A rival’s revenge

A repeat of losing a second-half lead in a season-opening loss at Cedarburg wasn’t going to happen to the Grafton High School girls’ basketball team last Friday at home.

The Black Hawks took care of that in the first 18 minutes of the rematch, hitting shots from all over the court and locking down on defense in building a 41-21 halftime lead.

The Bulldogs never got closer than 12 in  the second half in the Hawks’ 70-57 win.

“We had almost a perfect first half. We had that energy we were going to beat them because we weren’t going to let them beat us again. That’s for sure,” senior forward Allison Garncarz said.

Garncarz led the Hawks with 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting. She also had five rebounds.

Grafton coach Matt D’Amato said Garncarz tends to turn her play up a notch when former assistant coach Brandon Moore is watching.

“Whenever he shows up Allison plays like a super human. He always took her under his wing last year and worked with her in the post,” D’Amato said.

Juniors Ashley Weir and Emily Grisar had 10 points each. Grisar had seven rebounds and six assists, and Weir had seven rebounds and four assists.

Junior Ella Day had seven points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

On the other end of the court, Weir drew the task of guarding Clare Diener, who averages 19 points per game. She was held to 16 points on 4-for-16 shooting from the field. She went 7-for-7 on free throws and grabbed eight rebounds.

“Going out there and playing that kind of defense on a player like Claire Diener, that should not go overlooked because that is not easy to do,” D’Amato said.

“I told her at the beginning, a scorer like Diener is going to get her points. We just have to make sure she doesn’t score 30.”

Bolting out of the gates came from the memory of the 64-56 road loss to start the season Dec. 1, D’Amato said.

“They remember what happened earlier in the season when we had the lead and we let it get away. It left a bad taste in their mouth,” he said.

The Hawks’ first-half execution was sharp on both ends of the floor.

“I think it was the patience of getting the shot we wanted, and our help defense was really good. We were communicating really well so that when we got screened when they tried to get Diener open we were able to switch off that and make a quick adjustment,” D’Amato said.

The Bulldogs cut the lead to 44-30 three minutes into the second half, prompting D’Amato to call a timeout.

A bucket by Day and a three-pointer by Weir moved the lead back to 19 in 60 seconds.

Weir said that lead wasn’t going to disappear.

“Last game we played Cedarburg we were up by so much and then they came back and beat us in the second half, but we didn’t let that happen this time,” she said.

“I wasn’t really that worried,” Grisar said. “We had it in the bag tonight.”

Grisar often found her teammates with pinpoint passes,  making for some highlight-reel assists.

“It’s very high risk, high reward. It’s constantly being in her ear about she doesn’t always have to make the home run pass. It’s really pretty when it works. There are some turnovers that come with it,” D’Amato said.

“You’re not going to be able to coach or drill that out of her, and I don’t want to. There are some plays, you just need to have that type of court vision, that wherewithal, that basketball I.Q.”

Reagan Pahl led Cedarburg with 17 points and had seven rebounds. Mary Stroebel had 14 points and seven rebounds.

The Hawks moved over .500 to 7-6 in the North Shore Conference, and 8-10 overall.  Cedarburg is 9-5 in the NSC and 10-8 overall.

The Hawks’ Tuesday game at West Bend East was postponed due to snow. They were to play at Nicolet (3-10 NSC) on Wednesday, at Homestead (7-7) on Friday and at Whitefish Bay (9-5) on Tuesday, Feb. 2.

Port Washington girls fall to Whitefish Bay

The Port Washington girls are still looking for their first win after a 53-13 home loss on Saturday.

Allie Swietlik scored 13 points to lead 10 Blue Dukes in scoring. Stats were not available for the Pirates.

Port, 0-13, hosts Slinger (11-3 NSC) on Thursday, plays at Nicolet on Friday, hosts West Bend East on Monday and West Bend West (11-3) on Tuesday.