The winning head coach isn’t getting much of an argument over calling Saturday’s W.I.A.A. Girls State Basketball Championship the best Division 5 game ever played. Albany/Monticello defeated Lena 57-54 in overtime before a crowd energized by High School athletic drama. Head Coach Derik Doescher watched his Comets become a rare number four seed pull off two surprises, top ranked Argyle/Pecatonica in the semifinals and against a game group of Wildcats from Lena. It’s the first state title for the now combined districts, Monticello won it’s Division 4 championship back in 1991, against of all schools, Lena.
It was a fantastic game with drama throughout but junior Abby Hollis provided the biggest thrills hitting a game tying three point basket with :05 left in regulation and draining another with 1:03 left in overtime that put the Comets into the lead for good at 55-54. Hollis led A/M with 15 points, Dalana Trumpy finished with 14 and a team high 8 rebounds. Alana Durtschi hit the final two free throws with :14 remaining in overtime and Lena never got off a quality look before the horn sounded. Doescher called Hollis’ huge triples “the biggest shots in Albany history”. The Comets finished 27-3.
As for the Wildcats, falling in a game like that couldn’t have been easy.
Head Coach Tim Goldschmidt accepted the silver trophy with class. Junior Eva Brooks put on a fantastic show with a game high 21 points and a Division 5 tournament single game record breaking 19 rebounds. Madi Thomson added 16 but senior guard Alabama Lambert, hobbled by an ankle injury in Lena’s semifinal win over Clear Lake, could only go five minutes in what proved to be her final game. This was a game run from a group of girls that won just one game a few years back and played in the final game of the year for a championship. After the game, Goldschmidt relished the competition.
Lena finished the year as M&O champs, sectional winners and runner-ups with no regrets. Another silver trophy will look nice, flanked with the ’91 hardware and that gold trophy in the middle from that 1980 championship memory.
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