Portage County Gazette

By John Kemmeter

Led by the return of a veteran group from last year’s State Runner-up, the Amherst High School girls basketball team is set to contend in Division 3 again this season.

The Falcons returned five regulars from last season’s team that advanced to the WIAA Division 3 State Championship Game, but have dealt with injuries so far this season, including the loss of senior forward Geena Jensen for the year.

Amherst is off to a 10-1 start so far and is ranked third in Division 3, heading into its game at Weyauwega-Fremont Thursday, Jan. 10.

“You bring the five seniors back, and you feel pretty good about that nucleus of those five, because they’ve got a lot of playing time and they’ve got some good basketball savvy,” said Amherst girls basketball head coach Gregg Jensen. “But then we’ve run into the injury bug and that really put a damper on things, as far as having those five, and then other kids having to be thrown into the mix earlier.

“But when you bring quality guards back and kids that have played in the State Championship Game, they’re confident kids that know what it takes,” he said.

Amherst High School senior forward Lauren Boelte (40) was a First Team All-Central Wisconsin Conference (CWC) East selection last season. (John Kemmeter photo)

Last season, the Falcons carried a 24-game winning streak into the State Championship Game, where they trailed Marshall 54-53 with under one minute to play, but were unable to pull ahead and fell 63-55 to end their season with a 26-2 record.

Amherst lost a pair of starters from a year ago in Central Wisconsin Conference (CWC) East Player of the Year and Unanimous Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division 3 All-State center Heather Pearson and guard Maizie Berry, while Geena Jensen was third on the team in scoring last year and was lost for this season with a torn ACL suffered in a 60-24 win over Shiocton Dec. 4.

“I know we all feel a lot of pressure on ourselves, because we lost two good players (from last season) that meant a lot to us,” said senior forward Lauren Boelte. “And now just coming back, we all have to work a different way, and our offense is a lot different.

“We had an amazing starting five with Geena, and when she went down, it was really hard for all of us to mentally get over that,” she said. “But we do really well with using the people that we have.”

The Falcons have been led this season by the return of Unanimous First Team All-CWC East senior point guard Grace Moe, First Team All-CWC East forward Boelte, Second Team All-CWC senior guard Ashley Groshek and senior guard Lindsay Dose, who moved into the starting lineup this season.

“Grace is coming back after an excellent year last year and is doing an excellent job of running the show, she’s very unselfish and is a quick little player that does a good job of getting into those gaps,” said coach Jensen. “Boelte started a little slow off the broken leg from volleyball, and then she’s been out with a concussion, but she’s a presence inside, and she’s been through it and she understands what it takes, it’s just a matter of getting her healthy and taking a little pressure off those young people.

“Ashley probably put in as much time as she ever has in the off-season, which has shown in her scoring production, and we need her to continue to knock shots down for us,” he said. “And Lindsay is a scorer and has proven that she can shoot the ball and has really improved her game.”

Ashley Groshek brings the ball up the court during the second half of the WIAA Division 3 State Championship Game at the Resch Center in Green Bay Saturday, March 10, 2018.
(John Kemmeter photo)

Senior 5-5 guard Amara Benn moved into the starting lineup after Geena Jensen went down, with 5-6 junior guard River Dombrowski, 5-10 sophomore post Brooke Wideman, 5-9 junior guard Erin Lutz and 6-3 freshman forward Sydney Lehman also part of the team’s rotation, and 5-8 senior forward Shailyn Brooks, 5-7 senior forward Rebecca Ostrowski and 6-1 freshman post Hannah Wall also seeing playing time off the bench.

“Amara played throughout last year and then we shrunk the bench in the tournament, but she is a smart player and has done a real good job for us,” said coach Jensen. “River got a little bit of time last year and she will play more of a major role, she’s a hustler and worker, gets on the offensive glass and does the dirty work out there.

“Brooke is getting better every day, she’s long and she’s doing a better job of working on going hard, and when she understands that inside, she could be a dangerous player,” he said. “Sydney’s got some nice length, and she’s at the very early stages of learning, but she did a good job for us (at the Sentry Classic).

“It’s been a good year so far, and they work hard,” he said. “We just want it done right, and we’re going to work hard.”

Amherst senior Amara Benn goes up for a jump shot during the Falcons’ 72-24 win over Wautoma at the 47th Sentry Classic at Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse Thursday, Dec. 27. (John Kemmeter photo)

Amherst opened this season with wins over Markesan (38-31) and Brillion (47-25), before it squared off at home Nov. 27 with Laconia, which won 60-49 at home over the Falcons last year.

The game remained tied at 37-37 at the end of regulation and 41-41 at the end of the first overtime, before top-ranked Laconia used a 14-6 advantage to win 55-47 in double overtime.

“They had everybody back (from last year) and we lost our inside presence (Pearson), and you had that nucleus of five seniors, but then your kids coming off the bench were still raw,” said coach Jensen. “We got a lead with 50 seconds to go and we talked about not giving up the three, and we gave it up to tie it.

“We had opportunities in that overtime, and then the second one they got a lead and we played from behind,” he said. “Our bench was a little bit down because of River not playing in that (due to a concussion), but the other ones have grown much from that, and it was a very good game for us.”

Geena Jensen was lost for the season in the next game in the win over Shiocton, which started an eight-game winning streak that included a 77-64 victory at Bonduel (11-1) Dec. 7, to improve the Falcons to 10-1 overall.

Amherst is set to return to conference play at Weyauwega Thursday night, as its enters this week 5-0 to lead the CWC East over Bonduel (4-1), Wittenberg-Birnamwood (3-2), Shiocton (2-2), Iola-Scandinavia (2-4), Menominee Indian (1-3) and Weyauwega (0-5).

“Bonduel had a couple of kids back, but they’ve got some young kids that can shoot the ball, and if you’ve got some kids who can shoot a little bit, you have a chance,” said coach Jensen. “Wittenberg is a little bit down, they lost a good player in the summer, and then we played Shiocton without their big, so when she comes back, it will make them a little better.

“But I think those are the (other) top three teams, and the nice thing is we’ve gone through everybody but Wega and feel pretty good that if we can get healthy, we’ll be OK,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of tough ones on the road in the second half, but it’s just about going out and taking care of business, as far as what we work on every day in practice.”

Amherst senior Lindsay Dose (22) pushes the ball up the court for a layup during the Falcons’ 72-24 win over Wautoma at the 47th Sentry Classic at Bennett Court at Quandt Fieldhouse Thursday, Dec. 27. (John Kemmeter photo)

Along with its fourth consecutive Conference Title, Amherst will also look to contend this season for its eighth trip to state in program history, as it will compete in a Division 3 Sectional that includes sixth-ranked Freedom and 10th-ranked Wrightstown in the top half, and seventh-ranked Kewaunee and ninth-ranked Valders in the bottom half.

“As a team, we haven’t really talked about it, but we all have our individual goals, and we want to get to state,” said Groshek. “Everyone wants to win state, but getting there is first.

“And obviously, if we can come home with a gold ball this year, that would be great, especially with this group of seniors,” she said. “That’s been our dream for 10 years now, so hopefully that’s what we can do.”

“It’s always No. 1, take care of the conference, but our main goal is that we get better every day, and get healthy,” said coach Jensen. “That was prime example of that last year, we got better every day and kids became confident in their game.

“And by doing that and going out and playing the way they should, I think they will get better,” he said. “And then tournament time, we’ve got a very tough road again, but if we can get healthy and continue to improve every day, anything can happen on any given night.”