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ASHWAUBENON − Tucked away up in one of the corners of the Resch Center late Friday night was the Kimberly girls basketball team.
Fresh off a 55-34 victory over Appleton East in a WIAA Division 1 state semifinal, the team's players and coaches were watching the other D1 semifinal and their opponent for Saturday's title game, Muskego.
It was a scene that seemed almost surreal − a collection of superb athletes in repose, when only minutes before that same group was wrecking havoc on defense in the win over Appleton East.
Leading the charge was junior defensive stalwart Emily Urban and her sophomore partner in defensive excellence, Kennedy Ebben. They are an unheralded pair that is the heart of a stellar Kimberly defense that has the Papermakers one win from championship gold.
"Our team is definitely based on defense," Urban said. "Defense wins championships, so we're really focused on the defensive end. Even if you're stopping the team on defense, we're still going to find ways to get baskets. We work a lot on defense, so just being able to 'guard your yard.' And just trusting our teammates that if we guard our person, they're going to be there and they're going to guard theirs, so it's just like connecting with everyone on defense."
Urban, a verbal commit to UW-Milwaukee to play soccer, leads the Papermakers in steals (67) and had four against East on Friday. Top scorer Kate McGinnis (58 steals) and Ebben (40) are right behind along with sophomore Ava Van Vonderen with 38.
There isn't a weak link on the Papermakers' defense, but Urban and Ebben were singled out by Kimberly coach Dave Lepisto in the postgame media conference.
"They're just unbelievable," he said of the duo.
He then looked at both McGinnis and Van Vonderen − Kimberly's leading scorers Friday − and said, "These two can vouch having (Ebben) guard them in practice. Is it a lot of fun?' "
"No!" both McGinnis and Van Vonderen replied in unison.
"And that's just practice Kennedy, much less game Kennedy,' " Lepisto added. "She's so good defensively that sometimes people take it for granted."
Kimberly forced 17 turnovers and scored 21 points off those thefts. The Papermakers limited East's top trio of scorers − Torie Neubauer, Ella Sweeney and Lilly Meulemans − to 17 points, about 21 points under their collective average.
"We know they're great players, but we're not afraid to get up and make their life hard and miserable," Urban said. "It's even more fun because they're good players, and we're trying to stop them."
Friday's game was the last as opponents for Neubauer and Kimberly's Raegan Krueger. Both are heading to Minnesota-Duluth next fall to be not only teammates, but also roommates.
Neubauer had seven points for East, with Krueger scoring 10 for the Papermakers. The two shared an emotional hug at the end of the game.
"It's always so much fun playing against her," Neubauer said. "And I think the hug was just about, 'We're going to be teammates. We're going to be roommates.' That's something really exciting and I'm very excited for it. It was fun playing against her one last time, but I'm also ready to be her teammate."
McGinnis led Kimberly in scoring Friday with 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. The 5-foot-9 senior guard has raised her play the past few weeks and her long-distance shooting has rounded into form.
"You just keep shooting," she said. "And I know I put in the work and you have to just trust that work."
Van Vonderen said she and her teammates trust McGinnis to make shots because of her practice habits.
"She also stays after every practice to get extra shots up," Van Vonderen said. "We see that and then going into the game, we all have confidence in her and pass it to her as much as we can."
"There’s a general caring in the locker room with the players and coaches − everyone. No one wanted to let each other down. There was a lot of effort from the coaches and the players to make themselves better. Down the stretch, we got a lot of good wins and built a lot of confidence in the players." − Appleton East coach Brian Paschen, after the Patriots won 13 of their last 15 games to end the season.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: High school girls basketball: WIAA state tournament news, notes
Continue reading...
Fresh off a 55-34 victory over Appleton East in a WIAA Division 1 state semifinal, the team's players and coaches were watching the other D1 semifinal and their opponent for Saturday's title game, Muskego.
It was a scene that seemed almost surreal − a collection of superb athletes in repose, when only minutes before that same group was wrecking havoc on defense in the win over Appleton East.
Leading the charge was junior defensive stalwart Emily Urban and her sophomore partner in defensive excellence, Kennedy Ebben. They are an unheralded pair that is the heart of a stellar Kimberly defense that has the Papermakers one win from championship gold.
"Our team is definitely based on defense," Urban said. "Defense wins championships, so we're really focused on the defensive end. Even if you're stopping the team on defense, we're still going to find ways to get baskets. We work a lot on defense, so just being able to 'guard your yard.' And just trusting our teammates that if we guard our person, they're going to be there and they're going to guard theirs, so it's just like connecting with everyone on defense."
Urban, a verbal commit to UW-Milwaukee to play soccer, leads the Papermakers in steals (67) and had four against East on Friday. Top scorer Kate McGinnis (58 steals) and Ebben (40) are right behind along with sophomore Ava Van Vonderen with 38.
There isn't a weak link on the Papermakers' defense, but Urban and Ebben were singled out by Kimberly coach Dave Lepisto in the postgame media conference.
"They're just unbelievable," he said of the duo.
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He then looked at both McGinnis and Van Vonderen − Kimberly's leading scorers Friday − and said, "These two can vouch having (Ebben) guard them in practice. Is it a lot of fun?' "
"No!" both McGinnis and Van Vonderen replied in unison.
"And that's just practice Kennedy, much less game Kennedy,' " Lepisto added. "She's so good defensively that sometimes people take it for granted."
Kimberly forced 17 turnovers and scored 21 points off those thefts. The Papermakers limited East's top trio of scorers − Torie Neubauer, Ella Sweeney and Lilly Meulemans − to 17 points, about 21 points under their collective average.
"We know they're great players, but we're not afraid to get up and make their life hard and miserable," Urban said. "It's even more fun because they're good players, and we're trying to stop them."
Neubauer, Krueger going from opponents to teammates
Friday's game was the last as opponents for Neubauer and Kimberly's Raegan Krueger. Both are heading to Minnesota-Duluth next fall to be not only teammates, but also roommates.
Neubauer had seven points for East, with Krueger scoring 10 for the Papermakers. The two shared an emotional hug at the end of the game.
"It's always so much fun playing against her," Neubauer said. "And I think the hug was just about, 'We're going to be teammates. We're going to be roommates.' That's something really exciting and I'm very excited for it. It was fun playing against her one last time, but I'm also ready to be her teammate."
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McGinnis finds her groove for Kimberly
McGinnis led Kimberly in scoring Friday with 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. The 5-foot-9 senior guard has raised her play the past few weeks and her long-distance shooting has rounded into form.
"You just keep shooting," she said. "And I know I put in the work and you have to just trust that work."
Van Vonderen said she and her teammates trust McGinnis to make shots because of her practice habits.
"She also stays after every practice to get extra shots up," Van Vonderen said. "We see that and then going into the game, we all have confidence in her and pass it to her as much as we can."
He said it
"There’s a general caring in the locker room with the players and coaches − everyone. No one wanted to let each other down. There was a lot of effort from the coaches and the players to make themselves better. Down the stretch, we got a lot of good wins and built a lot of confidence in the players." − Appleton East coach Brian Paschen, after the Patriots won 13 of their last 15 games to end the season.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: High school girls basketball: WIAA state tournament news, notes
Continue reading...
