WIAA’s Girls Basketball State Championships

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) -

D1

After returning to the state tournament for the first time since 1998, Appleton East fell short in the championship losing to Kettle Moraine 69-53.

Patriots senior Emily LaChapell scored 19 points while Logan Lowry put up 17.

“The girls were doing exactly what I asked them to do, it just wasn’t very good. I probably should have come up with something different,” Appleton East’s head coach Joe LaChapell said. “I tried two different things and then finally, Em came up with a solution in the locker room that kind of helped things. That’s what I would’ve taken back, is kind of how we handled their pressure.”

“Learning how to adjust and adapt to that was something I think we could’ve done better,” Emily LaChapell said. “But I’m proud of us for staying together and continuing to do what coach has asked us to do and just giving it our all.”

D2

Notre Dame defended their title with a 68-54 win over Pewaukee. Trista Fayta put up 27 points. Sarah Hardwick had 17.

The last time the Tritons won back-to-back titles was 2013-2014.

“Every year we always have that target on our back. Everybody wants to beat Notre Dame, everyone wants to beat us, especially this year,” Hardwick said. “I think, after winning state last year, and even more so next year for them. I think we like the pressure sometimes. It helps prepare us for the offseason. Overall I think it helped us win state this year.”

“We did have a target on our back, “ Fayta siad. “We knew Sara (Rhode) would prepare us with plenty of good teams. That really helped us this year. It also got our confidence up. We knew we could beat any team. We knew we could be good.”

D3

Waupun won their first ever state title with a 63-42 win over Freedom.

Abbie Aalsma finished with a game high 22 points for the Warriors. Kayl Petersen had 15.

“The emotion behind it is pretty incredible,” Waupun head coach Tim Aalsma said. “As a coach, we know what we do, day in and day out. Behind the scenes, there are a lot of players who have put in unnoticed work in their off time. You don’t get to this level without those key elements. It feels incredible.”

Meanwhile for the Irish, junior Sadie Jarmolowicz was held to just 9 points.

“Our team is so close. I’m going to miss the seniors a lot next year,” Jarmolowicz said. “We all like hanging out with each other and then playing ball is just extra. Our community, they really showed out for us. I couldn’t be prouder. It’s just cool that we’re competing for our community.”

D4

Laconia was runner-up with a 53-42 loss to Mineral Point in the championship.

“I think our kids are gonna be hungry to get back. They see what this is all about,” Laconia head coach Chris Morgan said. “That’s what I told them before we even made it here: Enjoy this ride because you just never know when it’s going to happen again. They understand they can do it, so that takes a big monkey off the back.”

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