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03/15/2006: "Crofton girls collect C1 stat title and unbeaten season"

The Crofton Lady Warriors overcame a variety of difficulties, not to mention three opponents, to capture the Class C1 State Basketball Tournament last weekend in Lincoln.
The crown was the second straight for Crofton’s girls basketball program. The CHS bunch also finished the season with a perfect 24-0 record, and those wins, combined with the eight in a row they had to win last year’s title gives Crofton the longest current winning streak in the state (32) among all girls’ high school teams regardless of class.
The Lady Warriors opened their defense of the state title by crushing Milford 64-29, then beat Kearney Catholic 45-37 in the semifinals, and stopped Ashland-Greenwood in the championship game, 47-39.
“We were driven to repeat,” said CHS head coach Aaron Losing, who saw his two-year Crofton career coaching record moved to a gaudy 44-2. “The girls’ off-season work was amazing. They put in the time and effort to get better and it showed from game one to (Saturday night).”

Crofton rolls by Milford with tenacious defense

The Lady Warriors wasted little time in setting the tone for their title defense as they jumped all over 8th seeded Milford (15-9). Crofton raced to a 17-3 first period lead as their speed kept catching Milford in defensive lapses. Amber Hegge led the onslaught as she fired in 9 first quarter points.
Crofton pushed the lead to 30-9 with two minute left in the first half before Milford went on a 7-2 run, cutting the gap to 32-16 at the half.
The third period was no different than the first half, as after the two teams exchanged pairs of baskets, the Lady Warriors went on a 10-3 run to close out the third period and carry a fat 46-23 lead to the final frame
The Crofton surge continued as the Lady Warriors tallied the first 12 points of the last quarter to push the lead to 58-23. The reserves finished off the final two minutes of the game.
“We got a great start from our defense,” Losing noted. “The defensive intensity set the tone for the entire game, and got things moving at our pace.”
“We were able to take high percentage shots,” Losing added, although the CHS shooting percentage (27/71 38.1%) didn’t seem to attest to that. However, many of the baskets the Crofton girls hit, were short range jumpers or layups. Crofton’s rebounding enabled the Lady Warriors to take multiple shots during an offensive possession, and eventually hit buckets.
Amber Hegge paced the win with 23 points and 16 rebounds, including 6 offensive boards. She also had 4 steals and 3 assists.
“Amber did what she had to do for us,” Losing stated of the junior All-Stater. “She controlled the tempo of the game with her ball handling.”
Tierney Schumacher added 14 counters, 7 rebounds and 3 assists while Danielle Arens scored 10 points, grabbed 6 rebounds and blocked 2 shots. Caitlin Jones hauled in 10 rebounds.
The Lady Warriors were good on 10 of 12 free throws and collected 23 offensive rebounds while forcing Milford into 23 turnovers.

Milford ................................ 3 16 23 29
Crofton .............................. 17 32 46 64
CHS STATS Scorers Tara Harmelink 2, Tierney Schumacher 14, Nicole Van Heek 4, Amber Hegge 23, Bridgette Lancaster 2, Caitlin Jones 6, Danielle Arens 10, Morgan Wilken 3. FG 27/71 38.1%. FT 10/12. Rebounds C 49-27; C: Schumacher 7, N. Van Heek 3, Hegge 16, Nelson 1, Arens 6, Katie Sage 3, Bridgette Lancaster 1, Wilken 2, Jones 10. Assists Schumacher 3, N.Van Heek 1, Hegge 3, Nelson 4, Arens 1, Wilken 1. Steals Schumacher 1, N. Van Heek 1, Hegge 4, Nelson 2, Arens 1, Jones 1, Wilken 1. Blocks N. Van Heek 1, Hegge 1, Arens 2, Jones 1. Turnovers 16.

Bench saves CHS from free throw, fouls woes

Just when it looked like Crofton would sail through their semifinal game against Kearney Catholic, things started to go wrong. The Lady Warriors went ice cold at the charity stripe, and team leader Hegge was benched because of foul trouble.
But as they did in each of their toughest regular season games, the Lady Warriors found ways to overcome troubles. The swarming defense that has been the girls’ trademark all season, as well as the depth on the bench proved to be the the medicine for their ills.
Crofton’s harsh defense set the tone for the early part of the game as the Lady Warriors held the Stars to 0-for-8 shooting from the field and carried a 9-0 lead into the second quarter.
The the Stars didn’t fold and outscored Crofton 11-6 in the second stanza. Where the CHS defense and Kearney’s cold shooting set the tone for the first eight minutes, the Lady Warriors began to allow their foes easy shots, which they began to convert. With a minute to play in the half, Hegge picked up her third foul and with 15 seconds to play, Arens was whistled for her second infraction.
Adding to Crofton’s woes was a dismal 1-of-12 shooting at the free throw line.
Those frosty hands remained attached to the Crofton shooters into the third period as they only made 3-of-9 charity tries in the third period.
But disaster seemed imminent when 40 seconds into the second half, Hegge went to the bench with her fourth foul.
With confidence, Losing inserted his second stringers, and they rewarded him with a second half of solid play. A trio of reserves, Jones, Wilken and Bridgette Lancaster scored all but 2 of Crofton’s third period points as the Lady Warriors not only held the lead with Hegge out, but they extended it.
And when Arens picked up her third foul with 6 seconds left in the third period, those reserves stepped it up even more. Jones and Wilken combined to score 13 points and collected 9 rebounds, as the Lady Warriors held firm to their lead.
With 6:16 to play in the game, Hegge finally returned to action, the Crofton girls held a 32-28 lead. And best of all, the CHS free throw shooting finally got back on track.
After missing the first four free throws of the fourth quarter, the Lady Warriors nailed 5-of-8, but one of those misses Arens rebounded, which led to a Crofton basket that pushed their lead to 45-34.
“Our bench came in huge,” stated Losing after the game. “We did face a couple situations early in the year when Amber got in foul trouble, so it wasn’t like the girls hadn’t ever faced something like that.”
“Our roles switch when Amber isn’t in the game,” said junior Schumacher of her teammate’s foul woes. “But we know how to adjust and we all know what we’re supposed to do.”
“I was really nervous at first,” noted freshman Jones, “but once I got going, it was just like any other game and I got into the flow.” Jones scored her 5 points in the third stanza.
“You just know you need to be sound and not make mistakes,” added Wilken, a sophomore. “The team as a whole knows what to do when Amber and Dani aren’t in there.”
Wilken added some key rebounds to help the Lady Warriors get through the Hegge, Arens absence. “Getting rebounds is pretty much about watching the ball as it comes off the rim and keeping the other team away from it,” she added about her rebounding technique.
Of his squad’s free throw woes, Losing noted, “We’re a 71 percent shooting team. I told the girls at halftime, if we make our free throws and don’t give them fouls, we’ll be okay.”
“The girls seem to feed off their own frustration,” Losing added. “They have always been able to make positives happen.”
Losing admitted his squad had some rare defensive breakdowns, and “we turned the ball over too much.” He also noted that “it seemed like we temporarily lost our confidence in our free throw shooting.”
But as Schumacher concluded, “We know what it is to have to come back. We did it in the second Norfolk Catholic game, so it wasn’t anything we thought we couldn’t do.”

Kearney Catholic ................ 0 11 22 37
Crofton ................................ 9 17 32 45
CHS STATS Scorers Tierney Schumacher 7, Nicole Van Heek 2, Amber Hegge 12, Brooke Nelson 3, Danielle Arens 6, Bridgette Lancaster 2, Caitlin Jones 5, Morgan Wilken 6. FG 17/34 50%. FT 11/30. Assists Schumacher 1, N. Van Heek 1, Hegge 2, Nelson 3, Arens 2, Lancaster 1, Wilken 1. Rebounds Schumacher 6, N. Van Heek 3, Hegge 9, Arens 6, Lancaster 2, Jones 3, Molly Van Heek 1, Wilken 5. Steals Schumacher 3, N. Van Heek 1, Hegge 2, Nelson 2, Arens 2, M. Van Heek 1. Blocks Arens 1. Turnovers 26.

Defense, rebounding, shooting provide
championship run

The Lady Warriors confirmed their championship status with another brutal third quarter and a super swan song for senior Danielle Arens.
Playing their game, the Lady Warriors used their stingy defense to disrupt Ashland-Grenwood’s vaunted running game, and found their shooting touch from the line while dominating the boards to get the win.
Looking to shut down the Bluejays’ vaunted 1-2 attack of Tara Abbott and Monica Laune, the Lady Warriors got the job half done. Abbot scored 25 points, but Laune got only 4 shots in the game and scored just 7 points.
“We didn’t let Laune get her shots,” noted Losing of the 5’11 senior who came into the tourney averaging 17 points a game.
Ashland-Greenwood jumped in front 11-6, but Crofton scored the final 6 points of the first period to carry a 12-11 lead into the second frame. The game would have seven lead changes in the first half.
Trading the lead through the first four minutes, both teams played a tight and tough defense that prevented their foes from getting off many shots. When Riley Kremlacek completed a 3-point play to give A-G a 19-16 lead with 4:49 in the first half, it would be the final lead the Bluejays would have. Yet they held it to the mid-game break, 23-22.
The Lady Warriors hit 54 percent of the field goals in those first 16 minutes, but they only took 22 shots. Ironically, two of the three free throws they missed in the game were the only charities they got in the first half, meaning Crofton connected on 10 of 11 free throws in the second half.
As the second half started, and Hegge drained a pair of free throws, giving Crofton a 24-23 lead, it would be a lead the CHS girls would hold through the rest of the game.
Crofton went on a 10-2 tear in the third period to widen their lead to 32-25. The Lady Warriors’ patience on offense gave them great looks at the basket, allowing for easy shots. And their defense and rebounding prowess kept the Bluejays’ scoring down.
But the Bluejays had proven to be too fiery too assume the win was in hand. The A-G coaching staff decided to put the game in the hands of their senior guard Abbot, who scored 15 of her game-high 25 in the fourth period.
Ashland-Greenwood cut the CHS lead to 38-35 with 3:21 to play, but then perhaps the play that typified Crofton’s overall resolve in the game took place. Launie reached high and blocked a shot by Hegge. Schumacher grabbed the loose ball and went up for a shot, and Launie blocked that one too, and chasing down the ball. The Bluejays went to the other end of the court, and Lauine got the ball underneath, went up for a shot, and Arens slapped it into the hands of Schumacher.
After each team turned the ball over, Kremlacek blocked Nicole Van Heek’s 4-foot shot, but Van Heek scrambled after the ball and went up hard only to draw a foul on Kremlacek. Van Heek landed both charities to snap a three-minute CHS scoring drought. It was the spark that fused a final Crofton scoring run.
The Lady Warriors went on to out score the Bluejays 9-4 in those final two and a half minutes of the game.
“There was never a doubt,” said a happy Arens, who cappd her senior season with a team-high 15 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. “We’ve been a third quarter team all season, and once we had the lead, we played hard to keep it.”
On her season-ending game, Arens stated, “It seems like all year I never could reach my peak. But here they needed me and I’m glad I could step it up.”
On Crofton’s second state title, Arens exclaimed, “Having been here twice, it’s still hard to describe. But it doesn’t get old.”
Losing had praise to heap on his 6’2 senior, saying, “It’s a great way for her to go out. Her stats were down this year because of our depth, but her play all season long was great.”
Losing was proud of his girls’ defense, especially in the decisive third period. “That first minute of the third period, we got into our defensive transition and stopped them. Then it was defensive stop after stop.”
Losing said the late part of the season really helped his squad. “We were in a number of close games at the end of the season, and that really helped,” he stated.
He praised his reserves noting, “We simply don’t drop off when we sub.”
“The third quarter was our time last year, and it just seemeed to arry over to this year,” Losing noted. “Of course, our depth really helped because they only used like six or seven girls and we seemed to be fresher throughout the game.”
“We knew they would be good,” said senior Brooke Nelson, who completed her career with a quartet of assists in the title game. “But we were confident. And as the game went on, we felt more and more that we were in charge.”
Nelson had the dubious task of guarding Abbott. Though she tallied 25 counters, Nelson said, “I wanted that challenge to try and stop her. She’s a really good player, and she moves so well.”
As the seconds ticked off in the championship game, the Crofton fans began chanting, “Bring on Bellevue,” as in seeking a “best of the best” game between Crofton and Class A champion Bellevue East. When told that, Losing chuckled and said, “We’ll play ‘em. -- if they want to come to Crofton.”

Crofton .............................. 12 22 32 48
Ashland-Greenwood ........ 11 23 25 39
CHS STATS Scorers Amber Hegge 14, Danielle Arens 15, Tierney Schumacher 4, Nicole Van Heek 6, Bridgette Lancaster 2, Caitlin Jones 2, Molly Van Heek 2, Morgan Wilken 3. FG 19/38 50%. FT 10/13. Rebounds C30-18; C: Hegge 6, Brooke Nelson 2, Arens 8, Schumacher 5, Nicole Van Heek 2, Jones 1, Molly Van Heek 1, Wilken 1 (Team 4). Assists Hegge 3, Nelson 4, Schumacher 1, Jones 1, Molly Van Heek 2, Wilken 1. Turnovers 12. Blocks Hegge 1, Arens 3. Steals Hegge 2, Arens 1, Schumacher 1.