BEAVER DAM — Top-ranked Black Hawk is heading to Green Bay riding a full head of steam after clear cutting the Oakfield Oaks, 83-36, in a WIAA Division 5 sectional championship girls’ basketball game played at Beaver Dam High School on Saturday, March 7.

The Lady Warriors (26-0 overall) will be making their third straight appearance at the Resch Center and are looking to defend their D5 crown from a year ago after rolling the Oaks (20-7) for their 54th consecutive victory.

“This is what we have worked so hard for. We have to be ready to defend the title because teams will be coming after us. That’s what you expect when you’re on top. I’m so proud of this team. The seniors set the tone, and the other players fall in line,” said Black Hawk head coach Michael Flanagan, who takes the Warriors to state for the sixth time in school history. “I hope they soak up every part of this next week because this is such a special thing.” 

Black Hawk, which has been ranked No. 1 in D5 the entire season, received the top-seed for the state tournament and will face fourth-seeded and No. 7-ranked Newman Catholic (22-4) in a state semifinal game in Green Bay on Friday, March 13. Tip-off is set for 9:05 a.m. on Friday morning. 

“What a great way for our seniors to finish their careers with one more shot at a state title. What a great scenario for them,” Flanagan said. His senior class has posted a record of 103-2 on varsity over the past four seasons.

Second-seeded and No. 2-ranked Clear Lake (26-0) returns to state for the first time in 23 years where they will meet three-seed and No. 3-ranked Bangor (25-1) in the other state semifinal game, scheduled for 10:45 a.m. on Friday. 

The D5 State Championship game will be played on Saturday, March 14, starting at 11:05 a.m.

Black Hawk wasted no time taking control of Saturday’s game as four different players scored in the first two minutes to put the Warriors ahead to stay at 8-0. 

Oakfield committed four turnovers and three fouls before even getting a shot up; and, by the time Avery Conger sank a free throw to open the scoring for the Oaks at the 15:43 mark, the Warriors had the game well in hand.

Coach Flanagan’s crew ran off the next 11 points to build up a 19-1 lead with 13:33 remaining, and continued to knock down shots from beyond the 3-point arc and score transition layups off turnovers the rest of the opening half to take a 50-20 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

Seniors Hannah Butler and Natalie Leuzinger scored 14 points apiece in the first half, while junior Bailey Butler followed with nine points. The trio combined for 24 of the Warriors’ 33 second-half points to fuel the rout. 

“I think we surprised them a little bit early and our press wore on them. It was like shock-and-awe. By the time they realized what was happening, it was too late,” said Flanagan. “We did a lot of things well. We were able to create a lot of those live-ball turnovers, which turned into easy baskets. We were also able to play quite a few kids and get them the experience of playing in a sectional. It’s always fun to see that happen. It’s what you hope for you can do for those players at this time of year.”

The Warriors opened the second half on a 20-3 run to start up the running clock and cruised from there to capture their third straight sectional title and a return trip to the state tournament.

Coming into this game we didn’t know a lot about Oakfield. They gave us a really good game, but we showed up tonight. We had the crowd behind us the whole night and the atmosphere was awesome,” said senior guard Maddy Huschitt. “We’re absolutely pumped (to get back to state). We got some work to do in front of us, but I think if we all have each other’s backs we’ll get it done.”

Hannah Butler finished with a game-high 23 points and tallied five steals and four assists to lead the Warriors. The senior ended the night with 1,582 career points to pass former Black Hawk standout Jen Wellnitz (1,580), moving into third-place on the school’s all-time scoring list and second-place on the Lady Warriors’ scoring board behind Leuzinger (1,803 and counting) and Conner Meyer (1,662)

Leuzinger followed with 22 points, eight rebounds, five steals and three assists, while Bailey Butler registered a double-double with 16 points and 10 assists to go along with seven steals.

“It’s incredible that we’re going back to state. It feels unbelievable. It’s so much fun playing with this team,” Hannah Butler said.

Huschitt added eight points and three steals for the Warriors, and junior Kaylee Marty chipped in with five points and four steals.

Senior forward Mya Lamonska led the Oaks with 10 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Conger, a senior, and Lynsey Streeter, a freshman, added six points apiece for Oakfield, which was seeking its first state appearance since 1987.

Black Hawk advanced to Saturday’s sectional final by gutting out a hard-fought 68-55 victory over No. 4-ranked Fall River in a WIAA D5 sectional semifinal game played at Evansville High School on Thursday, March 5.

It was a rematch of last year’s state semifinal game, which was won by the Lady Warriors by a score of 71-39. Thursday’s game was a much tighter affair for most of the night.

The lead changed hands four times between the teams in the first half until baskets by freshman Tara Wellnitz and senior Hannah Butler in the final 30 seconds put the Warriors into the lead for good at 26-22.

“We knew (Fall River) would be ready to go. They’re aggressive and they have some length that we typically don’t see. I felt that early on in the game, their length was a big part of how the game was played,” Flanagan said. “I thought we did a better job of starting to attack the basket in the second half.” 

The Warriors opened up an early 13-8 lead behind 3s from Leuzinger, Marty and Bailey Butler.

The Pirates, who knocked Black Hawk out of the playoffs in the regional round in both 2016 and 2017, used a 10-2 to grab their largest lead of the night at 18-15 following back-to-back baskets by senior center Sam Leisemann with 4:50 to go in the first half.

The Warriors responded back with a 9-2 run of their own to build up a four-point lead at the intermission, and then started off the second half with a three-point play by Leuzinger and a steal and coast-to-coast layup by Bailey Butler to take a 31-22 lead.

Senior Maddie Gregorio (eight points) and Leisemann (four) teamed up to pull the Pirates back within three at 39-36 with 11:09 to play, however the Warriors charged back with eight unanswered points to go up by double digits. 

Huschitt’s 3-pointer with 8:05 remaining made it 47-36 in the Black Hawk’s favor, and then the Warriors put the game away at the free throw line by hitting eight of their 10 attempts over the final 4:12 to pull away for a 17-point victory.

“When you get to this level, you can’t take anything for granted. You have to work for everything. They certainly made us work hard for it tonight. We’re not going to scoff at a 17-point victory,” said Flanagan.

Leuzinger finished with a game-high 19 points and four assists. Bailey Butler tallied 16 points, six steals and four assists, while sister Hannah contributed 14 points, six steals and five rebounds. Marty scored six points and Huschitt added five in the win.

Maddie Gregorio scored 10 of her team-high 12 points in the second half to lead the Pirates. Senior Lexi Rozinski chipped in with 10 points, while Leisemann netted nine and senior Taryn Schwartz added eight.

●  Black Hawk junior Bailey Butler finished second overall in the Division 5 3-point shooting standings with her season mark of .422 (49-of-113) and senior Natalie Leuzinger was third in D5 at .413 (31-of-75). Neither will be able to compete in the WIAA State 3-Point Shooting contest since they will be participating in the tournament. Loyal senior Remi Geiger led D5 with a mark of .443 (51-of-115).

●  Division 5 state qualifier Bangor is the last team to defeat Black Hawk. The Cardinals topped the Warriors in the 2018 state championship game by a score of 39-29 to earn the D5 title.