REEDSBURG — Taking two timeouts before his team scores is never a good situation for a basketball coach.
Yet, that’s where Dave Donarski found himself when the Aquinas High School girls started their WIAA Division 3 sectional semifinal against Wisconsin Dells on the flattest of notes.
The Blugolds missed their first seven shots and turned the ball over twice on their first eight possessions, and things didn’t get much better from there as the Chiefs — ranked third in the final Bound Wisconsin/Zaleski Sports media poll — notched a 76-52 victory at Reedsburg High School on Thursday.
“They sped us up, and we didn’t speed them up,” Donarski said. “We were rattled, and they weren’t. They were physical, and we weren’t.
“This sound awful, but I don’t think we competed for more than eight to 12 minutes of that game. You won’t win doing that. Seventy-six points? We can’t (allow) that and win.”
Aquinas (24-3) never led after surrendering the first nine points and couldn’t find a way to convert turnovers into points at any stage of the game.
The fifth-ranked Blugolds made 7 of 26 shots (26.7 percent) in the first half and were never able to recover.
Aquinas did cut what ballooned to a 27-point deficit with 11:39 left to 14 on two occasions late in the second half but could get no closer.
Sammy Davis scored 24 points for the Blugolds, who also received 10 from junior Ava Fernholz and eight from junior Eva Willenbring. Davis also broke the sibling career scoring record by running her total to 2,167, which is nine more than the 2,158 scored by brother Johnny Davis at Central.
Senior Ashiya Hopkins scored 28 for the Chiefs (26-0) and had 17 of those in the first half. Natalie Backhaus added 17.
The Blugolds, who entered with a 12-game winning streak, played at their best during a four-minute stretch of the second half after Wisconsin Dells had taken a 56-30 lead with 8:08 left.
Aquinas forced turnovers on seven of the Chiefs’ next 11 possessions, and Davis caught fire. The Blugolds scored 19 of the next 26 points and were as close as 61-47 when sophomore Hadley Alderson completed a baseline drive to the basket and 63-49 after two Davis free throws.
“We raised our level of play, which is what we usually do,” Davis said. “We competed like the Aquinas team I’ve seen all year, but I think when we did it, it was just too late.”
In addition to its struggles at the beginning of the game, Aquinas didn’t change the tide at the beginning of the second half. The Blugolds trailed 34-16 at halftime and started the second half with two turnovers and a missed shot on its first three second-half possessions.
Wisconsin Dells followed the second turnover with its second straight 3-pointer to strengthen its stranglehold on the lead.
“I blame myself 100 percent,” Donarski said. “Why in the world were we not ready for this? It doesn’t fall on the kids, it falls on what kind of preparation needs to happen going forward.
“This is no different than (last year’s sectional championship loss to) Cuba City, and that is so painful.”
