ONALASKA — Don’t look now, but the Luther High School girls basketball team is still in the hunt for a Coulee Conference championship.
It’s not that the thought of things unfolding this way was absurd back when the season began.
The Knights were young, but coach Ryan Svendsen used young players to help them place second and win 19 games last winter, but there was senior leadership to guide the path.
It took some time for returning players to figure out what was needed to replicate such a performance, but Luther (14-8) has won five straight games and seven of eight as they prepare to host Central (16-5) — ranked 10th in Division 2 by the Bound Wisconsin/Zaleski Sports media poll — in a nonconference game Monday night.
More importantly, the Knights, at 8-3, are just one game out of the conference lead with one game to play. A win over G-E-T (3-19, 2-9) on Thursday and a Viroqua (14-7, 8-3) win over Arcadia (16-7, 9-2) the same night creates a four-way tie for the championship, and Luther would be part of that.
“It started with getting them the exposure they needed last year and understanding what varsity ball was like,” Svendsen said. “They have learned the way to use their skills better and in a way to contribute offensively.
“They are also all playing their tails off defensively.”
The Knights are winning with balance, and there is a chance that it could pay off with a share of the team’s first conference title since 2008.
“It’s wild,” Svendsen said. “We’ve been saying all along that the percentages aren’t very good for us, but the dominos keep falling the right way. It’s been fun to see hard work give us a chance.”
Luther has four players — all sophomores — averaging between 8.0 and 10.4 points per game, and it is rare that anyone breaks out with a game of 20. The consistency works for the Knights, who have also allowed just two of their past eight opponents score 50 points.
“We have a couple kids who can do that every now and again, but that’s not how this team is built,” Svendsen said. “Our system right is best when we are all scoring eight to 12.
“It makes us tough to defend, and it’s a lot more fun for the whole group because it could be anyone on any night that has the bigger game.”
Natalie Hackbarth lead the Knights with her average of 10.4 points per game. Cara Unke follows at 9.3, Brinley Schmitz at 8.7 and Jaeyda Livingston at 8.0.
Schmitz leads the team with 8.0 rebounds per game, while Tessa Gloede — another sophomore — adds 5.9 and Unke 5.4.
But it took some time to turn all of that into victories. Luther started the season with a 3-5 record after a 63-29 loss to state-ranked Division 3 school Wisconsin Dells during a tournament in Wisconsin Dells.
Maybe the good thing was that the Knights had to play again the next day because they rallied with a 47-41 win over River Valley. They also had to rally after losing their first two conference games, one by a 70-49 margin to Arcadia.
We were down 11 in the second half against River Valley, but we responded,” Svendsen said. “We closed out a team that has a nice chunk of wins this year, and that was out first taste of, ‘Hey, we can compete.'”
The Knights won eight of their next nine Coulee games and split with Viroqua and West Salem, which is also 9-3 in the conference. They also beat Arcadia in the return game 57-29.
“Everything we’ve been working on and talking about has been playing out,” Svendsen said. “We talked about watering the plant and waiting for it to bloom.
“It’s hard to believe that early in the season when you are struggling, but we are seeing that it’s real.”
