ARGYLE — In the team’s 2024-25 season opener, Argyle-Pecatonica decimated Iowa-Grant 82-30, reaching a 30-point advantage two minutes before halftime. It was just the start AP head coach Jen Krogman wanted, showing that her team used the 2023-24 season as extra fuel.

In the first year of its co-op last season, AP was undefeated conference champions and rolled to regional and sectional titles. But the Orioles ran into familiar conference opponent Albany-Monticello in the WIAA Division 5 state semifinal. There, the ‘Space Stallions’ proved how hard it is to beat a team three times in one season, knocking off the top-seeded, top-ranked Orioles 37-31. 

To add extra salt to the wound, AP was bumped up to Division 4 in the offseason — not because they had gained any points per the WIAA new competitive balance rule, but because another team had won their petition to move a division lower. Thus, with the next largest enrollment in Division 5, AP took the place of the team that moved down. Meanwhile, state champions AM — which had earned more than six points because of Albany’s state appearance in 2022-23 — got approval to remain in Division 5.

“You know, as much as I would have liked to have won a gold ball last year, in a way, I think everything happens for a reason,” Krogman said. “I think with how young we are, if we had won a gold ball, I think we may have become complacent. I understand we got moved to a different division and everything … but we can’t go back and change what happened. So it makes us hungry. There’s definitely a chip on their shoulders, and I think that we look a year more mature, a year stronger and a year more confident. I really like our chances this season.”

The Orioles set the tone early, as Brooke Wellnitz won the tipoff, and Kylie Butler took it, uncontested, to the hoop for two. AP limited the IG offense with its press, turning defense into offense. Once the Orioles set up, they utilized the back-door pass to score six more points and force the first Panther timeout less than three minutes into the game.

“On our backdoors, every time no matter what, it’s open,” Butler said. “If someone dives then it’s even more wide open.”

AP’s lead quickly reached double digits, 13-2, when Avari Steiner drained a 3-pointer at the top of the key. After getting another back-door pass from Wellnitz for two more points, Butler picked up her second foul six minutes into the contest. That’s when Krogman made her first substitution, putting in Tatum Kurschner for Butler.

Butler sat on the bench for four minutes before coming back to the floor and making an immediate impact. She drew a foul on IG’s Quinn Hoeper and went to the line for two shots. After making the first, Butler grabbed the rebound of the second and dished to Wellnitz, who made the initial basket and the and-one for a four-point swing in just eight seconds.

It was another Butler basket that gave AP a 31-11 lead. With a 13-2 run in a span of four minutes, the Orioles extended their lead to 30 points. 

Iowa-Grant scored the last points of the half, as Lexie Kuhls made a buzzer beater, thanks to an offensive board by Adrienne Biddick. Even with the bucket, the Panthers went into the locker room trailing 46-18. 

With such a short bench — only seven players on the varsity roster — three AP athletes played the entire first half — Wellnitz, Steiner and Loretta Tisch. That vulnerability started to show in the second frame, where Steiner, Tisch and Wellnitz picked up their third fouls. In addition, Butler and fifth starter Aleah Harris had two.

“We just have to be smart in what we do,” Krogman said. “We can’t be picking up fouls 50 feet from the basket. A lot of it comes from the aggressiveness of that press.”

Despite running into a little bit of foul trouble, AP continued to share the ball well and extend its lead. Steiner assisted Butler and Wellnitz on back-to-back points and was then rewarded with a fast-break bucket from Wellnitz, putting the Orioles ahead 60-20. 

“I love how much we work as a team. We are very unselfish,” Butler said. “We want others to get more involved because it makes us a better team. As you can see, our points racked up and we got a really big lead.”

With such a big lead and just over nine minutes left in the contest — the point at which a running clock begins — Krogman called off the press.

With five minutes left in the game, Butler scored her 31st point, putting AP head by 50. Wellnitz scored another two on a fast break, resulting in a Panther timeout with four minutes left in the contest. 

That’s when Krogman put in her bench, including some JV players.

AP does not have a single senior on its roster — only four juniors and four sophomores but a large freshman class of 10. Krogman credits the team’s success last season as the reason more athletes are coming into the program. 

“I said in my press conference at state, ‘You watch this program double.’ We are up to 18 players now,” Krogman said. “We told the varsity, what an honor. You guys did this. I’m really proud of those older kids taking those younger kids under their wing and just getting both communities so excited.”

Four players scored in double figures for the Orioles, led by Butler with 31 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Wellnitz tallied a double-double with 21 points and 14 assists. Tisch and Steiner, too, nearly had double-doubles. Steiner scored 12 points — half of them beyond the arc — with nine steals, while Tisch scored 16 points with eight steals.

As a team, the Orioles grabbed 32 rebounds, assisted one another 27 times and recorded 30 steals.    

Next up for AP (1-0, 0-0 Six Rivers East) is Belleville (0-0, 0-0 Capitol South). The Wildcats handed the Orioles their only loss of the season prior to the state tournament.