By Rich Palzewic
Sports Editor
ASHWAUBENON – Bay Port junior Emma Nagel saved the best moment of her basketball career for the last 4 seconds of the Pirates’ WIAA Division 1 state final game.
With Bay Port trailing by a point, Nagel’s bucket in the paint gave the Pirates a dramatic 50-49 win over Middleton March 9 at the Resch Center in Ashwaubenon.
The title was the program’s first state championship.
“I knew we were running that out-of-bounds play, but I think Middleton knew we were running it, too,” said Nagel. “If Middleton was going to cheat the play, then I was going to cheat the play. I faked the handoff to McKenzie (Johnson) and three girls jumped to her. I just took it to the rim and hoped for the best.”
Bay Port (27-1) had a 12-point lead at 39-27 with 11 minutes to go, but the Cardinals (22-6) went on an 18-3 run to jump ahead 45-42 with 3:14 remaining.
Middleton led 46-44 with just over 2 minutes left, but Nagel drove to the basket hard on the ensuing possession for a layup while being fouled.
She converted on the free-throw to give the Pirates the lead back, 47-46.
“Just like the semifinals, I’m so proud of these girls,” said Bay Port head coach Kati Coleman. “We fought throughout the season with four overtime wins and our one loss to Green Bay Preble. We are one of the only teams that can say we won our last game. Even when we were up 12, I didn’t feel like things were in control. We knew Middleton had shooters – we didn’t do a great job guarding the three-point line during that sequence.”
Grace Krause hit one of two free throws with 53 seconds left before Middleton’s Josie Lemirande drained a three from the corner to put the Cardinals up 49-48 with 37 seconds remaining.
With 7 seconds to go, Raegan McIntyre drove hard to the basket and had her shot blocked, but she managed to nab the rebound under the hoop before a jump ball was called.
Luckily for Bay Port, the possession arrow kept the ball in its possession.
After a timeout by Coleman, Nagel’s heroics ended the game.
“I knew the game was going to be close the whole 36 minutes,” Nagel said. “I just took a deep breath and knew I needed to try and win the game.”
Nagel battled foul trouble all night, picking up her third foul with 3 minutes remaining in the first half.
Coleman decided to start her 6-footer for the second half.
“I needed Emma out there after halftime,” Coleman said. “She had to be smart about it. If she’s sitting on the bench, she’s not doing us any good. I gave her a break with 7 minutes to go for a few minutes, and then if she fouled out, she fouled out. I never thought we were going to lose this game. I know the girls that I have and I knew they were going to do everything for one another to win this game. Even after Middleton went ahead, I wasn’t worried.”
Freshman Emma Krueger had a big first 18 minutes for Bay Port, scoring 10 points to give the Pirates a 27-24 lead at the break.
Johnson got Bay Port going with a pair of three-pointers to open the game.
“Coming into the season, we knew we were going to be good, but I’m not sure we thought we were going to be this good,” said Johnson, who is affectionately called ‘Mac’ by her teammates. “We had to trust Coach Coleman, and we couldn’t be more proud of what we accomplished. We’ve been coming to the Resch Center since the fifth grade watching these championships. The atmosphere was crazy.”
Johnson and Krueger each scored 12 points, with Nagel adding 11 and also pulled down 13 rebounds.
Peyton Coughlin had a pair of big three-pointers to account for her six points.
The title gives Bay Port its sixth WIAA team championship in school history.
In addition to the baseball team winning back-to-back titles in 2009-10, the girls’ hockey (2014), boys’ track and field (2015) and girls’ soccer (2018) teams have also won gold balls.
Box score
Bay Port: 27, 23 – 50
Middleton: 24, 25 – 49