Ike hopes to make amends
Lions cruise into sectional after last year's early exit
Ike's Kali Shandley eyes the basket during the Lions' second-round victory at home over School of Languages. Photo By C.T. Kruger
New Berlin — The players and coaches of the New Berlin Eisenhower girls basketball team had been stewing for more than a year.
They remembered getting ousted from last year's postseason in a regional semifinal. They were the top seed in the region and had won 17 of 20 regular-season games, but the Lions were upset by fourth-seeded Kettle Moraine Lutheran.
Last week, the Lions took those simmering frustrations out on their first two foes, and they find themselves headed to a WIAA Division 2 sectional for the first time since 2007.
"Our kids are really focused and they wanted to come in and make some noise," Eisenhower coach Gary Schmidt said. "We exited early last year and the girls remembered that. They wanted to make sure that was not going to happen again.
"It was a big-time message. It was bulletin board material. They were nervous, but they knew what their job was and they got the job done. I don't think any coach likes to have to use that message, but it was a good message to have. We certainly did learn from it. Hopefully it will carry us through the tournament. I don't think the kids want to lose right now."
Win comes with a high price
Eisenhower's first postseason opponents found that out the hard way. After six players scored eight or more points - including Anna Hahn's game-high 18 - in a 77-28 home drubbing of Milwaukee School of Languages in a semifinal March 11, Hahn (15), Nicole Bauman (10) and Megan Tkachuk (10) combined for 35 points in their team's 50-34 home win over Milwaukee Lutheran in a final Saturday.
Saturday's victory, however, did not come without a cost. Guard/forward Kali Shandley, whom Schmidt has often referred to as the best defender in the state, suffered a significant knee injury, according to her coach. The severity of Shandley's injury was not known at press deadline, but Schmidt did not expect the senior leader to be ready for a sectional semifinal rematch with Pewaukee at 7 p.m. at Waukesha West, or the final, should the Lions advance, which will be held at 1 p.m. at Waukesha South.
Shandley, one of three seniors on the team, is averaging 7.5 points per game.
Also, sophomore guard Nicole Bauman suffered a knee injury as well, though Schmidt expected her to be ready by March 18.
"We came out of there with some devastating losses," Schmidt said. "Hopefully we can get Shandley back at some point before the season is over. She is phenomenal. That's going to hurt us, but we have other kids that will have to step up. I always feel bad for the kids. We won a big game and we didn't have a chance to enjoy it."
Schmidt said fellow senior Jenna Hammernik would likely start for Shandley and others, like sophomore Jackie Vanderkolk, would see an increase in minutes.
"It will be an interesting week of practice," he added. "We'll see what kids step up."
Rematch with rival
With or without Shandley, the Lions are ready for their rematch with Pewaukee, one of just two teams to beat Eisenhower this season and the first to do so after the Lions started out 14-0.
Pewaukee (22-2) won the Woodland Blue Division - Eisenhower won the Black - and suffered losses to only Mukwonago and New Berlin West during the regular season. The Pirates handed the Lions a 59-52 loss Jan. 30.
"It was one of those weeks where we got a lot of attention and we lost focus," Schmidt said. "We were undefeated at the time, we had a lot of press that week and people in taking pictures. We lost (focus) that week and that's going to happen.
"Once we learned how to focus and prepare for (big) games, we've gotten better."
Schmidt said his team allowed too much dribble penetration the first time around and allowed the Pirates to get to the foul line too much. Pewaukee made 27 of 33 free throws that night and five players scored eight or more points.
"They scored almost half their points from the free-throw line," Schmidt said. "We're certainly going to correct that.
"The kids are excited about playing Pewaukee. They've been a rival of ours, and you always like to get that second chance to come back and beat a team that beat you."
Grafton (15-10) and Sheboygan Falls (18-7) play in the sectional's other semifinal. Defending state champion Grafton has been to the state tournament the last three seasons and won its first title in 2007 after beating Eisenhower in the sectional final by two points that year.
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