Westfield Varsity Ladies claim D4 Sectional title!
For the second year in a row, the Westfield varsity basketball ladies are again on the title board with their latest accomplishment being WIAA D4 Sectional Champions, adding to the South Central Conference and D4 Regional championships claimed in recent weeks! The girls beat both Auburndale and Bonduel last week – the latter in a last-second nail biter – to advance them to the WIAA State Tournament.
Westfield 34-25 59
Auburndale 22- 7 29
Like many contests this season, the first round of Sectionals was a relatively easy win for Westfield, playing March 3rd in the Stevens Point Area High School gym. Westfield’s fans poured in by the hundreds, filling well over half the gym with purple and gold cheers for the team.
While they started the early minutes of the game with a fair number of fouls, the girls steadily grew their lead to 12 points by halftime. The second half saw Westfield claiming most of the time with the ball, holding Auburndale to just 7 points and leading by as much as 32 points before settling with a 30-point margin for the win.
Sophomore Carly Drew was the scoring leader for this game, finishing the night with 25 points, including five 3-pointers. Freshman Haddie Showen also finished in double digits with 11, including one 3-pointer. Junior Nadia Hoffa scored 10 points with the help of a 3-pointer.
Altogether, the Pioneer ladies nailed 7 of 15 three-pointers and sunk 7 of 11 free throws.
Brandi Lentz led the team in rebounds with 10, while Showen grabbed 6 boards. Assist leaders were Hoffa with 5 and Sidney Hoffa with 4. Carly Drew led the team in steals with 6.
Auburndale was led by Annamarie Aue with 10 points, Mya Krings with 9, and Josie Ertl with 9.
Westfield (FG, FT, TP): Haddie Showen 3, 2-3, 11; Trista Drew 1, 0-0, 2; Carly Drew 10, 0-0, 25; Kimmy Sengbusch 1, 0-0, 3; Nadia Hoffa 3, 3-5, 10; Brandi Lentz 3, 2-3, 8.
3 Pts: Haddie Showen 1, Carly Drew 5, Nadia Hoffa 1
Bonduel 13-25 38
Westfield 20-21 41
On Saturday, March 5th, it was a WIAA Sectional re-match between No. 3 seed Bonduel and top seed Westfield, playing at Waupaca High School. Unlike last year’s easy 55-39 win for Westfield, this year Bonduel made Westfield work a lot harder, bringing serious competition to the table, especially in the second half of the game.
Westfield was up by 7 at halftime but by just a few seconds before time ran out, the scored was tied at 38-38. Bonduel’s Allaina Robaidek and Ella Hischke each saw promising shots miss, dampening their chances at a win in the final minutes and seconds. It looked like the game would go into overtime when this textbook nail-biter of a game brought pure astonishment for the crowd that included hundreds of purple-and-gold adorned Westfield fans, as sophomore Carly Drew pulled off a jaw-dropping right-handed heave with just 1.2 seconds on the clock to nail a long 3-pointer for the win.
Coach Luke Showen reported he thought the team got off to a good start in the first half, with really solid defense. While the offense stalled in the second half, Carly Drew was able to score some buckets.
As for the strategy in the final seconds, Coach Showen said he actually started to get mad at Drew because she wasn’t getting going on the cut, and was about to call a timeout when somehow Nadia got her the ball. He noticed she didn’t have a great look before scoring the winning shot.
Drew said, “I just caught and chucked the ball,” at that moment. She said she couldn’t put into words how excited she was to go to State with the team, calling it a “special thing that only happens once in a while.”
Coach Showen added that the team did a “phenomenal job defending,” and felt that holding Bonduel to just 38 points in a Sectional contest was a good effort.
He saw leadership all around his team. “Trista did a phenomenal job on #2..Nadia and Brandi, they’re gritty, gritty players; Sid came in and had some good tough post presence for us...Carly and Haddie, they’re long and kind of sneaky; sometimes they good some good steals.”
Carly Drew led Westfield’s scoring drive for this game, putting 16 points on the board. Her three 3-pointers included the game-winning basket and 3 out of 4 free throw shots. Freshman Haddie Showen finished the game with 13 points, including her own trio of 3-pointers and a 2 out of 3 success story at the free throw line. Senior Trista Drew added 6 points to the total including 4 free throws in her 8 attempts. Junior Nadia Hoffa nailed another 3-pointer for the team, as well.
Rebounds were plentiful for Westfield, led by Carly Drew and Hoffa with 5 apiece. Showen and Brandi Lentz each grabbed 4 board. Showen and Trista Drew claimed 3 assists each. Steals were recorded by Trista Drew, Carly Drew, Nadia Hoffa and Brandi Lentz.
Their never-let-up efforts won Westfield a back-to-back trip to the WIAA State Tournament at the Resch Center in Green Bay this week, where the No. 4 seeded Pioneer Ladies take on No. 1 seeded Mineral Point in a semifinal game at 6:35 p.m. Thursday, March 3rd.
Coach Showen said he knew they had a special group coming up to play this season. “This year I feel that we validated last year by winning a couple in nice venues against good teams and getting back to the State Tournament, and next year we’ll be all right as well. We’re going to enjoy this and get ready for Thursday.”
Early this week, plans were in the works for a student spectator bus, and Westfield Area High School was busy selling tickets to the public for Thursday’s game in Green Bay. The celebration also included a fire truck escort into Westfield last Saturday night, led by vehicles from the Village of Westfield and Coloma fire departments. On Monday, the Westfield Lions Club issued a congratulatory proclamation to the Westfield High School Girls Basketball Team on their achievement, and the team enjoyed a special Monday morning breakfast together at school.
Festivities on Thursday include a fire truck ride around Westfield at 9:30 a.m., leading to the high school where a pep rally will be held, beginning around 10:00 a.m. The pep rally is open to the public and everyone is invited to come out and cheer the team on, both at the school and at the game in Green Bay. The team bus will be leaving at 11:00AM from Westfield High School going through Westfield, then taking the interstate north to Coloma on their way to Green Bay.
Westfield (FG, FT, TP): Haddie Showen 4, 2-3, 13; Trista Drew 1, 4-8, 6; Carly Drew 5, 3-4, 16; Nadia Hoffa 1, 0-0, 3; Brandi Lentz 1, 1-2, 2.
3 Pts: Haddie Showen 3, Carly Drew 3, Nadia Hoffa 1.
