Loggers chop Midgettes' season short in overtime

HURLEY - Phillips missed 20 free throws, but one of them helped the Loggers pull off a big upset in Hurley Friday night.

The No. 3 seed Loggers' defeated No. 2 Hurley 52-47 in overtime during Friday's WIAA Division 4 regional semifinal.

Trailing 47-46, Phillips missed two free throws again. The second one, though, came off the rim in a favorable position for Phillips' Makala Williams', who put it in to put Phillips ahead 48-47 with 1:07 left.

It was a lead the Loggers never lost.

Phillips split three pairs of free throws to lead 51-47 with 20.9 to go. Hurley couldn't get a shot to go in that final minute off multiple chances and its season ended at 17-6 as a result.

"Free throws this year we have struggled majorly with," Phillips coach Sarah Socha said. "But I think what our girls did this game was they didn't let down. They didn't let one minute slip by where they didn't play that tough defense."

Hurley coach Steve Eder didn't think the Midgettes missed a block out on the Williams' putback.

"It kind of went to a place where we didn't have anybody," he said. "We were blocking the shooter out from that side with our top person in the lane and it kind of kicked over Natalie's (Moon) head a little bit, and actually, over the top of the Williams' girl's head, too. But unfortunately, there was nobody behind her and she made a nice move and was able to put it back.

"It really swung the momentum in Phillips' favor."

The Midgettes were cold all night, shooting 14 of 49 (29 percent) from the field. Their offensive fortunes didn't change in the final minute while playing catchup.

"Everything we did was still going towards the basket," Eder said of the final minute. "It's not like we settled for 3s at that point. We did have a stretch earlier, I think it was regulation, where we settled for too many 3s."

It wasn't easy for Hurley to score inside with Breanna Vyskocil patrolling the lane.

"They're big, they're physical, credit to them," Eder said.

The Midgettes trailed nearly the entire game and fought against the Loggers to force overtime. Phillips was tough inside, which was expected, but it also made outside shots, which wasn't so expected.

"They made a lot of baskets, took us out of our zone," Eder said. "They shot better tonight than on any film that we had and we had a lot of them."

Hurley was in a 17-10 hole after one quarter. The Midgettes tightened up defensively after that and went into halftime down 25-20.Williams and Elli Lochner made back-to-back triples to start the second half and Phillips took a 31-20 lead.

The Midgettes tied it at 36 on a MaKayla Wolfe 3 with 6:18 left in the game. But Phillips retook the lead and kept it until two Gabby Pecotte free throws put Hurley ahead 42-41 with 43 seconds left. Hurley was 15 of 19 from the foul line.

Lochner made one of two from the line to tie it with 33.5 seconds left. The teams traded turnovers within 9.1 seconds of each other and Hurley took over with 20 seconds left. Hurley forced a Logger player to step out of bounds on the sideline.

Hurley didn't start its play until there was about six seconds on the clock. Wolfe was guarded and she passed to Kirkie Pecotte, who missed.

Hurley led by as many as two points, 47-45 with 2:13 left, in overtime. Phillips cut it to one by splitting at the line. It then pulled ahead on Williams putback with 1:07 left and didn't lose the lead again.

Phillips goes to No. 1 Athens tonight for the regional final. Athens beat No. 4 Colby 59-36 Friday.

The Midgettes, co-champion of the Indianhead Conference East Division, lose seniors Gabby Pecotte, Natalie Moon, Dani Irons, Brittany Czarnecki, MaKayla Wolfe, Morgan Pinardi and Kirkie Pecotte.

The loss was not easy to accept for a group that started preparing for the season in June.

"For somebody to tell you it's done, that's tough because there's such an abrupt ending to it," Eder said. "Our senior girls will be missed, not just as basketball players, we're going to miss them as people.. They're some of the nicest kids that you could ask for. They're going to be missed."

Wolfe led Hurley with 16 points. Natalie Moon scored 12.

Makala Williams led Phillips with 15 points and Ellie Lochner had 13.

Phillips - Makala Williams 15, Ellie Lochner 13, Megan Meives 8, Mogan Edwards 9, Loren Sauter 3, Breanna Vyskocil 4. FTs: 18-38. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: Vyskocil. 3-pointers: Williams 2, Lochner 1, Edwards 1.

Hurley - Gabby Pecotte 7, Natalie Moon 12, Brittany Czarnecki 5, MaKayla Wolfe 16, Maria Swartz 2, Kirkie Pecotte 5. FTs: 15-19. Fouls: 24. Fouled out: G. Pecotte, Czarnecki. 3-pointers: Wolfe 3, Czarnecki 1.

Phillips 17 25 36 42 52

Hurley 10 20 31 42 47