Frigid shooting from the field equals first loss

There’s little doubt the Grafton High School girls’ basketball team has ice in its veins. Even its younger players aren’t afraid to take clutch shots.

Last Friday, they had ice in their hands, too, as poor shooting accounted for the Black Hawks’ loss at the hands of Cedarburg, 69-58, their first blemish of the season.

The Black Hawks’ shot 18-for-61 (29.5%) from the field and 9-for-35 (25.7%) on three-pointers. Many of those misses came in the first half when the Bulldogs built a 38-28 lead.

“They’re good shooters, and I will defend that to the end because I know they’re good shooters. I’ve seen them shoot exceptionally well last year in practice and over the summer. They can do it,” coach Matt D’Amato said.

Their struggles are not a physical obstacle, he said.

“When it comes to the shooting side, it’s from the shoulders up is what I think it is,” he said. “Right now, we’ve got to get their mind clear so that they’re not worried that their (shots are) going to go in; they know that they’re going to go in.”

Sophomore Sarah Aleknavicius did shoot well, going 6-for-11 from the field and scoring 14 points. She also had six rebounds and four assists.

The rest of the team shot 24% from the field.

They didn’t exactly tear it up at the free-throw line either, going 13-for-26.

“If we make a handful of those, it’s a much different game. They’re all things that are fixable. We’ve just to got work on them,” D’Amato said.

Sophomore Savannah James led the team with 17 points but was 5-for-20 shooting. Ava Wilmanns scored 11 points, and Emily Grisar had seven. Ella Day had four points and six rebounds and Ashley Weir had three points and seven rebounds.

Despite their offensive struggles, the Hawks worked to stay in the game. With less than 14 minutes to play, Aleknavicius’s only three-pointer on the night got the Hawks to within four, 44-40.

“They won’t give up and that’s one of the best things about this group,” D’Amato said.

They just couldn’t get over the hump this time.

“We work so hard to get where we want to go and then we make a mental mistake or something happens where we turn the ball over, and Cedarburg capitalizes on it,” D’Amato said.

Cedarburg star guard Claire Diener, who has committed to play at Division II Rockhurst, scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds. Reagan Pahl had 17 points. Mimi Hart had 12, along with seven rebounds. Ella Rollison added 11 points.

The Bulldogs built the lead back to 55-40 and went 19-for-24 on free throws to help keep Grafton at bay.

Day said the team has to get off to a hotter start.

“We keep having those moments in the first half where we let the other team go on a run, and we just need to eliminate that,” she said.

Jan. 28 is the rematch in Cedarburg.

“When that time comes, we’re sure going to give all our effort into it,” Day said.

Grafton hands it to Port girls

The Hawks had little trouble in disposing of another rival, Port Washington, on the road Dec. 7. Grafton won, 79-33.

Aleknavicius nearly outscored the Pirates herself, netting 27 points on 12-for-16 shooting. Weir had 11 points and Wilmanns had eight.

Eleven Hawks scored. Grisar wasn’t one of them but she had nine assists.

Hope Gilhooly led Port with 10 points. Paige Scheunemann had nine.

Port lost at Slinger, 69-42, last Friday. The Pirates were down, 9-8, midway through the first half before the Owls went on a run to make it 34-15 at the break.

Lilian Merow had 11 points, Kayla Johnson had 10 and Gilhooly had nine.

“I feel as if we’re playing the top four teams in the conference if we’re looking at preseason stuff,” coach Jakob Wahl said of those two opponents, along with West Bend East and Cedarburg.

“They’re ready to handle those challenges. We just have to be more consistent with what we’re doing on a game-to-game basis.”

Grafton was to host Whitefish Bay on Tuesday, play at Nicolet on Friday, at Laconia on Saturday and host West Bend East on Tuesday, Dec. 21.

Port was to play at Cedarburg on Tuesday, at Homestead on Friday, at Sheboygan Falls on Monday and against Whitefish Bay on Tuesday, Dec. 21.