Fantastic finish to the regular season

They wanted to go into the playoffs with some momentum, and accomplishing that took four extra minutes for the Grafton High School girls’ basketball team at home last Friday, not to mention heart medicine for their fans.

Veterans and young players alike stepped up to the plate to top Hartford, 80-77, in overtime in the regular season finale.

Just getting to the extra period took a Herculean effort and guts.

Two free throws by Oriole Kacy Kratz with 70 seconds to play put the Hawks down, 70-67. Ten seconds later, junior Emily Grisar who had an off night shooting, drained her only three-pointer to tie the game.

Grisar is no stranger to late-game heroics, draining two late free throws to beat Slinger and a last-second jumper to beat Homestead earlier this season.

“Emily has ice water in her veins,” coach Matt D’Amato said. “She is definitely not fazed by the moment.”

Hartford stalled for the last possession, and with 8.4 seconds put the ball in the hands of Becca Stoeckman, the Orioles’ leading scorer on the night.

She stumbled a little as she made her way across half court, then jumped in the air to either pass or shoot.

Grafton senior Allison Garncarz jumped with her and knocked the ball away. It grazed Meyer on the way out of bounds.

The Hawks couldn’t get a shot off in the 1.3 seconds remaining, but they had earned another four minutes of play.

“Honestly, I was just nervous and I was like, don’t let her shoot a three because she did that so many times. And then I was like, OK, she’s driving past me and I don’t even know what happened after that,” an elated and giggly Garncarz said after the game.

“We didn’t want to foul. We just had to make sure we challenged a shot smartly. AG had the huge deflection,” D’Amato said.

In overtime, freshman Sarah Aleknavicius drove inside to give the Hawks a 72-70 lead, but Hartford came back to take a 74-72 edge.

Grisar calmly swished two free throws with 1 minute, 41 seconds left to knot the score again, then made a steal on an errant pass on the next possession.

Aleknavicius drained an open three-pointer just to the right of the top of the key, and the Hawks were up, 77-74, with 62 seconds left.

“If it’s a wide open shot at the top of the key, you’ve gotta hit that,” Aleknavicius said.

Maci Meyer then got three points the hard way, making a shot inside as Aleknavicius fouled out. Meyer hit the free throw with 54 seconds left, and it was 77 all.

Freshman Savannah James replaced Aleknavicius in the lineup, which turned out to be a significant move.

The Hawks ran their offense and James ended up draining a three-pointer near the left corner to put Grafton up, 80-77, with 25 seconds left.

James has a specific thought that goes through her mind during those shots.

“Please go in,” she said.

The Orioles missed a three-pointer on their last possession, and in a scrum for the rebound that would make a rugby team proud, a jump ball was called. Grafton had the possession arrow and hung on.

Forward Ella Day dished passes from the post to Aleknavicius and James, who Garncarz calls “the frosh,” for those clutch three-pointers, the final one from the other side of the court.

“I saw them out there and I trusted them to knock ’em down, and I always know they like to grab passes from me,” Day said.

“I think she was the most important part of the game,” D’Amato said. “Four blocks and to be under control in the paint and find the open player.”

Those open players — both star freshmen — had been working their way out of their first shooting slumps as high school players. D’Amato kept encouraging them to continue shooting.

Aleknavicius scored 21 points on 6-for-8 shooting, including making both of the three-pointers she attempted. Day had 15 points on 6-for-11 shooting and Ashley Weir had 13 on 6-for-12 shooting. James had 11 points and Garncarz had 10.

Weir had 11 rebounds, Day had 10 and Garncarz had eight. Grisar and Day each had five assists.

Defensively, Weir drew Meyer and held her to 11 points on 3-for-11 shooting.

“She stepped up to the plate and did a great job,” D’Amato said.

But nobody held the Orioles down in the first half when they were making three-pointers at a free-throw clip. They shot 11-for-26 in the game behind the arc.

Hartford led, 42-24, at the break.

D’Amato said he hoped that white-hot shooting wouldn’t continue.

“The law of averages has to come into play,” he said with a laugh.

Stoeckman scored 19 points, had eight rebounds and three assists. Riley Resheske had 17.

The game was the polar opposite of a 40-28 win at Whitefish Bay on Feb. 2. While the Orioles fired up shots before some of the Hawks even crossed half court, the Blue Dukes took at least one minute per possession. Grafton was up, 19-9, at halftime.

Garncarz had 13 points on 6-for-10 shooting and nine rebounds, and James had nine points. Weir had seven rebounds.

Playing both teams close, given their different styles, D’Amato said, “says a lot about who we are.”

The Hawks finished 10-8 in the North Shore Conference. Hartford was 12-6 and Whitefish Bay was 9-9.

Grafton beat every NSC team at least once, aside from co-champ West Bend West, whose height makes for tough match-ups.

“I’m so proud of them to finish the season this way,” D’Amato said.