SOUTH WAYNE — Early struggles negated a solid finish as Black Hawk’s girls basketball team fell 44-28 to New Glarus in the home opener Monday, Nov. 29.
Over the final 28 minutes of the game, the Warriors outscored the Glarner Knights 28-24. The problem is that over the first 8 minutes, Black Hawk had fallen behind 20-0, a reversal of so many games over the past five seasons.
“After the game we talked about how we were proud of our girls for how they came out in the second half. In the first half we missed a lot of layups and a lot of free throws, and we allowed them a lot of scoring opportunities,” said first-year Warriors coach Cora Holland.
Black Hawk (0-2) opened the game 0-for-13 from the field and committed three turnovers. New Glarus (4-0), meanwhile, hit open shots from the outside, drove the lane, scored in transition and got to the free throw line.
“During the timeouts we talked to the girls about how New Glarus is a good team. We talked about how we have to meet their shooters off the pass; find their shooters right away. We had to play our game and not get sped up. I think once they started hitting shots our girls got flustered,” Holland said.
Knights coach Kevin Parman liked what he saw from his players for the first 10 minutes of the game, but when the Warriors switched to a zone defense, the buckets came less frequently.
“We definitely like to play up-tempo, and it’s no secret a lot of teams will switch to a zone to slow that down. That’s the thing we need to continue to get better at — we got good looks out of the zone, we just have to make sure we are finishing them,” Parman said.
Raylin Peterson put the Warriors on the board at the 7:58 mark with a free throw, and Tara Wellnitz scored Black Hawk’s first field goal of the game at the 5:25 mark of the first half — with 12:35 gone by in the game. The New Glarus lead twice hit 21 in the first half, but a 7-3 run over the final 4:15 of the stanza made it 27-10 at halftime.
“We talked to them at halftime that we had to limit their outside shots and do what we can to get inside shots for us,” Holland said.
Black Hawk opened the second half with a 3-pointer from Kendra Haldiman, but New Glarus scored the next 13 points to take a 40-13 lead with 10:43 to play. From there, the Warriors buckled down and outscored the Knights 15-4 the rest of the way.
“We needed to stay calm, play it slow and play at our pace. And we saw that shift in the second half,” Holland said.
Black Hawk also spent much of the game in zone defense, a much different look than the years of heavy full-court pressure that led to some chaos under previous head coach Mike Flanagan, now one of Holland’s assistants.
“We like to switch it up. Our girls really like our zone — they get into it. I think we have a solid group of girls where we can switch from man to zone. I think it allows our team to think more on defense, and it puts a lot of pressure on the offense, too,” Holland said. “Coach Flanagan has been amazing. His wealth of knowledge is second to none, and I am so appreciative of having him. It’s made the transition so smooth for our girls. We so appreciate having him. He brings so much to our team.”
Peterson led Black Hawk with 10 points and seven rebounds. Tara Wellnitz had eight points and nine boards. The Warriors were just 11 of 48 (22.9%) from the field, 4 of 15 (26.6%) from the free throw line and 2 of 17 (11.7) from beyond the arc. Haldiman hit both of the Warriors’ 3s.
“They are well coached and a good team with a lot of tradition,” Parman said of Black Hawk.
Lindsey Schadewalt led New Glarus with 24 points — 18 of which came in the first half. She hit both of the Knights’ 3s.
“She’s very tough — you almost have to hold her back just a little bit to run some offense. She’s a good shooter and she has the green light,” Parman said.
New Glarus emptied its bench in the second half, getting some valuable court time to the younger players and reserves, which should help them grow and fill in as the season continues.
“They all work hard in practice. They understand that I am always thinking about them, and I wish I could be perfect as a coach for everyone on my bench. But we also want to make sure we’re playing good basketball — that’s the main thing. Whether you’re a starter or not, go in there and play the best that you can, and that’s all I can ask for,” Parman said.
Black Hawk gets back into action Dec. 3 at home against Argyle, then has six days off before hosting Albany on Dec. 9. For the Warriors, six of the next seven games are home.
“Now we have five days off, but we can’t be satisfied with this. We have to keep working in practice. We need to focus on one game at a time — and ourselves; taking care of what we need to take care of,” Parman said.
