End of the road

For 18 minutes, the upset alarm was ringing loudly. Unfortunately for Wisconsin Heights’ girls basketball team, that alarm was silenced in the second half. During the Vanguards’ WIAA Division 4 regional quarterfinal at Darlington on Feb. 25, ninth-seeded Heights built a 25-18 lead at the break. But eighth-seeded Darlington rallied back in the second half and edged the Vanguards, 51-47. Heights finished the year 9-14 overall. “That’s just kind of the way our season went,” Heights coach Bill Sullivan said. “We would fight back, lose leads in the game and end up losing another close one.” Hanna King led the Vanguards with 12 points, while Ashlee Adler added eight and Kelsie Handel had seven. Jada Wood chipped in with six points and Miranda Keith had five. Heights fell into a quick 9-1 hole, but closed the first half on a 24-9 burst and surged to a 25-18 lead at the break. “We had some early foul trouble with three kids with two fouls,” Sullivan said. “We did a good job of staying composed when we were down early, came back and we got some good looks on offense.” Darlington chipped away in the second half, though, thanks to hot shooting from beyond the arc. Darlington made 9-of-31 three-pointers in the game, which was something the Vanguards weren’t expecting. “Our goal going into the game was to limit their paint points due to their size advantage and we did that,” Sullivan said. “But they knocked down some shots that they hadn’t on the film we had of them. We also gave up a few too many offensive boards that led to second chance points for them.” Sullivan wanted to thank seniors Kelsi Handel, Jada Wood, Miranda Keith, Ashlee Adler and Natalie Herring for their contributions to the program. Heights will bring back a solid nucleus next season, and hope for bigger and better things. “I thought the kids competed hard this year and the record doesn’t indicate how many close games we had throughout the year,” Sullivan said. “A few shots fall and the record is much different than what we have.  “We’ll have a nice group of kids coming back next year, but will lack varsity experience. We’ll be young and play another competitive schedule.  “We’re going to have to focus on getting better on outside shooting and that’s going to take an effort year-round from those that are returning. Our outside shooting is what hurt us this year. Shooting is a skill that has to be worked on on a regular basis to be consistent.”    Feb. 25 Darlington 51,  Wisconsin Heights 47 Heights ……...…… 25 22 — 47 Darlington ….....… 18 33 — 51 WISCONSIN HEIGHTS (pts) — Wood 6, King 12, Doherty 2, Adler 8, Keith 5, Handel 7, Hering 4, Schaefer 3. Totals 47. DARLINGTON — McDonald 3, Rielly 3, Gould 10, Thompson 12, Sturtz 12, Crist 4, Golackson 2, K. Schwartz 3, Wedig 2. Totals 51. 3-point goals: WH 4 (Wood 1, King 2, Schaefer 1); D 8 (Rielly 1, Gould 3, Sturtz 4). Total fouls: WH 19; D 13.