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Parker faces familiar foe Verona after pulling away from Milton

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Parker vs Milton Div. 1 Sectional Semifinal Basketball

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JANESVILLE — Just how ugly did it get for the Milton High School girls’ basketball team?

At the 5 minute, 31 second mark of the fourth quarter of Milton’s disappointing sectional semifinal game against Janesville Parker, the Red Hawks second-half statistics consisted of eight team fouls and two points.

Ouch!

The Vikings pounded the Red Hawks 31-10 in the second half en route to a 67-39 victory in a WIAA Division 1 sectional semifinal at Janesville Craig High on Friday night.

The Vikings get another shot at redemption against Verona in the sectional final tonight at 7 o’clock. The winner recieves a berth in the Division 1 WIAA state girls basketball tournament at Madison’s Kohl Center next week.

The Wildcats, who made short work of Kenosha Bradford, 62-40, in the other semifinal, have eliminated the Vikings in the sectional finals the previous two seasons.

Of course, revenge is meaningless to Parker coach Tom Klawitter, who was more impressed by the Vikings’ defense.

“One of the goals we had at halftime was to hold them (Milton) under 10 points in each quarter, Klawitter said. “When I inquired about how many points they (Milton) scored in the third quarter, they said two, so I guess we reached that goal and we did in the fourth quarter as well.”

“We turned our defense up a little bit and it was pretty good.”

Pretty good may be an understatement after the Vikings held Milton to just two points for the first 10 minutes of second half.

“Once they got the lead, and kind of spread things out, and you got to chase everything to get back into it,” Milton High coach Scott Randall said. “We ended up extended our defense quite a ways and they kind of tore us apart that way.”

The second half actually began innocently enough with Milton guard Ashley Roherty’s driving layup that brought her team to within 36-31.

Then it got ugly.

Parker scored the game’s next 21 points en route to a commanding 57-31 lead with 5:31 left in the game.

Viking sophomore guard Danielle Flood led the charge scoring 10 of her 12 points during the game-changing spurt. Flood shared team scoring honors with Savannah Shepler.

I thought we wore them down a little bit,” Klawitter said. “I was disappointed with the 19 points that we gave up in the first quarter, but Milton is capable of doing that.”

Klawitter was referring to the fast-paced first quarter that had 10 lead changes and five ties. The shoot-out finally ended on Brook Negus’ running three-pointer from 30 feet at the buzzer to put the Red Hawks on top, 19-18.

But the Red Hawks, who only got limited minutes from their leading scorer Liz Eide due to a cold, started to wear down in the second quarter.

Parker got things going with a 9-2 run to claim a 27-21 lead with five minutes left in the second. The Vikings led by as many as eight points in the second before Lauren Holapa drained a free throw to cut the Red Hawk deficit to 36-29 at halftime.

PARKER 67, MILTON 39

Milton (39)—Blumer, 1-2-5; Davis, 2-0-4; Arnold, 0-2-2; Eide, 2-4-8; Roherty, 4-2-10; Stair, 1-0-2; Holapa, 0-1-1; McNall, 0-2-2; Negus, 1-2-5. Totals: 11-15-39.

Parker (67)—Flood, 3-5-12; Shepler, 5-1-12; Pernot, 0-2-2; Franklin, 2-0-4; Zinn, 4-0-9; Hartwig, 1-7-9; Green-Kenerson, 3-3-9; Dement, 0-5-5; Prokopec, 2-0-5. Totals: 20-23-67.

Milton 19 10 2 8—39

Parker 18 18 12 19—67

Three point goals—Milton 2 (Blumer, Negus), Parker 4 (Flood, Zinn, Prokopec, Shepler). Free throws missed—Milton 2, Parker 6. Total fouls—Milton 21, Parker 17. Fouled out—Arnold.

-- Verona 62, Bradford 40—Verona unleashed a 15-0 first-half run en route to a decisive victory over Kenosha Bradford (12-12) in the first semifinal game at Craig.

Ali Tackett racked up 21 points, while Rachel Cropp chipped in 11 to lead Verona (21-3) to its third-straight sectional final against the Parker at 7 tonight.

Katie Young scored a team-high 18 points for Bradford.

VERONA 62, BRADFORD 40

Verona (62)—Witte, 2-2-7; Stone 2-0-4; Zwaga, 1-0-2; Pfeffer, 2-4-8; Tackett, 9-2-21; Slattery, 1-0-3; Cropp; 4-0-11; Twing, 1-0-2; Beckerleg, 1-2-4. Totals: 23-10-62.

Bradford (40)—Bridleman, 0-4-4; Barsuli, 2-0-5; Young, 6-4-18; Wenberg, 4-3-11; Davison, 1-0-2. Totals: 13-11-40.

Verona 9 15 19 19—62

Bradford 4 10 12 14—40

Three-point goals—Verona 6 (Tackett, Witte, Cropp 3), Bradford 3 (Young 2, Barsuli). Free throws missed—Verona 0, Bradford 8 . Total fouls—Verona 18, Bradford 14.

Middleton Sectional

-- Middleton 64, Madison East 42—Middleton advanced its sectional final tonight by downing Madison East in the semifinal Friday night.

Juniors Kerry Gardner and Rachael Eklund scored 18 and 16 points, respectively, while senior Erin Flynn contributed 14 in the win. The Cardinals (21-3) play Waunakee (18-7) in the sectional final tonight.

MIDDLETON 64, MADISON EAST 42

Madison East (42)—Clair, 6; Daniels, 2; Jackson, 12; Dyer, 12; Deang, 10. Totals: 15-12-42.

Middleton (64)—Rongstad, 6; Williams, 5; McCauley, 3; Andrews, 2; Gardner, 18; Eklund, 16; Flynn, 14. Totals: 19-21-64.

Madison East 10 14 10 8—42

Middleton 15 19 9 21—64

Three-point goals—Middleton 5 (Rongstad 2, McCauley, Gardner, Flynn). Free throws missed—East 2, Middleton 9. Total fouls—East 24, Middleton 14. Fouled out—Daniels.

WAUNAKEE 50, WATERTOWN 47

Watertown (47)—Smith, 9; Jacobson, 8; Lilge, 4; Schroedl, 2; Schuhmacher, 2; Lauersdorf, 12; Harris, 10. Totals: 19-7-47.

Waunakee (50)—Preston, 8; May, 8; Johnson, 7; Simms, 6; C. Ziegler, 4; Vandenbrook, 2; Statz, 2; Murray, 12; Dailey, 1. Total: 17-13-50.

Watertown 7 13 18 9—47

Waunakee 14 10 13 13—50

Three-point goals—Watertown 2 (Harris 2), Waunakee 3 (May 2, Johnson). Free throws missed—Watertown 6, Waunakee 9. Total fouls—Watertown 21, Waunakee 15. Fouled out—Smith, Jacobson.