South Shore's run ends in state semi

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Megan Gustafson and the South Shore girls did all they could to dig themselves out of a first-half hole Thursday, but it just wasn't enough.

Wisconsin Rapids Assumption opened up a 35-16 halftime lead and went on to defeat the Cardinals 57-43 in a WIAA girls Division 5 state semifinal at the Resch Center.

The Royals will meet Barneveld in Saturday's state title game. This will be the third straight year the teams will play for the gold ball. Barneveld routed Fall River 66-34 in Thursday's first semifinal.

"I just want to give Wisconsin Rapids Assumption a lot of credit," said South Shore coach Ryan Tiberg. "They're a very good team, and I think they'll have a very good chance on Saturday against Barneveld.

"I thought the girls from South Shore fought to the end. We played as hard as we could. I'm just really happy with the way we played, but I want to give credit to the team that won."

Turnovers played a big role in the outcome. South Shore turned the ball over 18 times in the first half, and 14 of the turnovers were steals by the Royals. Assumption finished the game with 22 steals, one off the state record.

Three layups off steals by Autumn Linzmeyer capped a 12-1 run to end the first quarter as the Royals led 19-7.

"We knew coming in that they were going to try some different traps and different presses," Tiberg said. We had worked on in practice press breakers and spacing and those types of things. We would turn to throw a pass, the pass would be deflected, and they were off to the races.

"I thought 70 percent of the time we handled it OK. but the other 30 percent led to breakaway layups. I felt in the first half when we were able to settle into our defense, we held them to a pretty good amount. A lot of their baskets came in transition off a lot of turnovers in the backcourt."

The Cardinals were within 24-13 with 2:24 left in the first half when Gustafson picked up her third foul and had to go to the bench. The Royals took advantage and went inside and closed the half with an 11-3 run to lead 35-16.

"In Division 5, there aren't a lot of tall people - especially two," Gustafson said. "I got into some early foul trouble. A lot of the posts did today. I tried to keep my composure and look to my teammates. In the second half, it's like 'We can do this.' This could be my last game, and it was. I just wanted to play my best for them. "

Assumption held Gustafson to just four shots and eight points in the first half.

"We came in with a game plan," said Assumption coach Joe Birkhauser. "We were worried about Megan Gustafson, but we were more worried about what we were going to do. We showed in the first half with a lot of ball pressure that our defense would lead to offense. She's a very talented young lady."

Birkhauser felt it was important to hold the Cardinals to just 16 points in the first half. He wanted the total under 20 because he knew the Cardinals could put up some points.

Gustafson scored 12 points in the third quarter, but the Royals still led 49-31 going to the fourth. Gustafson scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter. Her hoop midway through the quarter got the Cardinals within 51-41. It was still a 10-point deficit with 3:17 to play, but Gena Grundhoffer scored a pair of hoops in the next 30 seconds to put the game away.

Macie Zurfluh had 15 points and eight steals for the Royals, who shot 42 percent for the game. Grundhoffer added 14 points and Macyn Krings 11.

Gustafson had 30 points, 18 rebounds and seven blocked shots. The Cardinals shot 52 percent but made just 11 of 20 free throws.

"It was a really fun ride," Gustafson said. "With these girls, it was amazing. We played really hard, and I'm proud of them. Especially in the second half we played our hardest. We could've put our heads down, but we didn't. We put our heads up and played hard, and I'm really proud of that.

"Two years ago we made it down here. It was a lot of fun with my sister. Today she was watching, and that makes it all the more special. "