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WIAA girls basketball:
Algoma wins thriller on
Blahnik's late basket
Press Gazette article
Algoma
seniors Kennedy Blahnik (left) and Meg Ryan combined for 25 points in Thursday's
WIAA girls basketball sectional semifinal. / File/Gannett Wisconsin Media
Written
by
Todd McMahon
Press-Gazette Media
SEYMOUR
� Six state titles in track and field, a big part of a state
champion
on the basketball court, conference player of the year honors in that latter
sport.
Kennedy
Blahnik has accomplished just about everything as a high school
athlete, right?
Not quite.
She picked
a good time to make a game-winning shot for the first time in her decorated high
school career. A lay-in by the senior forward with 3 seconds left lifted Algoma
to a thrilling 51-50 overtime victory over Amherst in a WIAA Division 4 girls
basketball sectional semifinal Thursday night.
�Everybody
thinks that�s an easy shot, but really at that time, you�re wide open, you�re
hopefully not thinking but you could be thinking, �Oh, my God, I can�t miss
this,� � Algoma coach Mark Zastrow said. �And, she went up strong and finished
well.�
Blahnik�s
game-winner from the right side of the basket came off a sharp pass from Meg
Ryan after the senior guard pushed the basketball up the left side of the court
in breaking a full-court press applied by Amherst after it went up 50-49 just
seconds earlier.
�They were
giving up the sideline, so I figured I might as well take off and try to get
numbers, and (Blahnik) was wide open at the end,� said Ryan, who took a pass
from sophomore Anna Dier in the backcourt after Algoma called time out with 9
seconds left.
The Wolves
(23-2) stayed alive in their quest to repeat as D4 state
champions
on what turned out to be another clutch play by Blahnik.
After the
game clock inadvertently ticked down to 0.8 seconds following the Blahnik
basket, it was reset to 3 seconds for Amherst for its inbounds play under the
Algoma hoop coming out of a timeout.
Falcons
senior standout Jaimee Pitt dribbled the basketball just past midcourt on the
right side and threw up a shot as she was closely guarded by Blahnik. The shot
was off the mark as the buzzer sounded, but the official closest to the play
blew his whistle.
After a
moment of uncertainty, the official called Pitt for a charge into Blahnik,
ending the game and touching off a celebration on the Algoma side.
�I was
hoping that I was set (on the contact with Pitt),� Blahnik said. �I try to take
charges a lot, and I was hoping that was going to be one of them.�
Algoma,
which has won 11 straight games, advances to play Auburndale (16-10) in the
sectional final at 7 p.m. Saturday at Waupaca. The winner
will reach the state final at the Resch Center next week, where the
Wolves won their third state title last year.
�We�re
going to go into Saturday with a good mindset and hopefully be headed to the
Resch again,� Blahnik said.
As elated
as Blahnik and her teammates were after getting past Amherst in a matchup of two
of the top small-school teams in the state, they collectively took a sigh of
relief.
The Wolves
survived a scrappy battle in which they were at less than full strength because
of illness to one key player (Dier) and squandered a sizable lead late in
regulation.
Amherst
scored eight unanswered points to erase a 44-36 deficit and send the game to
overtime.
A
three-point play by junior Kelsey Holderman with 1 minute, 42 seconds left
started the comeback for the Falcons, who overcame seven turnovers in the fourth
quarter.
�Really,
we just kept running the same stuff,� Amherst coach Jay Pitt said. �We didn�t
panic and think we had to get a �3� (right away).�
On the
Falcons� next possession after a missed shot by Algoma on the other end, Jaimee
Pitt banked in a 3-point shot from the top of the key to cut the
margin
to 44-42 with 1:05 to go.
Amherst
then forced a turnover, setting up a score-tying lay-in from senior Lindsay Rutz
off a pass from Pitt with 26 seconds left.
The Wolves
didn�t get off a shot in time before the buzzer, adding 4 more minutes to the
game.
�A lot of
us were tired
(at the end),� Ryan said. �We battled through a lot. So, to come through that,
that was awesome.�
Ryan
scored 12 of her game-high 15 points after halftime. Her third 3-pointer put
Algoma ahead 49-48 with 1:39 left in overtime.
After the
teams traded turnovers, Amherst regained the lead on a put
back from Rutz with 10 seconds to go, setting up the wild finish.
Zastrow
was quick to credit his floor leader,
Ryan, for enabling the Wolves to persevere.
�Meg
handled it so well,� Zastrow said. �She stepped up and probably had the best
game of her career in the biggest game of her career to this point.�
And,
Blahnik, who had 10 points, was grateful to finish things off.
�Thankfully, (the shot) was really close to the basket,� Blahnik said. �I was
still nervous. You kind of catch it, and you don�t know where you are. There was
so many emotions.�
Amherst
�13 10 11 10 6 � 50
Algoma �14
13 8 9 7 � 51
AMH:
Holderman 7, Pitt 13, Groholski 2, Grawey 5, Rutz 8, Pionkowski 13, Dombrowski
2. 3-pt: Pitt 1. FT: 7-11. F: 15.
ALG:
Delorit 8, Koss 2, Ryan 15, Blahnik 10, Dier 9, Demmin 2, Feuerstein 2, Pierre
3. 3-pt: Ryan 4, Delorit 2, Pierre 1. FT: 8-10. F: 16.
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