Five go more than 10 for Grafton girls

The Grafton High School girls’ basketball team wasn’t going to trek all the way to Waunakee and not come home with at least something to show for it.

The Black Hawks last week bounced back from a blowout to a buzzsaw in Eau Claire Memorial, beating Platteville a day later.

The Hawks on Dec. 30 topped the Hillmen, 75-69, behind a balanced scoring attack with five players in double figures.

Brynlee Hildebrand scored 18 points, had four assists and went 8-for-8 on free throws. Ava Dotson had 14 points and five assists. Cali Tagliapietra had 14 points and nine rebounds. Melanie Morgan had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

“They were very determined. They weren’t going to travel out there and not give everything they could to come back without a win,” coach Matt D’Amato said.

The Hawks erased a several-point deficit in the second half, slowing the Hillmen’s best inside player and high-scoring guard.

“We chipped away at it. We finally started to figure out how to keep them off their strong hand and started rebounding better,” D’Amato said.

Multiple players made clutch plays late to take and hold the lead.

“Melanie had a couple of layups. Lily (Verplancke) played well inside defending their 6 feet, 2-inch girl,” D’Amato said.

On free throws, “Brynlee was 6-for-6 in crunch time, which is huge,” he said.

The Hawks only shot 8-for-31 on three-pointers, “but they all did really well scoring inside the three-point line,” D’Amato said. “That’s big for us. We’re a short team so scoring on the inside can be difficult for us. They had a big post (player). Even though we don’t have some height, we created good looks near the basket and we converted.”

A day earlier, the Hawks lost, 79-44, to Eau Claire Memorial.

“We knew we were traveling into a buzz saw,” D’Amato said. “They are the best defensive team, I think, we’ve played against since I’ve been in Grafton.”

Hildebrand had 12 points. Tagliapietra had four points and eight rebounds. Verplancke had eight points.

The Hawks enjoyed their trip, which helped build team camaraderie as well as see good competition.

“They actually had more down time to hang out with each other,” D’Amato said.

He said he has a few activities scheduled to have his team avoid the January doldrums after the holidays. The Hawks will be part of the youth basketball tournament this weekend, do a benefit night at a local restaurant and hold a free-throw-a-thon on Jan. 24 that helps fund the team laser tag competition in February.

The Hawks, 9-3 overall and 2-1 in the North Shore Conference, were to host Sheboygan South on Monday, Jan. 5, and Port Washington on Wednesday, Jan. 7. They host Living Word Lutheran on Friday, Jan. 9.

After playing Grafton, the Port girls, 6-4 overall and 3-1 in the Glacier Trails Conference, host Milwaukee Lutheran at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10, and Kewaskum on Tuesday, Jan. 13.