Place value: Grafton girls lose

The Grafton High School girls’ basketball team had the right Day but not Place on Dec. 17 against Hartford.

The Black Hawks lost Julia Place to a hand injury early in the second half and were outscored, 31-23, in the game’s final 18 minutes, leading to a 63-57 defeat.

Ella Day led the Hawks with 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the field.

“Ella had an awesome game. She had a first-half stretch where she went on her own 8-0 run,” coach Matt D’Amato said. “She just all of a sudden turned into aggressive mode.”

She added four rebounds in the two-and-a-half-minute run.

The Orioles went on a 9-0 run in the second half to pull away.

The Hawks got to within four points late and put on a “desperate type of chaotic” pressure but D’Amato said it was too little too late.

Place had been a focus of Hartford’s defense.

“They were making sure that whenever she caught the ball in the beginning she was getting double teamed,” D’Amato said.

Lexi Hilgart, Mya Masse and Morgan Ruona each scored eight points. Day had eight rebounds and Masse had six.

Eva Stoeckmann had 14 points for Hartford. Becca Stoeckmann had 12 and Briel Burg had 10.

The Hawks, 3-4, played at Port Washington on Friday and host Brookfield East on Saturday, Jan. 4.

Port Washington girls look for consistency

Port Washington lost at Cedarburg, 59-37, on Dec. 17.

Tiana Davis scored a team-high 16 points, going 7-for-13 on free throws.

“Tiana has been really aggressive going to the basket over the past couple of weeks,” coach Jakob Wahl said.

Abby Fritsch scored 13 points, including three three-pointers.

“That’s kind of been her forte all season long is to come up with big shots for us,” Wahl said.

Port went 10-for-23 on free throws. Wahl said improving on that is a big focus.

The Bulldogs took a 44-16 halftime lead.

“That’s the story of our year. We go in spurts of not playing the way we’re capable of playing and we get behind,” Wahl said.

Once Port gets some consistency, “we’re going to get on a pretty good run here,” Wahl said.

Maya Avila scored 20 points to lead the Bulldogs. Clare Diener scored 15, Reagan Pahl had 10 and Ella Rollison had nine.

Port, 1-8, played Grafton last Friday and plays at Homestead, Jan. 7.