 points and Raylin Peterson contributed eight points, seven boards and four assists for the Warriors. Tara Wellnitz added seven rebounds and five steals.
“Pecatonica is a team that has improved throughout the season, and they came in with some good energy. We really looked to push tempo and to move the basketball against their zone, and we were able to pull away for a convincing victory,” said Flanagan. “We also were able to rest many of our main contributors for the last ten minutes of the game, which was important with the quick turnaround and gave us chances to give more kids opportunities in a tournament game.”
Sophomore Chloe Schraepfer netted 11 points and junior Tessa Green scored 10 to lead the Vikings (6-12).
Black Hawk received the No. 1-seed in its WIAA D5 sectional bracket and will be home throughout the sectional tournament. The Warriors will host No. 4 Almond-Bancroft (15-9) in a semifinal game at BHHS on Thursday, Feb. 18, starting at 7 p.m.
The winner advances to face the winner of the other semifinal between No. 2 Albany (18-2) and No. 3 Rio (13-6) at the home of the highest remaining seed on Saturday, Feb. 20, at a time to be determined.
