Burlington Central lets chance at big win slip away
For the better part of 28 minutes Saturday night, the Burlington Central girls basketball team stood poised to post what very possibly would have been the most impressive win in program history.
But the Rockets couldn't seal the deal.
Led by 5-foot-9 senior Arike Ogunbowale, a Notre Dame recruit who is considered one of the top 10 players in the country, Divine Savior Holy Angels of Milwaukee came back from as much as a 9-point deficit to beat BC 51-47 in the 25th Annual McDonald's Shootout at Willowbrook.
"It's disappointing. We didn't handle the pressure well in the second half and we gotta do a better job of that. It was Stevenson part two," said Rockets' coach Mark Smith, referring to his team's loss to the Patriots at the Dundee-Crown Christmas tournament, another game in which BC had a lead late.
After being held to 7 points in the first half, Ogunbowale finished with a game-high 28, including 13 in the fourth quarter. Her steal and layup with 44 seconds left in the game gave the Dashers (11-2), the No. 5 ranked team in Wisconsin Division I, the lead for good and she sealed the win with the game's final basket with 12 seconds left after the Rockets (14-3) missed the third of their 3 free throw attempts in the final minute.
"There's a reason she's going to Notre Dame," said Divine Savior coach Jeff Worzella of Ogunbowale, who made 10 of her 22 field goal attempts including two 3-pointers and added 6 rebounds. "But (Burlington Central) outplayed us and that's a really good basketball team. They got us out of our system. Their defense was really good and we haven't played a team as well coached as they are. They hit some 3s and made some backdoor cuts."
The Rockets gave Ogunbowale the first basket of the game then went on a 10-2 run as junior Shelby Holt, who finished with 17, scored BC's first 8 points. By halftime BC had a 29-20 lead, playing possibly its best first half of the season.
BC was able to keep the Dashers at arms length in the third quarter and carried a 40-33 lead into the fourth, which became 42-33 on a Becca Gerke basket 11 seconds into the final period. But from that point until senior Aly DeTamble hit a 3-pointer with 3:15 to play, BC didn't score and Ogunbowale took over, offensively and defensively, helping her team force 4 Burlington Central turnovers.
"Our defensive pressure turned up a notch in the fourth quarter," Worzella said. "We felt we had to contain 34 (BC junior Sam Pryor) and Arike did a good job with that."
While Pryor was held to 7 points, junior Kayla Ross added 16 points for the Rockets. She also did a commendable job on Ogunbowale, despite the McDonald's all-American nominee's point total.
"She's the best player I've guarded," said Ross, who had 3 steals and 3 assists. "I knew what I had to do. I just played my normal defense."
Each team shot well, the Rockets going 17-for-36 (45.8 percent) and DSHA making 20 of 43 (45.5 percent). BC won the rebound battle 26-20, led by 6 from Pryor, but the Rockets did commit 16 turnovers, 6 of them in the fourth quarter.
"Their pressure was getting to us and we rushed the ball," Ross said of the fourth quarter. "We have to learn from this and move on from here. We have to finish games in the fourth quarter. This game really hurts but we're going to learn from it."
Which is what Smith hopes happens soon.
"It's gonna hurt and it should hurt," he said of the loss. "We gotta finish one of these. It's not like we got outplayed. They were more aggressive in the second half. We just gotta learn from it and do better."