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Union Grove's big fourth quarter takes down Delavan-Darien

UNION GROVE — Without a designated “go-to” player, Union Grove High School’s girls basketball team practically has to draw straws to elect someone to make a big shot.

Apparently, junior guard Alyssa Thomas drew the shortest straw this time.

The Broncos, behind 10 consecutive points from Thomas, outscored Delavan-Darien 19-6 in the fourth quarter and posted a commanding 49-33 victory in a WIAA Division 2 regional final here Saturday afternoon.

With the decisive victory, fifth-ranked Union Grove (22-2) moves on to play third-rated Columbus (22-2) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Kettle Moriane in the semifinals of the Janesville Craig Sectional.

“It means a lot for our program,” Union Grove coach Rob Domagalski said of the regional championship. “Going into last year, we hadn’t won it in 31 years, and now we’ve done it two years in a row.”

Meanwhile, after seeing his 20-5 team fall to the Southern Lakes champions for the third time this season, Delavan-Darien coach Keiya Square is stuck with the painful memory of a disastrous fourth quarter.

“We have had one quarter every single game where we haven’t played very well,” Square said. “And it happened to be in the fourth quarter today.”

Thomas’ scoring outburst didn’t help the Comets’ slump, either.

With the Broncos clinging to a 32-30 lead midway through fourth quarter, Thomas took over the game with 10 straight points, including a pull-up jumper that gave her team a 42-31 lead with three minutes to play.

“We played OK the rest of the game, but we knew we had to step it up in the fourth quarter,” Thomas said. “I saw that I had back-to-back baskets, but I wanted to win so badly, so I just had to take control and take the ball to the hole.”

Thomas’ clutch performance could be a trend.

“Usually, for our team, it’s always someone new who steps up,” Domagalski said. “And the last two games, Alyssa (Thomas) really stepped up and made some big shots.”

Delavan-Darien senior forward Michelle Wenzel certainly stepped up in the first half. She scored the Comets’ first six points en route to a 6-1 lead.

Wenzel and junior forward Alana Cesarz went on to score 19 of their team’s first-half points to help Delavan-Darien remain on top, 22-21 at halftime.

But the Broncos’ pressure defense shut down the duo down after halftime, which led to just 11 second-half points for the Comets.

Union Grove finally put the game away with one swift stroke in the fourth quarter.

“They played great defense,” Square said of the Broncos. “They fly around, and they make every person on the floor have to make good decisions, and they take advantage of the bad decisions.”

Cesarz finished with 15 points, while Wenzel added 12 to lead the Comets.

UNION GROVE 49, DELAVAN-DARIEN 33

Union Grove (49)—Jasperson, 2-1-6; Wilks, 3-0-7; Fink, 0-9-9; Lee, 1-1-3; Thomas, 6-1-13; Grindle, 3-2-10; Zanella, 0-1-1. Totals: 15-15-49.

Delavan-Darien (33)—Wenzel, 4-4-12; O’Neil, 1-0-2; Cesarz, 6-3-15; J. Hudson, 1-1-3; Br. Peyer, 0-1-1. Totals: 12-9-33.

Union Grove 8 13 9 19—49

Delavan-Darien 10 12 5 6—33

Three point goals—Union Grove 4 (Jasperson, Wilks, Grindle 2). Free throws missed – Union Grove 10, Delavan-Darien 7. Total fouls—Union Grove 15, Delavan-Darien 18.