Midgettes bring defense to the WIAA dance

HURLEY - Defense helped Hurley win a share of an Indianhead Conference East Division championship. Now the Midgettes are hoping it brings them a regional trophy.

The Midgettes (17-5) gave up 50 or more points just twice this season on their way to a 10th straight Indianhead title – they've taken the East Division title all four years since the conference split into divisions.

Now they are looking for their first regional title since 2012.

"The next (goal) on our list is winning a regional," Hurley coach Steve Eder said. "It's been a few years since Hurley has won a regional and, quite honestly, we hope to be playing in a way that gives us an opportunity to do that. I think everybody in our locker room thinks that when we play at our best, we give ourselves an opportunity to at least play for a regional title."

The Midgettes have been held in the 30s in all five of their losses. But while the offense has had some off nights, the defense really hasn't. The most points they gave up all year came in a 61-38 loss to South Shore.

"We give up 50 points twice, you're really putting yourself in position to win some games," Eder said. "I think the girls bought into it in a way where we were playing good half-court defense. We weren't fouling but still making it difficult for the other team to score.

"We definitely put our self in a spot to give ourselves a chance by playing defense, no matter how we shoot."

The Midgettes are probably the deepest team in the conference with a multitude of reserves making for little to no falloff when they go to their bench, which they do often.

"I wish we could play more kids," Eder said. "We have some kids who haven't seen as much time as they would maybe for just about anybody else in the conference. Some of our reserves would even start at some other schools in the conference."

Hurley was voted the No. 2 seed in this week's WIAA Division 4 regional tournament. The Midgettes host No. 3 Phillips Friday.

The Loggers (8-11) are as healthy as they've been this season.

"Phillips is big, they're pretty physical," Eder said. "They did have some issues with some injuries through the course of the year, so their record is a little misleading in some respects. But they played in the regional final last year against Athens. They've played tough against a lot of good Marawood teams all year long. We're definitely going to have to play at our best in order to beat them, that's for sure."

Phillips' size may be a matchup problem, but so are Hurley's guards.

"Physical teams, we can struggle with at times," Eder said. "As long as we don't get too reliant on outside shots and remember to attack the basket still, I think we'll be OK or at least put ourselves in position to be OK.

"I definitely like the way our guards match up with just about anybody. I think we have some really talented ballhandlers. Even the reserves that come off the bench are talented ballhandlers. I think that keeps us in a lot of contests."

Hurley should have a nice home-court advantage on Friday night.

"Typically, for both boys and girls, a lot of people come out, especially come tournament time for those home playoff games," he said. "It'll be fun to play at home. The seniors, especially, deserve it."

The winner of Friday's game advances to the regional final, set for Saturday at the highest remaining seed.

Athens (15-6) is the No. 1 seed and the favorite to be hosting that final. No. 5 Chequamegon goes to No. 4 Colby Tuesday and the winner plays at Athens Friday.

The Bluejays are without post presence Briana Lavicka, who tore her ACL and MCL not long ago and is out for the season. But they still have Kyncaide Diedrich, the team's leading scorer at 19.8 points per game.

Athens is the defending regional champion.

"Athens is extremely athletic," Eder said. "They're quick. They led by a really, really excellent point guard (Diedrich). They're not nearly as big as Phillips is."

The Bluejays are still working through how to adjust to Lavicka's injury. All of Athens' players are quick and they like to press. But they go through Diedrich, a senior.

"They have other girls on the team that can do some pretty special things also," Eder said. "I think we match up pretty well against them with our guard play and especially with our post players being a little more on the physical side and being able to do some things with their back to the basket. I think that we would match up well against Athens, but we have to get through Phillips."

As much respect as Eder as for Athens, Athens doesn't seem to have much for Hurley. Athens coach Angela Totzke voted Hurley third out of the four regional teams at the seeding meeting. Coaches don't vote for their own team.

The Midgettes are healthy with MaKayla Wolfe nearly over her broken finger.

They have seven seniors, including all five starters: Gabby Pecotte, Kirkie Pecotte, Natalie Moon, Brittany Czarnecki and Wolfe. Dani Irons and Morgan Pinardi are reserves.

Juniors are Kaylyn King, Tianne Kuula, Tori Colassaco, Reggie Kelly, Maria Swartz and Emily Strand. Paige Aho is the lone sophomore.