SOUTH WAYNE — While it’s been said that a picture is worth 1,000 words, at Black Hawk High School, a Butler is worth 1,000 points.
“It’s really special; very special,” said her mom, Angie Butler who is the assistant for Black Hawk’s varsity girls team said. “Basketball’s a big part of the family. We do a lot of basketball at home.”
Bailey Butler joined three of her siblings in crossing the 1,000-point career milestone with the Warriors during Black Hawk’s methodical 70-27 win over Argyle Dec. 20.
“The whole team wanted it for her, and we put it together and she got it,” said sister Hannah, a senior who reached the 1,000-point milestone a season ago as a junior.
Bailey, a junior that’s verbally committed to play for UW-Green Bay in two years, needed just four points to reach the mark, but ended the game with 21. As the clock was crossing the 13-minute mark on the scoreboard, Bailey stole the ball at midcourt and went uncontested to the hoop for the easy lay-in.
“It was crazy — seeing all the fans go crazy and my teammates helping me out there, it was amazing,” Bailey said. “I just knew that if I played my game, I could get it.”
Bailey joins sisters Paige and Hannah, as well as brother Heath in the 1,000-point club at Black Hawk.
“I always give them crap about their game, but they’ve worked hard to get to where they’re at right now and I’m pretty proud of them both,” Heath said of Bailey and Hannah. “It’s nice to have that same thing keep going on through the family. With Hannah and Bailey playing together, they have a connection like Seth and I kind of had, and that probably helps with their game, too.”
It was crazy — seeing all the fans go crazy and my teammates helping me out there, it was amazing. I just knew that if I played my game, I could get it.Black Hawk junior Bailey Butler
Paige was the first to reach the mark just over a decade ago, finishing her career with 1,088 in 2009. Heath was a 2015 Black Hawk graduate and ended his career with 1,299 points. Hannah, a senior this season, reached the 1,000-point threshold last season as a junior and currently has 1,170 points to her name.
“It’s just so much fun to watch,” said Paige, who has served as an assistant coach with the team the past two years. “I had to come back (to help coach) this year because Hannah and Bailey are still playing together.”
The only two of Angie Butler’s children that haven’t surpassed the 1,000-mark are Seth, a 2014 Black Hawk graduate who finished with 719 career points, and younger Kylie, who is only in sixth grade.
The Butler siblings like to give Seth, a versatile all-around player in his day, a fun ribbing for being the outcast, but he and brother Heath were the first in the family to hoist a gold ball with the 2013 football team. Seth earned multiple all-conference honors in both football and basketball in high school playing beside Heath before graduating in 2014.
“It’s always been a bit of a goal for our family, and I’m glad that they’ve all got it,” said Seth of the 1,000-point milestone. “I know they all like to give me crap for not getting it, but I like to say that I taught them everything they know.”
Bailey leads the Warriors in scoring this year at 15.6 points per game, followed by senior Natalie Leuzinger (14.8) and Hannah (14.6). Only one team has stayed within 40 points of Black Hawk this season — Wisconsin Heights lost by 39 in the opening game of the year.
In fact, the Warriors have won convincingly almost every night on the court over the past few years, losing just twice since the beginning of the 2016-17 season. Leuzinger plans to walk-on with the Wisconsin Badgers next fall and currently sits at 1,448 career points, just 132 away from the program record of 1,580 by 2014 graduate Jen Wellnitz, who went on to star at UW-Green Bay.
“It’s incredible. We’ve been playing together for so long, and I don’t think any of us had a goal to get it by our junior year. We just know each other’s game so well that good things just happen,” Leuzinger said.
Black Hawk coach Mike Flanagan makes no bones about it — his players, especially the Butlers — have worked extremely hard to enjoy the fruits of their labor, which includes not only individual accolades but team success. Bailey and Hannah were all-state players last winter, as was Leuzinger, and the Warriors brought home the school’s first-ever gold basketball trophy.
“What an athletic family. But again, let’s talk about hard work and coachable kids. These are the kids who, all the time, are receptive to us and they don’t second guess. They just play the way we ask them to,” Flanagan said. “Obviously it was a big night for Bailey, but she’s a humble kid and defers to the group. She’s the first one to try to create opportunities for her teammates. We’re really proud of the way they conduct themselves and how they don’t worry about themselves, but about us as a team.”
More than a game: Fans, teams ‘White Out CHD’
Both Argyle and Black Hawk came together for a higher cause than just a basketball game.
With a spaghetti supper, bake sale, a miracle minute and auctioning off of an American Girl doll at halftime, the two schools were able to raise over $3,000 to help the Collins family, who have a young infant with Congenital heart disease (CHD). Older sisters Delaney and Jaliyah Collins play on the Black Hawk junior varsity team.
According to the Mayo Clinic, CHD is a rare disease with fewer than 200,000 cases each year. However, CHD is one of the most common types of birth defects.
The bucket that scored the 1,000th point was part of a 14-0 run by Black Hawk, the state’s No. 1-ranked team in Division 5. The Warriors would go up 21-2 just over a minute later and cruised into halftime ahead 45-16.
“Our press definitely gets us going. We may not always get steals right away, but as our momentum gets going, we get steals in fast breaks,” Leuzinger said.
Leuzinger finished the game with 16 points and Hannah Butler had 10. Makayla Mau added eight for Black Hawk. Argyle was led in scoring by Tori Lantz, who had nine points.
“I felt like the kids played with high-energy and a high-motor throughout,” Flanagan said.
Black Hawk (5-0) now faces its toughest tests of the season this weekend. The Warriors enter the Watertown Holiday Shootout (Dec. 27-28) and will face defending WIAA Division 3 state champion and fifth-ranked Marshall (5-2) the first night, and Division 1 Madison La Follette (2-4) the next day. La Follette was 16-7 a season ago.
“When we work on our ‘buzz’ and our 2-3 (zone), we need to use that against those tough teams because they do have some tall girls and we don’t really have much height, so that helps,” Leuzinger said.
The Warriors return to home action Jan. 4 against Dodgeville (3-3) in a nonconference game before hosting Albany (5-3) and Juda (1-5) the next week.
“If we keep playing like we are, hard work will get us places,” Bailey Butler said.
