Post Messenger Recorder -

March 2, 2023. When titans clash, one must fall. The Lady Knights brought their 26-0 record and #1 seed to face the Lady Cubans of Cuba City and their 24-2 record and #2 seed in a D4 sectional semi-final. The game was played in Dodgeville High School’s new gymnasium, a beautiful facility perfect for a high-energy game like this. With two opposing bands and two very vocal student sections, the evening had everything we love about WIAA tournament basketball.

Both teams started the game tight until Cuba City’s super sophomore Olivia Olson scored the first 2 of her 25 points at the 16:28 mark. Her team played a smothering box-and-one defense against the Knights all-time scoring leader, junior Lindsey Schadewalt, and kept the pressure on the entire evening. When combined with ball pressure at the top of the key, it seemed to make the Knight offense a bit out of sorts as evident with some unusually cold shooting. At the 5:14 mark in the first it was the Cubans up 23-15. But then it happened! Senior Alex Atwell and sophomore Elle Lancaster went on an offensive surge to close the gap 27-26 Cuba City as the first half came to a close. Momentum Knights.

Sophomore Payton Schneider gave the Knights their first lead of the night, 28-27 on a drive to open the second half with a BANG! The lead readily changed hands until senior (Amazing) Grace Nommensen made two successive steals and two driving, contested layups to put NG up 38-35 at the 10:02 mark. (She would finish with another steal and layup and tally 14 hard-earned points). Junior Emma Martinson, who was just cleared to play, came in at 7:30 and provided the defensive spark which helped her team cling to a 42-41 lead.

It was now a tooth-and-nail kind of game when the Cuban’s aforementioned Olivia Olson made two crafty steals of her own and went to build a Cuban lead 51-46 with 2:50 to play. Both defenses stiffened, and at the 1:01 mark it was the Cubans up 53-48 forcing the girls from New Glarus to foul. Olson made a free throw and a basket - a frantic-all-out-effort to score quickly came up short - and the buzzer sounded, giving the Lady Knights their first and only loss of the season, 56-50. Oh, the agony of defeat juxtaposed to the thrill of victory.

The Knight’s scoring was balanced with Grace Nommensen and Lindsey Schadewalt each collecting 14, and Alex Atwell adding 13. Quite the opposite for Cuba City, with Olivia Olson and Ella Vosberg each scoring 25 points, or a collective 50 of their team’s 56.

Tears galore as we tasted defeat for the first time and said goodbye to seniors Alex Atwell, Grace Nommensen, and Jordyn Runde with heartfelt thanks. Yet let us all remember and salute this team as the only team in NGHS history to go 26-0, log a perfect conference record, and land a #1 seed in the WIAA tournament. Well done Coaches Parman, Nehmer, Holland, and staff! Well done girls! You’ve notched your place in New Glarus sports history....and it sure was fun to watch!