Grafton guards its home court over a rival

One won the battle of pace of play while the other pulled out the victory in the season’s only game between the Port Washington and Grafton high school girls’ basketball teams on Jan. 7 in Grafton.

The Black Hawks stretched a three-point first-half lead into a 42-29 advantage with six and a half minutes to play, but the Pirates didn’t go away.

Grafton never let the lead dip belows six, however, and won, 50-43.

Cali Tagliapietra led the Hawks with 22 points on 9-for-20 shooting, and she had five rebounds, three assists and six steals. Lily Verplancke had eight points and seven rebounds. Ava Dotson had seven points and Brynlee Hildebrand had six.

For Port, Delaney Rauch had 18 points on 8-for-11 shooting. Norah Merow had 14 points and 12 rebounds. Savanna Miller had eight points, seven rebounds, 10 assists and four steals.

“They slowed the game down to a crawl. We couldn’t get into a rhythm,” Grafton coach Matt D’Amato said. “We don’t have the height so when you slow the game down we can’t use our speed.”

“We’re big. We have to come up with different strategies against teams like Grafton just to compete. They’re so guard heavy and we are not,” Port coach Dave Ross said. “I thought we battled hard. We did a lot of good things, but Grafton exposed us. They had 13 turnovers. We had 26.”

A Rauch three-pointer with 16 minutes to play brought Port to within a point at 27-26. Then the Hawks’ defense tightened.

The Pirates didn’t score again until Merow hit a shot inside while being fouled with 6:25 left. After Port’s nearly 10-minute scoring drought, it was 42-29.

D’Amato praised Tagliapietra for deflections, steals and getting out in transition.

“I was waiting for us to finally break through. It never really came until Cali got steals in the second half and got fast-break points,” he said.

Ross praised Rauch for her offense.

“Delaney can be a match-up problem. It’s getting her in position to get her shots. We struggled with the ball handling, so getting those shots can be difficult. We’ve been working on some new things to get her in better spots,” he said.

Grafton won all three home games last week, beating Sheboygan South, 82-37, on Monday, and Living Word Lutheran, 78-57, on Friday.

On Monday, Tagliapietra had 14 points, Dotson had 12 and Hildebrand had 10. Melanie Morgan had eight points and nine rebounds. Grafton held a 39-6 halftime lead.

On Friday, Tagliapietra had 17 points and seven rebounds. Dotson had 14 points and six assists. Morgan and Hildebrand had nine points and Verplancke had eight.

Grafton, 11-3, plays at Slinger on Friday, Jan. 16, and at West Bend East on Tuesday, Jan. 20.

Port beat Milwaukee Lutheran, 86-37, at home on Saturday. Merow had 24 points on 10-for-15 shooting and 14 rebounds. Rauch had 13 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Miller had 16 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Port, 7-5, was to play Kewaskum on Tuesday, Jan. 13. Port hosts Plymouth on Friday, Jan. 16.