SOUTH WAYNE — With Darlington coach Mike Flanagan coming back to the gym where he coached Black Hawk for 15 years, seven state tournament appearances, and a State Championship, it offered a couple of opportunities on Monday, Jan. 5. It was a chance to honor Flanagan for his induction into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and a chance to go head-to-head against his daughter-in-law, Kaylee Flanagan, now in her second year as the girls head coach at Black Hawk.
Mike Flanagan’s Redbirds got their seventh straight win, 53-39 over Kaylee Flanagan’s Black Hawk Warriors in nonconference action.
In the first half, Darlington senior Maddie Gratz and freshman Kayli Buschor each made three-pointers, but Black Hawk junior Maddie Place scored nine points to keep the Warriors close at 15-11 over the first 11 minutes. But the Redbirds took command over the final 6:47 of the first half. Buschor hit another three, junior Lily Ritchie knocked down a pair of 3’s, Gratz scored in the paint, senior Sydney Wiegel hit a baseline jumper, and senior Sadie Goebel made a floater on the baseline to go on a 15-2 run and grab a 27-13 halftime lead.
Darlington got their biggest lead at 38-21 with 10:45 to play after Wiegel and Gratz scored while being fouled. Place kissed a shot off the glass to get the Warriors to within 44-33 but Black Hawk could not get any closer.
Gratz led Darlington with 13 points, Harwig scored 11 points, and Buschor dropped in 10 points. Only three players scored for Black Hawk as Place led all scorers with 24 points. Senior Mya Milz had eight points, and senior Emily Figi scored six points.
Mike Flanagan alluded to having multiple players who can score and defend making the Redbirds a team to be reckoned with. “We’ve had so many different kids step up and we’ve had a different leading scorer so many different times and I think we’re difficult to guard because of that. You can see the potential in each of those kids,” stated Flanagan.
Besides coaching against her father-in-law, Kaylee Flanagan felt it was good to get Darlington on the schedule against Black Hawk. “Darlington is a good team to play regardless of who is coaching them. They’ve (Darlington) got length, they’ve got speed. It’s a good game for us especially as Darlington is on a hot streak right now and seeing that our girls can compete with that and continues to build up our confidence,” noted Kaylee Flanagan.
Darlington (7-3) had a SWAL conference game scheduled at Iowa-Grant on Thursday, Jan. 8. Black Hawk (3-5) returned to Six Rivers East Conference action on Thursday, Jan. 8 against Albany-Monticello.
