ARGYLE — The Argyle-Pecatonica girls basketball team was 18 minutes from completing its toughest week on the season schedule with a strong victory over a worthy adversary. After beating last year’s state runner-up Barneveld three days prior, the likely the final hurdle to an outright Six Rivers East championship was on Thursday, Jan. 22 against Albany-Monticello, last year’s league winner.
The Division 5 second-ranked squad from Lafayette County’s northern Highway 78 corridor had it all lined up, including a semi-comfortable 12-point halftime lead at home.
“At halftime we were feeling good. I told the girls, ‘let’s go wrap this up,’” said AP coach Jen Krogman. “But now, Barneveld (on the final day of the regular season) is going to mean that much more — but that’s not a bad thing. We just need to learn from our mistakes.”
But the visiting Space Stallions, ranked eighth in Division 4, flipped the script in the second half.
While Argyle-Pecatonica took a 14-point lead on the first bucket of the second stanza, it was the Albany-Monticello that would control the rest of the game and eventually win it in overtime, 63-57.
“Anyone who braved the cold tonight, they saw an instant classic,” said AM coach Derik Doescher. “Believe it or not, in that locker room at the half, we didn’t talk one X or O. We didn’t talk about set plays or our defense — I challenged them.”
He said he felt he felt like his quad was getting out-worked and out-hustled. He challenged his players to play their very hardest to prove they belong at the top of the conference with AP.
“It was a message we needed to hear. It was wake up — let’s go,” senior captain Molly Olson said. “He lit a fire under us and let us know that, ‘hey, this is your shot. For the next 18 minutes, go out there and give it everything you’ve got, because that’s what we need right now.’”
Doescher had taken two timeouts in the first half, but rather than conventionally saving his remaining three to stop the clock in potential late-game scenarios, he meticulously timed them out simply to give his kids a breather.
Doescher’s philosophy was to attack hard on the court, then give the players a brief moment to grab a drink, make minor strategic adjustments, and shower them with encouragement. The tactic worked to perfection.
“The timeouts were to give us a rest and remind us to be calm and that we were still in this game. We just needed to believe in ourselves,” said AM freshman Emerson Butts.
After going down 31-17 just 90 seconds into the half, AM rattled off a 6-0 run to bring the deficit back to eight points (31-23) with 12:20 to play. By the 9:56 mark, the deficit was at six points (35-29).
AP countered with a 6-0 run which brought the difference back to 11 points with 9:00 left on the clock. For the next five minutes and 30 seconds, both teams essentially traded baskets and turnovers. With just 3:22 remaining, AP’s Brooke Wellnitz made a move for a bucket in the post to keep her team ahead by 10 at 52-42.
The final 3:22 of regulation was chaos, administered by AM — specifically the Olson sisters.
“In the second half, I felt we sped them up — which is our game — and we battled a little harder. Offensively, the only adjustment we made was to spread the floor and say to Heidi and Molly, ‘get downhill and we’ll react off of that,’” Doescher said. “We wanted to put the ball into our two best athletes’ hands, make some good decisions, and let’s play some basketball.”
With 3:10 left, sophomore Heidi Olson jut a jump shot, with Doescher calling his final timeout immediately afterwards. 37 seconds later, senior Molly Olson sank a three-pointer to make it 52-47. An AP turnover with 1:49 left gave the Space Stallions another key possession, which resulted in another three-pointer by Molly Olson. Heidi Olson then forced a turnover on defense with 1:17 to go, and evened the score at 52 with just 1:10 left.
It was a 10-point swing in 120 seconds. After scoring just three points on free throws in the first half, Molly Olson scored 13 in the second half, which included three from downtown. Heidi Olson had just four points in the first half, but 11 in the second stanza.
“It’s really nice when the shots go in. Once we get into that rhythm — that’s us. All of our girls are really good shooters, and we shoot with confidence,” Molly Olson said.
Krogman called a timeout with 53.8 seconds left, with the raucous crowd as loud as a sectional contest in March.
A foul by freshman Annie Olson sent Wellnitz to the free throw line with 37.0 left on the clock. She sank both attempts.
Then, with 10 seconds left, Annie Olson scored on a cut to the basket to even the score again, sending the game into overtime.
Similar to the second half, AP struck first when Wellnitz hit one of two bonus free throws. A minute and a half later, Heidi Olson took a steal from coast to coast for a lay up and the lead — AM’s first of the game.
Flustered and frustrated, the Highway 78ers couldn’t find the basket on offense. Stepping up to the charity stripe six times in the extra period for AM was Butts, a freshman. All six shots fell.
“I just wasn’t thinking (about it). I was trusting my arc and my follow through. I am very confident in myself when it comes to free throws,” Butts said.
Her teammates and coaches also have confidence in her free throw shooting ability, as well as her overall skill-set on the court.
“You couldn’t even tell she was a freshman. She stepped up to the line and knocked them down. She handled the moment so well. That’s just what we needed to see,” Molly Olson said.
“We’re lucky to have her, we really are. Six-for-six is impressive for a freshman. The biggest thing that’s even more impressive is for her to sit there and battle with Brooke Wellnitz all night long,” Doescher said. “(Butts) is a young lady that grew up playing guard. Because she has a little height, we have to make her defend in the post, and that means defend one of the best in Brooke Wellnitz. And then we’re also going to ask you to go to the offensive end and do the little things and make free throws. That’s impressive — very impressive.
“Our freshmen and sophomores play like juniors and seniors. ... They’re ready for the moment.”
AM out-scored AP 9-3 in the overtime to pull off the improbably come-from-behind victory and level things out at the top of the conference standings.
“How could we play such great first half defense, and then come out in that second half and have so many defensive breakdowns and mental errors?” Krogman wondered. “We have to give kudos to AM — they are so well coached. Those Olson girls worked their butts off. They deserved to win, and we deserved to lose the game. Hopefully it’s a wake up call.”
For AP, the second loss of the season stung more than the first, which came at the hands of Mineral Point in December, also at home.
“I think we’ve been getting complacent,” Krogman said bluntly. “We have to treat every game like a playoff game at this point in the season. I told them in the locker room after the game that we’re lucky it’s not, otherwise we’d be going home.”
Heidi Olson led AM with 18 points, while Molly Olson had 16, Butts 12 and Emerson Briggs eight. Emma Thompson led AM with eight rebounds. Thompson and Molly Olson each had four assists.
Loretta Tisch paced AP with a game-high 19 points. Wellnitz had 15, Kylie Butler 10 and Avari Steiner nine. Wellnitz added 12 rebounds and dished out six assists. Tisch grabbed eight off the glass.
It was the last time Molly Olson and Kylie Butler would play each other in high school — both schools will compete in separate divisions in the playoffs. Olson said she has really enjoyed the challenge of guarding a future D1 college basketball player — Butler is committed to UW-Milwaukee.
“She’s a great player and I try my best to stay with her,” Molly Olson said. “I pride myself on my defense, but a lot of that comes from my teammates. They let me face guard her the whole time, which makes my job a lot easier slowing her down.”
AP had 20 turnovers total to AM’s 13. AP also out-rebounded AM 58-21, including 22-6 on offensive boards.
Albany-Monticello (16-1, 8-1 Six Rivers East) will face New Glarus on Jan. 27 in a nonconference game, followed by road contests at Benton (1-14, 1-7 Six Rivers West) on Jan. 30 and Brodhead (14-2) on Feb. 2.
Argyle-Pecatonica (14-2, 8-1 Six Rivers East) looks to rebound this week, with Black Hawk (4-10, 1-7 Six Rivers East) on Jan. 27, followed by Highland (12-4, 7-2 Six Rivers West) on Jan. 30.
