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Zinn, Parker tip Verona

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Parker's Ashley Hartwig takes a shot under pressure.

Photo

Photo by Dan Lassiter

Verona's Allie Stone reaches in on Parker's Danielle Flood as she shoots.

JANESVILLE — Kaynesha Zinn was the model employee in Janesville Parker’s 48-41 overtime win over Verona on Tuesday night. The Parker High senior worked hard from the moment she reached the office and was more than willing to work overtime.

And afterward, she was quick to praise her co-worker, Danielle Flood, the junior point guard who drilled two long three-pointers from the left wing in the extra session to give the Vikings (3-0, 3-0 Big Eight) a 45-41 lead with 1:20 to play.

“I’m still in shock over those two threes,” said Zinn, who had a game-high 21 points. “I was like, ‘I love you, seriously.’ She helped us big time.”

Parker took over sole possession of the Big Eight lead.

Flood, who missed five of her first six shots, hit the first triple from a couple feet beyond the arc and then splashed two free throws on the next possession to give her team a 42-38 advantage. After Verona senior Ali Tackett drilled a three from right of the circle, Flood took a kickout pass from freshman Ashley Hartwig and swished another three-pointer from the same spot as her last bomb.

“Thank God that three went in. I don’t think that was what coach was looking for,” Parker coach Tom Klawitter said with a laugh. “We had ‘em, we were running clock, but she made it. That’s a dagger.”

After the teams split last year’s regular-season series, the Wildcats (3-1, 2-1 Big Eight) ended the Vikings’ season for the second straight season, 50-34, in the WIAA Division 1 sectional finals.

“Coach said it was for revenge from them beating us two years in a row to go to state,” Zinn said. “But every game we play hard. It’s not just special because it’s Verona.”

Zinn hit three free throws, wrapping up a 10-for-12 night at the stripe, to truly ice the game. But it was the way the 5-foot-10 forward started the game that set the tone. She hit an 18-footer from the left edge of the free-throw line extended to open the Vikings’ scoring and splashed a three from the top of the key with 3:05 left in the first to give her team a 7-1 lead. On the next possession, she threaded a pass to Chyna Franklin, leading her classmate to a back-door drop step and a lay-up around Allie Pfeffer at the right block.

“Zinn was the difference-maker in this game. She did all the little things. I don’t know how many balls she kept alive,” Verona coach Angie Murphy said.

Zinn, whose twelve rebounds—seven of them offensive—filled out a double-double, said she was just showing her appreciation for the six rebounds Franklin yanked down in the first six minutes.

“Chyna was killing it on the offensive rebounds, but it was a team effort all around,” said Zinn, whose Vikings reloaded with 18 total offensive rebounds.

“You can’t do that at Parker,” Murphy said.

The 6-foot-1 Franklin pulled down 11 boards of her own and blocked five shots. But the one she couldn’t quite reach forced the OT. After Kelsey Zwaga, who led Verona with 15 points, hit a three from the top of the key, Pfeffer got a shot over Franklin as she banked in the game-tying shot from the right block with 7.5 seconds on the clock.

Pfeffer, also 6-foot-1, said she heard no footsteps as she went glass.

“(Franklin) is definitely a really good player, but I was just focused,” Pfeffer said. “I didn’t hear anything, just put the ball in the basket.”

The Wildcats clawed back from a 23-16 halftime deficit with tenacious man-to-man defense—so tenacious that they blanked Parker in the third period and didn’t allow the Vikings a field goal for a span of 11:23. The Wildcats drew even at 23 entering the fourth.

“The job they did on us in the third quarter, I thought it was going to be the end of us,” Klawitter said. “I was most proud of the way we came back out in the fourth and started playing again because we stopped playing in the third, offensively.”

Zinn hit two free throws to open the fourth quarter before Tackett hit a three over Parker’s zone to give Verona its first lead at 26-25 with 6:44 left. Zinn went up and under Pfeffer for a basket at the left block and hit another shot from the right side of the paint to give Parker a 33-29 lead with 3:20 left. She scored nine of the Vikings’ 13 points in the fourth.

Her boss was most impressed with the way she accepted constructive criticism.

“I got after her pretty good at halftime, because I thought she wasn’t staying focused,” Klawitter said. “She answered my question in the second half and that was the difference.”

PARKER 48, VERONA 41 (OT)

Verona (41)—Slattery, 1-0-2; Stone, 1-6-6; Zwaga 5-3-15; Pfeffer 4-0-8; Tackett 2-0-6; Cropp 1-1-4. Totals: 13-10-41.

Janesville Parker (47)—Franklin, 2-0-4; Larson, 1-0-2; Flood, 4-3-14; Green-Kennerson 0-2-2, Hartwig 2-1-5; Zinn 5-10-21. Totals: 15-16-47.

Verona 5 11 7 13 5 — 41

Janesville Parker 15 18 0 13 11 — 47

Three-point goals—Verona 5 (Zwaga 2, Tackett 2, Cropp), Parker 4 (Flood 3, Zinn). Free throws missed—Verona 7, Parker 10. Total fouls—Verona 18, Parker 13. Fouled out—Pfeffer.

Sophomores—Verona, 47, Parker 41. Parker leading scorers: Dani Fugate, 9; Jackie Shepler, 9; Kaci Pennycook, 8.