Mishicot is back at the State Girls Basketball Tournament.
The Indians received the top seed in Division Four and will battle the four seed Fall Creek Crickets in the Semi-Finals at 9:05 this morning at the La Crosse Center.
Senior Wing Desiree Kleiman spoke with Seehafer News on returning to the state tournament. “It’s so surreal and I’m so happy to be able to do it with my best friends, “ she said with a smile. “It’s so cool that we have been playing together for so long, and now we get one last final trip. We are not going to go down without giving it our best.”
Senior Maddie Willems spoke about last year’s tough semi-final loss to Melrose-Mindoro, where Kally Kreuger’s half-court shot rolled off the rim which would have given the Indians the win. “We really don’t want it to come down to having to make a half-court shot,” she explained. “If we had made another free throw or another shot and we would have won that game. That’s why we work on things like that at practice. We want to be prepared for anything that may be thrown our way.”
Senior Point Guard Kally Kreuger commented that they were able to get back to the State tournament because, “...we have the determination to be good, and we did it for each other. Nobody ever wanted to be the best. We all just wanted to help each other out, and be the best that we can be as a person and as a player.”
Senior Guard Abby Garceau explained that they “got to play on our home floor before going to state, and win it all in front of our home fans, without traveling. It was a really cool experience.”
Junior Guard Ally McCardle said, “It was kind of intimidating at first…” adjusting to starting from her role as the top reserve last season, “…but as a team, we are such a family, that no one really feels that way. It was just welcoming me in and getting me equipped and ready to go. Then it was just regular basketball.”
Senior and Mishicot’s all-time leading scorer Kylie Schmidt thinks the bond that this team has with their Head Coach Mike Garceau was a major part of their success. “We have cried together we have laughed together, we have all fought together, so I think it’s about how close we are as a team,” she explained.
Head Coach Mike Garceau spoke of their opening-round opponent Fall Creek saying they don’t “have any stud standout players, but they have some really solid players, and they get after it defensively. I don’t know how many teams are in Division 4, but there are four left, and they are one of them. If you take them lightly it’s gonna come back and bite you.”
Coverage of today’s game begins at 8:45 AM on 97.1 FM WCUB, and at www.CubRadio.com.
