SOUTH WAYNE - It had been 12 days between games, so it took the Black Hawk girls basketball team some time to adjust to Juda's 2-3 zone defense Thursday. However, after the Warriors found a solution, they rolled to a 53-31 win over Juda.
Black Hawk freshman Natalie Leuzinger scored a game-high 19 points, grabbed eight rebounds and had four steals to power the Warriors.
Black Hawk (11-0, 5-0 Six Rivers East), ranked third in the Associated Press Division 5 state poll, remains unbeaten and in the driver's seat to win a conference title.
"One of our goals is to be conference champs," Leuzinger said. "This was a big win for us."
The Warriors opened the game with a 15-3 run. Black Hawk freshman Hannah Butler scored six of her nine points during the spurt. Freshman Maddy Huschitt, who added 10 points, drilled a 3-pointer during the surge to give the Warriors a 10-point lead. Junior Hannah Herbst then scored on a layup to extend the Warriors' lead to 15-3 with 12:35 left in the first half.
Juda (9-6, 2-3 Six Rivers East) stormed back after switching to a 2-3 zone. The Warriors struggled with their outside shooting and the Panthers went on a 14-4 run. Juda senior Chelsea Burkhalter, who scored a team-high 11 points, had the hot hand during the surge. Burkhalter hit a baseline jumper. She then knocked down two 3-pointers to slice the Warriors' lead to 19-15. Juda senior Alexis Goecks came up with a steal and scored a layup on the break to cut the Warriors' lead to 19-17. That is as close as the Panthers would get.
"I think we looked like a team that hadn't played a game in 12 days," Black Hawk coach Mike Flanagan said. "That's not to take anything away from Juda. Everyone has been hit by this weather bug. It almost seems like you are starting over."
Leuzinger and the Warriors made an adjustment in the second half by attacking the basket.
"At halftime coach (Flanagan) said we had to get to the rim," Leuzinger said. "In the first half, our shooting wasn't as good. We had to drive in more on offense."
Flanagan said the Warriors needed a backside presence against the Panthers' zone.
"We needed someone behind their zone to get open because that would open the lane up," Flanagan said. "It's a spacing and timing thing. I just took one timeout and let us play through it because there may be a game where we don't have any timeouts. I have found out through experience if you are taking a timeout to tell someone to box out or to be at a certain spot on the floor on your offense it's a wasted timeout because you may need that timeout later."
The Warriors closed the first half with a 7-0 spurt to take a 26-17 lead at the half.
"We got into some foul trouble and Erika Duecker and Hannah Powers came in and stepped up," Juda coach Curt Brown said. "They locked into that zone. Chelsea Burkhalter hit some really big shots."
Goecks added eight points and Juda senior Sara Jordan had five points. Juda junior Erika Duecker had a team-high eight rebounds.
The Warriors weathered the storm and used a 25-8 run in the second half to break the game open. Huschitt knocked down two of her three 3-pointers in the second half. Huschitt hit a 3-pointer to give the Warriors a 36-21 lead with 9:16 left in the second half. She then hit her second 3-pointer of the half to extend the Warriors' lead to 41-24 with 6:33 to go.
"It's great to see a girl come in and hit a couple of shots," Flanagan said. "She's a threat."
Despite a scoring drought in the second half, Brown was encouraged to see the Panthers still penetrating to the basket even though the shots weren't falling.
"In the second half, we were not making baskets," he said. "We still have to keep attacking the basket. If we keep driving against a quality defense like Black Hawk it will open up the outside shots more."
Herbst chipped in seven points for the Warriors. Butler had six rebounds and six assists and Huschitt had five assists.
The Warriors used a pressure defense to force the Panthers into 19 turnovers compared to 12 for Black Hawk.
Seven of Black Hawk's final nine games are on the road. Black Hawk plays a nonconference game at Platteville on Saturday.
"We have to bring it on Saturday," Flanagan said. "Platteville is a great team."
Juda will look to rebound from the loss when it hosts Madison Abundant Life on Tuesday.
"There were some positives from this game," Brown said. "We can work on the mistakes we made. When we watch the film it will not be tough to tell what we need to improve on. We will see where we need to be on some defensive rotations and where we needed to box out more."
Black Hawk freshman Natalie Leuzinger scored a game-high 19 points, grabbed eight rebounds and had four steals to power the Warriors.
Black Hawk (11-0, 5-0 Six Rivers East), ranked third in the Associated Press Division 5 state poll, remains unbeaten and in the driver's seat to win a conference title.
"One of our goals is to be conference champs," Leuzinger said. "This was a big win for us."
The Warriors opened the game with a 15-3 run. Black Hawk freshman Hannah Butler scored six of her nine points during the spurt. Freshman Maddy Huschitt, who added 10 points, drilled a 3-pointer during the surge to give the Warriors a 10-point lead. Junior Hannah Herbst then scored on a layup to extend the Warriors' lead to 15-3 with 12:35 left in the first half.
Juda (9-6, 2-3 Six Rivers East) stormed back after switching to a 2-3 zone. The Warriors struggled with their outside shooting and the Panthers went on a 14-4 run. Juda senior Chelsea Burkhalter, who scored a team-high 11 points, had the hot hand during the surge. Burkhalter hit a baseline jumper. She then knocked down two 3-pointers to slice the Warriors' lead to 19-15. Juda senior Alexis Goecks came up with a steal and scored a layup on the break to cut the Warriors' lead to 19-17. That is as close as the Panthers would get.
"I think we looked like a team that hadn't played a game in 12 days," Black Hawk coach Mike Flanagan said. "That's not to take anything away from Juda. Everyone has been hit by this weather bug. It almost seems like you are starting over."
Leuzinger and the Warriors made an adjustment in the second half by attacking the basket.
"At halftime coach (Flanagan) said we had to get to the rim," Leuzinger said. "In the first half, our shooting wasn't as good. We had to drive in more on offense."
Flanagan said the Warriors needed a backside presence against the Panthers' zone.
"We needed someone behind their zone to get open because that would open the lane up," Flanagan said. "It's a spacing and timing thing. I just took one timeout and let us play through it because there may be a game where we don't have any timeouts. I have found out through experience if you are taking a timeout to tell someone to box out or to be at a certain spot on the floor on your offense it's a wasted timeout because you may need that timeout later."
The Warriors closed the first half with a 7-0 spurt to take a 26-17 lead at the half.
"We got into some foul trouble and Erika Duecker and Hannah Powers came in and stepped up," Juda coach Curt Brown said. "They locked into that zone. Chelsea Burkhalter hit some really big shots."
Goecks added eight points and Juda senior Sara Jordan had five points. Juda junior Erika Duecker had a team-high eight rebounds.
The Warriors weathered the storm and used a 25-8 run in the second half to break the game open. Huschitt knocked down two of her three 3-pointers in the second half. Huschitt hit a 3-pointer to give the Warriors a 36-21 lead with 9:16 left in the second half. She then hit her second 3-pointer of the half to extend the Warriors' lead to 41-24 with 6:33 to go.
"It's great to see a girl come in and hit a couple of shots," Flanagan said. "She's a threat."
Despite a scoring drought in the second half, Brown was encouraged to see the Panthers still penetrating to the basket even though the shots weren't falling.
"In the second half, we were not making baskets," he said. "We still have to keep attacking the basket. If we keep driving against a quality defense like Black Hawk it will open up the outside shots more."
Herbst chipped in seven points for the Warriors. Butler had six rebounds and six assists and Huschitt had five assists.
The Warriors used a pressure defense to force the Panthers into 19 turnovers compared to 12 for Black Hawk.
Seven of Black Hawk's final nine games are on the road. Black Hawk plays a nonconference game at Platteville on Saturday.
"We have to bring it on Saturday," Flanagan said. "Platteville is a great team."
Juda will look to rebound from the loss when it hosts Madison Abundant Life on Tuesday.
"There were some positives from this game," Brown said. "We can work on the mistakes we made. When we watch the film it will not be tough to tell what we need to improve on. We will see where we need to be on some defensive rotations and where we needed to box out more."
