Hurdling the Homestead road hump

It was one decade, two coaches and an all-time leading scorer ago when the Grafton High School girls’ basketball team last beat Homestead on the road.

The streak finally ended on Dec. 16 for the Black Hawks, and they celebrated accordingly.

After a 70-58 victory, the Hawks readied their water bottles and let coach Matt D’Amato have it.

“It was kind of planned,” senior Emily Sewell said. “‘Coach, can we dump water on you?’ He’s like, ‘Fine.’”

D’Amato said he didn’t want to get soaked before the bus ride back during winter, “but it is a big win for our program.”

Nobody played bigger than Ava Dotson and Liliana Verplancke.

Dotson scored 27 points on 10-for-17 shooting, including 4-for-9 on three-pointers. She added seven rebounds and three steals.

“My teammates found me open. I was ready to knock them down. It was a team effort, and thankfully I was able to execute,” Dotson said.

“She hit a couple of threes early. She was able to get to the rim, she was attacking downhill,” D’Amato said. “We talk about shot selection and getting the shots we want to take — she was able to find the spots on the floor that she wanted to shoot from, and when it wasn’t being given to her by the defense, she moved the ball.”

Verplancke had 10 points on 3-for-6 shooting, six rebounds, three assists and three steals.

“Lily Verplancke played an awesome game. She had some key steals, some big offensive rebounds,” D’Amato said. “She plays solid defense. She’s in the right spot. It’s one of those things that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet. She’s where she needs to be consistently. Without her in that game it’s a significantly different outcome.”

Brynlee Hildebrand had 13 points and six rebounds. Cali Tagliapietra had eight points and 11 rebounds. Melanie Morgan had three points, six assists and six rebounds.

“I feel like everybody is playing together as a team. Our bench energy is really helpful to get us going,” Hildebrand said.

“I think one of the turning points in the game was our bench energy,” Morgan said.

D’Amato said it was three games in one. Grafton started hot, Homestead stormed back, then the Hawks took over again. They held a 33-29 halftime lead and outscored the Highlanders, 37-29, in the second half.

 “We had to play through some adversity. Emily got injured early in the game and Cali tweaked an ankle early,” D’Amato said.

“We had to piece together how we were going to play defense and how we were going to handle the clock coming down the stretch.”

The last time the Hawks won at Homestead, freshman Hannah Belanger, who went on to become the school’s all-time leading scorer — Michael McNabb Jr. broke her record in 2024 — and still holds the girls’ career scoring mark, led the squad with 20 points in a 53-42 win on Dec. 4, 2015, under coach Steve Reinhardt.

The Hawks beat the Highlanders three times at home since, but not on the road until last week.

Grafton kept it rolling against Nicolet last Friday with an 84-53 win. The Hawks outscored the Knights, 45-25, in the second half.

Morgan had 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting, went 4-for-6 on three-pointers, and she had 10 rebounds. Tagliapietra had 17 points and nine rebounds. Dotson had 12 points. Aubrey Mangan had nine points and Kaylie Van Sluys had eight points.

Grafton, 6-2, plays Eau Claire Memorial at 7:15 p.m. Monday, Dec. 29, in the Ab Nicholas Holiday Classic at Waunakee. Platteville plays Waunakee at 5:40 p.m. The consolation game is at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 30, with the title game to follow.

Port fares well against tough foe

For Port Washington, coach Dave Ross was hoping his team could compete last Friday against visiting Kettle Moraine Lutheran, ranked No. 2 in the Division 3 Bound Wisconsin/Zaleski Sports Girls Basketball Media Poll.

The Pirates fell behind, 10-0, and were down 15 to 18 points most of the game, but with four minutes left they cut the deficit to 11 points. The Chargers called timeout, hit a three-pointer and won, 57-42.

Ross was proud of his group.

“You see at times we could play with them. We just don’t have the depth and experience of their team, their system, their coach. They have everything in line. We’re not there. We’re probably a year or two away from when things start to materialize,” he said.

“I was just proud of how hard the girls worked to compete.”

It was an upgrade over the 60-34 loss to Homestead on Nov. 25, when Ross said he could see his team start to give up.

Delaney Rauch led Port with 13 points and seven rebounds against KML. Norah Merow had 11 points and seven rebounds. Savanna Miller had nine points, five assists and four steals.

“Norah played excellent defense, that was the best defensive game I think she played. She got real physical in this game,” Ross said.

“Savannah played hard despite not shooting well. Delaney keeps hitting her little jump shots. It was a really well-played game.”

Ross again praised freshman Natalie Northrup, who scored six points.

“She’s been our spark off the bench. She’s very athletic so things are going to happen,” Ross said.

Brooklyn Luehring led KML with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Mya Mayer had 14 points and eight rebounds.

Port blew out the Milwaukee School of Languages at home on Saturday, 71-31.

Rauch had 17 points on 7-for-13 shooting. Miller had 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting. Merow had 10 points. Northrup had seven, Taylyn Steinert had six and Grace Riley had five.

Port, 6-2, was to play at New Berlin West in the Viking Holiday Classic on Monday, Dec. 22, and Menomonee Falls on Tuesday, Dec. 23.