Storm’s season ends in overtime

Kewaunee’s dream of playing in the 50th WIAA State Girls Basketball Tournament came up just short as the Storm — two days after knocking off a perennial thorn in their side, Manitowoc Lutheran — fell to Saint Mary’s Catholic at Brillion Saturday.

Junior point guard Autumn Crowe scored 24 points, including two key free throws in overtime, as the Zephyrs earned a 58-56 win.

Kewaunee, meanwhile, got 18 from Gabby Stangel, 17 from Braelyn Chevalier, 11 from Jade Kroll, seven from Summer Walechka and three from Breanna Riha. The Storm didn’t shoot as well as they normally do at the line, where they missed nine of 17 free-throw attempts.

“I don’t think it was that they were tired,” said Kewaunee Coach Lynn Geier. “I wasn’t going to take the ball out of their hands. To do what they did this year, beating Manitowoc Lutheran and taking Saint Mary’s to overtime… They almost got to the big dance.”

Chevalier scored the game’s first two baskets, both on slashing drives, and had 10 first-half points. Kroll had nine in the first 18 minutes, and it was 30-30 at the break.

Stangel opened the second half with a pair of curling drives and two free throws, and Walechka nailed a free throw as the Storm took a 37-30 lead with 15:15 left. But Crowe scored 15 points in the second half, plus the free throws in overtime, to will her team to win.

“It’s a one-possession game, and you run out of time, and you run out of timeouts,” Geier said. “We wanted to get that last score and that win, but what a great bunch of kids.”

Said Kroll, the school’s all-time scoring leader, “We all fought so hard, we didn’t give up. We were happy to beat Manitowoc Lutheran and make it this far. We all tried our best and really pushed through.”

In the sectional semifinal two nights earlier, all five senior starters scored in double figures in a 75-69 win. Stangel had 17, Chevalier and Riha each 14 and Kroll and Walechka each 13. Karla Swagel added four.

Kewaunee trailed 31-24 in a first half where they committed way too many turnovers and gave up too many second, third and even fourth shot attempts.

“We were turning the ball over on the press,” said Walechka. “We knew that’s not how we wanted to end our season. We kept cutting, we kept passing, everybody scored, and that’s exactly how we wanted to do it.”

Said Riha, who reinjured her knee in the game but was able to return and hit some big three-point shots in the second half, “It’s post-season, I’ve got to push through for my team. I’ll deal with the consequences later.”

After going 1-for-9 from deep in the first half, Kewaunee knocked down nine 3s in the final 18 minutes. Stangel had four of them, Kroll — after getting just two free throws to drop in the first half — had three triples, and Riha two.

Walechka was the only one to get a “3” to drop in the first half.

Chevalier was steady, scoring three baskets in the first half and four in the second. The Packerland’s Defensive Player of the Year really stepped up her offense late in the season.

“I honestly want to say I’ve just been praying,” said Chevalier. “I’ve been giving all glory to God. He’s really been my strength through all of this.”

She continued, “The idea senior season, you want to have no regrets. We were telling each other we want this so bad, we’re leaving it all on the court. We knew we were going to be down at some point, but we knew we had to stick together.”

We’ll hear more from the senior starters and Coach Geier in a season wrap-up next issue.