Thursday will be a game of second chance for the Millard West and Fullerton girls’ basketball teams as they open play at the 2015 State Girls Basketball Tournament in Lincoln. Both rewarded for dominant regular seasons, neither team even advanced to the district finals.
Yet, they’ll be playing Thursday and both coaches – Marc Kruger for Millard West and Stacy Kramer for Fullerton – are excited for the opportunity. But, when they were defeated in district play they had different feelings.
“We thought we were sunk,” Kruger said after the Wildcats lost to Omaha North 45-44 in the first round of districts. “We needed a bunch of things to go our way last Thursday and they did. We ended up having practice on Friday.”
The big benefit for the Wildcats, no one else was upset. And, though they started the post-season as the fourth seed in Class A, they’ll enter the state tournament as the sixth-seed and play Omaha Westside on Thursday night at 7:00 at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Just over 100 miles down Highway 92, Fullerton coach Stacy Kramer felt pretty good about her team’s spot – at fourth in the Class D-1 power points with a 20-4 record – that she went to scout, and her players and husband were at different district final sites.
“We felt pretty good about our chances,” Kramer said. “But, you know, its high school basketball so anything can happen really. Anybody can get knocked off at any time.”
District final wins from Dundy County-Stratton, St. Mary’s and Emerson-Hubbard secured the top wild-card spot for Fullerton. The team that beat them in the sub-district final, Humphrey St. Francis, earned the other spot as they top-eight teams in the point standings made the tournament.
Fighting Adversity
It’s been an interesting year for Kruger, in his first year at Millard West after having been the head coach for Bellevue West and leading them to the state finals a season ago. They have been a team that lost to Omaha North (6-18) and what Kruger called, “maybe the best team in the state” when they knocked off first round opponent Omaha Westside in mid-January, 71-62.
“We played a really tough stretch in mid-January,” Kruger said of the four loss stretch in six games. “We’ve played really well at times; we’ve just struggled with consistency.”
That consistency has not been helped by injury.
The Wildcats started the season without returning leading scoring Marissa Lowe, who was recovering from a knee injury. While she missed the first few games, MW beat state qualifiers Kearney and Bellevue West to open the year.
Then, the bug hit late in the year. Lowe, who has signed to play for Division II Rockhurst, reinjured the knee in a 41-40 win over Fremont and has not played since. Guard Maddie Severson has also battled injury and played at less than 100% in districts. Kruger called Lowe’s status ‘day-to-day’ heading into the tournament.
But, still the Wildcats have persevered. While Lowe leads the team in scoring, she is complimented inside by Philomena Lammers (9.2 points, 8.2 rebounds) and Kaci German (8 points, 5.8 rebounds).
“Phil has really been a rock for us,” Kruger said. “She’s played well defensively for us and she’s a double-double out there. And, Kaci has played really well for us inside, too. Both have been very consistent.”
With Lowe and Severson battling to get on the court, the Wildcats have been young and gained experience in the backcourt. Freshman Lauren Rongisch, sophomore Logan Black and junior Jaylin Bosack have all stepped up at various times. Black led the Wildcats with 16 points against North in their last outing.
“We’ve leaned on Lauren a little bit,” Kruger said of the freshman averaging 7.2 points and leading the team in assists. “And, Logan and Jaylin have come along and are playing well for us, too. We’ll need everybody at state.”
Westside, led by senior Jaymechia Bridgeman, has not lost since Millard West beat them in early January.
Whatever the result on Thursday, Kruger has been pleased with his first crew at Millard West.
“They have been very coachable,” Kruger said. “When practice started in November it was kind of a clean slate, not just X’s and O’s wise, but just getting to know each other. Because of injuries, this isn’t really the team we played with in the summer. They have fought hard and improved all season.”
A Year Ahead
Fullerton’s Kramer admits her Warriors might be a bit ahead of schedule. Consider, they don’t start a senior and were 2-19 in 2011, the year before she took over. But, they are where they thought they could be in November.
“We set a goal to get to state,” Kramer said. “We thought we had a good chance with a tough schedule that if we could win some games, we would put ourselves in good position to win the district or have a chance at the wild card.”
After two wins over Humphrey St. Francis in the regular season, it was the latter that the Warriors needed after the Flyers – who lost to Friend in the state title game a year ago – who won the sub-district final, 36-29.
When they face Blue Hill at 3:45 at Lincoln Southwest, it will have been a full two weeks since the Warriors have played a game. Kramer sees both sides.
“We didn’t really do much the first week off,” Kramer said. “We played the St. Francis with Halle Plumbtree at less than 50% with the flu and we just needed to get the girls healthy. It gave us some time to focus on things and go back to almost a pre-season type practice.”
Still, she thinks her young Warriors – they start four juniors and a sophomore – are ready to go.
“We are young,” Kramer said of her starting lineup. “Sometimes you don’t know if that is good or bad, but we’ll go to Lincoln and play our best. It’s the first time, really, for everybody. I think the most important thing is to embrace it and have fun.”
Two of Kramer’s juniors have scored 300 points on the season in Macy Peregrine and Ashley Frenzen. They make Fullerton tick, the coach said. After that, Plumbtree – who stands 6-2 – gives an inside presence 11.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 84 blocks in 24 games.
“Macy and Ashley have really led us,” Kramer said. “Macy is 5-6, but she plays closer to six feet the way she can jump. Ashley really improved over the summer. She was a set shooter and she made the commitment to get more shots off the dribble. With Halle, you can’t coach 6-2. She really allows us to extend our defense.”
Spencer Herman averages 4.9 points and 5.1 rebounds for Fullerton and point guard Cheyenne Ostrander has 104 assists on the season – a school record. Frenzen’s 118 steals are also unchartered territory for the Warriors.
In the opening round, the Warriors have to figure out a way to stop Blue Hill’s MacKenzie Willicott whose 21.5 points/game average tops the loaded D1 field.
“She’s a heck of player,” Kramer said of Willicott. “She can play inside and outside. She’s kind of a basketball natural.”
That said, even if a year in advance, Kramer said the Warriors seem ready for the bright lights of Lincoln and her team has fed off the earlier success of Fullerton teams this year.
“I think winning is contagious,” she said. “There is a supportive and positive atmosphere in our community right now. There is that feeling now that you want to set high expectations and do great things.”
Featured Photo Courtesy of MWHS Newspaper Danie Schneider(@mwhspawprint)
