An old dog can teach new tricks. The Kewaskum Indians, led by the grandfatherly Mark Maley who has coached high school and college basketball for 30 years, in his first year at the school, won the WIAA Division 3 state championship in a thrilling 55-51 victory over the Milwaukee Academy of Science Saturday afternoon at the Resch Center.
The co-champs of the East Central Conference got to state by riding a 12 game winning streak and a sectional final win over the division’s top ranked team in Freedom. Still not many gave this plucky team much of a chance once they arrived at state. They held off West Salem in the semifinals and then withstood several frantic second half runs by the Lady Novas to secure the first gold ball in school history.
Senior Julia Steger stepped up huge offensively in her final game, leading the Indians with 23 points and the 5-7 guard (a big over-estimation according to Coach Maley), also led the team with 10 rebounds. Madi Dogs put up 13 points and Morgan Adams added 11.
Kewaskum held a 32-23 lead at halftime but MAS got busy right away, going on a 12-2 run to take a 35-34 lead. The Indians responded with a 10-0 blitz of their own with Steger scoring 7 of the 10 points. The Academy wasn’t done as full court pressure led to turnovers and another 13-2 run for their final lead of the day at 48-47 with 4:30 to play.
Outside of a Beautiful Waheed three point hit, the shots didn’t fall for MAS and the Indians finished off the game going 8 for 10 from the line down the stretch. Waheed finished with a game high 16 for the Lady Novas, Lalani Ellis and Ellis Williams added 11 as they finished the season 23-4.
Kewaskum has waited a long time for the long in the tooth coach to deliver a title. They were making just their third trip to state in school history, dating back to 1977 and a runner-up finish in Class B back in 1982. A 24-5 record from a coach who spent 24 years at the prep level before Mark Maley and this year’s bunch of girls from Kewaskum made history together.
Comments