Josie Gehrke plays the Grinch:

By MITCH MAERSCH

Ozaukee Press staff

One day after an overtime loss the Grafton High School girls’ basketball team had the chance to win in regulation, the Black Hawks weren’t going to let another victory slip through their fingers at a Kewaskum tournament.

Down, 54-53, to Sheboygan Lutheran with less than a minute and a half to play, senior Gracie McNabb drained a three-pointer from the left wing on a dish from junior Sarah Aleknavicius, who had driven to the left block, and the Hawks took a 56-54 lead with 74 ticks left.

The Crusaders got fouled and hit one of two free throws with 1 minute, 4 seconds left, then forced a jump ball with 49.1 seconds to play. Lutheran had the possession arrow.

Then Hawk junior Josie Gehrke took over.

Her tough help defense inside forced a wild shot. The Crusaders snagged the loose ball and called timeout with 15.1 seconds left.

Gehrke then came behind a Crusader to steal a pass inside on help defense and was fouled with 9.8 seconds left.

She calmly swished both free throws to give the Hawks a 58-55 lead.

As the Crusaders raced down court to set up a three-pointer to tie, Gehrke deflected a pass and snagged the loose ball, and ripping it away from a Crusader before the clock ran out.

“Huge free throws. She’s been our most consistent free throw shooter this year,” coach Matt D’Amato said.

“She’s been aggressive getting to the basket and getting fouls — we’ve been preaching to the girls.”

Gehrke also hit a big three-pointer earlier in the half, he said.

D’Amato said he had a perfect vantage point on McNabb’s go-ahead three-pointer.

“It was kind of cool. I was standing right behind her so I got to see the whole line of the ball,” he said, thinking, “Oh, that looks good.

“She’s shooting better this year, better three-point percentage. You don’t want a one-dimensional game but when she’s open at the three-point line we want her to shoot.”

Aleknavicius led the Hawks with 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting to go with seven rebounds and four assists in her usual all-around game.

“Sarah was very consistent,” D’Amato said.

McNabb had 14 points on 5-for-10 shooting, went 4-for-8 on three-pointers and had three assists. Gehrke had nine points on 2-for-3 shooting and was 4-for-4 on free throws. Marissa Morgan had six points and Grace Viesselmann had five points and seven rebounds.

D’Amato credited Savannah James’ defense after Aleknavicius fouled out with 90 seconds left.

The Crusaders held a 26-25 halftime lead in a game that was close most of the way.

The Hawks got a boost from senior Kaitlin Mangan, who had four points and five rebounds and made a strategic adjustment.

From the bench, Mangan saw something in the Crusaders’ defense.

“Then when she went in she kind of tested it without us knowing,” D’Amato said. “She came back to the bench and brought it up.”

D’Amato agreed to try it, and “it definitely made our offense flow a lot better.”

The win came one day after a heartbreaking 56-47 loss in overtime to Randolph, ranked No. 4 in Division 4 in the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association’s weekly poll.

The Hawks held a 23-17 halftime lead and were up, 37-30, with less than nine minutes to play.

The Rockets came all the back to tie it at 41. Randolph took a 43-41 lead before Viesselmann tied it with a shot inside with 1 minute, 41 seconds left.

Randolph scored inside with 35 seconds left. James missed a three-pointer, but the Hawks got the rebound. The ball came back to her, and this time James took a dribble and nailed a jumper to tie the game with 12 seconds left.

The Rockets called a timeout with 9.9 seconds left, after which McNabb intercepted a pass near the three-point line. The Hawks called timeout with 2.9 seconds left, and another when they struggled to inbound the ball.

James missed a deep jumper, and Viesselmann, who was in perfect position under the basket, missed the putback at the buzzer.

In overtime, the Rockets outscored the Hawks, 11-2.

“Once you lose a lead and have the possession end the way it did, it’s hard to turn it back around in overtime,” D’Amato said.

“I was really, really happy with how we played that game. Randolph is a really good team — their shortest player was our second tallest. We handled it very well.”

James had 15 points, Aleknavicius had 10 points and four assists, and Gehrke had seven points. Morgan had three points, nine rebounds and four assists.

For the Crusaders, Joey Buwalda, a 6-foot-tall forward who has committed to play at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, had 27 points, and Mya Moldenhauer had 12.

Grafton, 5-1 in the North Shore Conference and 7-3 overall, was to host Waupun on Tuesday, Jan. 3, Slinger (4-2 NSC) on Friday, Jan. 6, and play at Homestead (6-0) on Tuesday, Jan. 10.