EVANSVILLE — Once Alecia Dahl started rolling downhill Thursday night, there was no stopping Brodhead's sophomore guard.
She scored 21 of her game-high 32 points in the second half to help the Cardinals beat rival Evansville 55-49 on the Blue Devils' Senior Night and both teams' regular-season finale.
"She's just a straight-up competitor," Brodhead coach Brian Kammerer said of Dahl. "She is going to outwork people. She wants her team to succeed. She gets frustrated when she doesn't think she's playing well and (thinks she's) letting her team down. What she's been doing lately for us on the court has been exceptional."
Despite the Rock Valley Rock Division's three leading scorers playing in the game, both teams got off to a slow start in the first half. The Cardinals (16-8 overall, 10-5 Rock Valley Rock) led 18-16 at halftime after reaching the double bonus and scoring their final seven points of the half at the free-throw line.
After scoring just four points in the first half, Evansville's Ava Brandenburg, who led the conference in scoring before play Thursday at 18.7 points per game, put up seven in the opening minutes of the second half.
Her three-point play tied the game at 24-24 after about 2½ minutes, then she put the Blue Devils (6-18, 6-9) ahead 26-24 on the next possession.
Brooklyn Maves added to Evansville's lead with a 2-point shot before Brodhead really found its footing.
Dahl and Addie Yates, the conference's No. 2 and No. 3 scorers at 17.9 and 16.4 points per game, respectively, combined for a 10-0 Cardinal scoring run to put their team ahead for good.
"Brian made some adjustments at halftime and really made Dahl and Yates be aggressive at the rim with their dribble drive up the middle, and it was tough to stop them," Blue Devils head coach Tony Wiemiller said. "They had a one-two punch that was tough to beat in that second half."
Dahl kept up the pressure even after the Blue Devils stopped Brodhead's first 10-point run. Doing most of her damage in the paint with running floaters and layups, she appeared to be a step quicker than everyone else on the floor.
"I thought in the second half we started getting downhill a little bit more like what we talked about (at halftime)," Kammerer said. "It was a grind tonight, but they found a way to win going into the postseason."
Dahl also scored half the points in an 8-0 Brodhead run that gave the Cardinals their biggest lead of the game at 51-40.
In the middle of that run, there was a scary moment when Dahl and Brandenburg suffered a head-to-head collision.
Dahl had intercepted an Evansville pass and was dribbling it up the court when Brandenburg stepped in her path on the Blue Devil logo at halfcourt. Dahl was running with her head lowered and hit Brandenburg on the left side of her forehead.
The Brodhead guard recovered quickly and stayed in the game, while Brandenburg remained down on the logo while Wiemiller and the athletic trainer tended to her. She eventually got to her feet sporting a smile and a bump on her head, but she went to the locker room, emerged a little later holding an ice pack on her head and did not return to the game.
"It's always tough to lose an all-conference performer the last couple of years here, but we've got girls here who are capable of stepping up," Wiemiller said.
Despite losing Brandenburg, the Blue Devils did go on a 7-3 run with a Maves 3-pointer cutting the deficit to 53-47, but the Cardinals managed to grind the rest of the clock without much drama.
Both teams have WIAA regional home games up next. No. 5 seed Brodhead will host No. 12 Wisconsin Heights at 7 p.m. Tuesday in a Division 4 game with the winner to face No. 4 Belleville.
"I think that if mentally we get there, between the ears, that we could have a little fun in regional play," Kammerer said.
Evansville will host Clinton at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Division 3 action.
"Getting a home game on Tuesday is big," Wiemiller said. "It's always tough to beat a team three times, so obviously we're not overlooking Clinton, but we like our opportunity there."
The winner of that game will take on top-seeded Edgerton, the undefeated champ of the Rock Valley Rock Division.
BRODHEAD 55, EVANSVILLE 49
Brodhead;18;37;—;55
Evansville;16;33;—;49
Brodhead (fg ftm-fta pts) — Yates 4 5-7 14, Hilliard 1 2-2 4, Dahl 13 4-7 32, Schooff 1 1-4 3, Williams 1 0-1 2. Totals 20 12-21 55.
Evansville (fg ftm-fta pts) — Baumberger 0 1-2 1, Maves 5 2-2 15, Dobbs 2 1-2 7, Crull 3 0-0 6, Brandenburg 7 1-1 15, Vogl 0 2-4 2, Klitzman 1 0-0 3. Totals 18 7-11 49.
3-point goals — B 3 (Dahl 2, Yates), E 6 (Maves 3, Dobbs 2, Klitzman). Total fouls — B 9, E 20. Fouled out — Maves (E).
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