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Cold spell dooms Janesville Cougars

KENOSHA — Janesville Craig High School’s girls basketball team had five fingers on a win Tuesday night—then four, three, two, one and finally none.

After an impressive first quarter in a WIAA Division 1 regional semifinal here against Kenosha Tremper, the Cougars slowly and methodically let the lead slip away and couldn’t get it back in the final minutes as their season ended with a hard-fought 38-34 defeat.

Ninth-seeded Craig jumped out to a 15-5 lead through one quarter, saw the lead reduced to five by halftime and two by the end of three before eighth-seeded Tremper surged into a fourth-quarter lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

Craig’s zone defense was certainly effective. But in the end, just 10 second-half points, including a mere two field goals, after halftime spelled doom for Craig.

“They play good defense. That’s obvious,” Craig coach Mark Marsden said of the Trojans. “I thought we played pretty good defense, for the most part, too.

“That’s usually going to win many games, but you have to score more than 10 points the whole (second) half.”

Using a stunningly effective high-low game that featured Anne Morgan in the low post, Craig threatened to break things open early. Morgan scored 14 points for the game, but eight of those came in the first quarter.

Eventually, Tremper collapsed the inside while using its bigger guards to interfere with Craig’s entry passes to Morgan.

“They did a very good job of taking away our high-low, and we just kept trying to force it in there,” said Marsden, who got seven points from Amanda Hamilton and a team-high seven rebounds from Emily Hinman. “Then we really couldn’t knock anything down on the perimeter.”

Tremper, which was led by 15 points apiece from Rachel Jones and Caitlyn Richter, took its first lead since early in the first quarter when Richter scored off an inbounds play to give the Trojans a 31-29 advantage early in the fourth.

Still, Tremper couldn’t pull away, and Craig found itself down 36-34 with the ball and 32.7 seconds remaining after a timeout. Whitney Oliver had a tough runner bounce off the rim, and Jones came away with the ball in a scramble on the rebound. She called timeout and drained two free throws with 7.6 seconds left to seal it.

The Trojans (10-13), who avenged a loss to Craig in the regional semifinals last season, advance to play at top-seeded Verona (19-3) in a regional final at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Cougars finished their season 8-15.

“Most of these kids come back,” Marsden said. “We only have five seniors and an undefeated sophomore team, so it’s gonna look pretty bright for next season.

“But (we) have to learn from these mistakes and come back hard.”

TREMPER 38, CRAIG 34

Craig (34)—Hinman, 1-1-3; Morgan, 5-4-14; W. Oliver, 1-0-2; Hamilton, 2-2-7; Kennedy, 1-1-3; Marshick, 1-0-2; Storbakken, 1-0-3. Totals: 12-8-34.

Tremper (38)—Jones, 5-5-15; Richter, 4-7-15; Salisbury, 1-0-3; Sherrod, 2-0-4; Riva, 0-1-1. Totals: 12-13-38.

Janesville Craig 15 9 5 5—34

Kenosha Tremper 5 14 8 11—38

Three-point goals—Craig 2 (Hamilton, Storbakken), Tremper 1 (Salisbury). Free throws missed—Craig 4, Tremper 7. Total fouls—Craig 17, Tremper 13.