MARINETTE — All good things must come to an end, and for the Marinette girls basketball team, a banner season ended in heartbreak as the No. 2-seeded Marines suffered a 46-45 loss to No. 7 Pulaski in the semifinals of the WIAA Division 2 Regional playoffs on Friday.
The outcome of Friday’s contest was in doubt right until the final whistle blew, as Ellie Mangold sank a pair of free throws to push the Red Raiders ahead by three with 21.7 seconds left to play.
Bry Torkko, who received an elbow to her throat just moments before, drove to the hoop and hit a jumper to pull the Marines within one. After Mangold missed a pair of double-bonus free throws, Marinette moved the ball past halfcourt and called timeout with 3.1 seconds remaining.
Kaya Bodam inbounded to Olivia Hanson, who was jostled by a Red Raider defender, which resulted in the ball squirting loose and right into the hands of Pulaski, leaving the Marines to walk off the court in disappointment.
“This was a very physical game. We had a few girls get banged up throughout the game, but everyone continued to fight and showed effort all the way to the end,” Marinette coach Zac Barker said. “Ask me if I’d rather lose by 20 or lose by one with the ball in our hands at the end, I’m saying give us the ball every time and we’ll take our chances.”
Marinette looked ready to make Friday’s game a runaway early after Hanson poured in five points while Torkko and Chloe Seymour both scored to make it an 11-3 affair.
Pulaski battled back to take a 19-16 lead thanks to a 3-pointer from Ella Hasser, but Marinette responded with a triple of its own courtesy of Madison Kunick to knot the score up once again.
Back-to-back buckets from Olivia Sprangers nudged Pulaski ahead by four before free throws from Hanson and Torkko closed the gap to one, but a late triple by Jada Fischer lifted the Red Raiders to a 26-22 lead at halftime.
Pulaski built an eight-point advantage early in the second half but was unable to keep the Marines down, as Kunick dropped five points to pull the Marines within two before Torkko swished a pair of free throws to tie the game at 35-35 with just under five minutes to play.
Torkko nailed a jumper to put Marinette on top by two, but the Red Raiders reeled off six unanswered points to take a 43-39 lead with 1:20 remaining on the clock.
“In the first half, we struggled with Pulaski’s 2-1-2, half-court trap, but I don’t think it was nearly as big of a factor in the second half,” Barker said. “We missed some free throws that would have changed the tide of the game, and there were a few opportunities at the end of the game with bouncing balls and calls that didn’t go our way, but everyone kept their heads up and kept fighting.”
Torkko led all scorers with a career-high 19 points. Kunick notched 10, Bodam picked up 7, Hanson pitched in five and Seymour finished with four.
Sprangers was Pulaski’s top scorer with 17 points. Mangold added 13.
While the 2023-24 ends on a sour note for Marinette, Friday’s loss doesn’t dampen what was a breakthrough year for the Marines.
The Marines won the North Eastern Conference championship, the first conference title of any kind in the history of Marinette girls basketball, with a record of 16-2, breaking Freedom’s run of five straight conference crowns.
Marinette won 20 games in the regular season, the most in program history, to finish the year 20-5 overall.
Best of all for Marine fans, and most concerning for everyone else, is the fact that the bulk of this Marinette team will return next season.
Marinette loses only one senior in Taniyah Cross. Torkko, Hanson, Seymour, Bodam and Kunick will all return as seniors, as will leading scorer Riley Kieffer, alongside Regan Hermanson, both of whom missed Friday’s game with injuries.
Throw in the expected maturation of fellow soon-to-be-seniors Josie Smerchek, Kyle Vergara and Madison Sherwood, and the Marines appear well-equipped to prove that 2023-24 was no fluke.
“I’m very proud of this group for playing tough and never giving up when we faced adversity this year. We’re a resilient team and we have a lot of talent coming back next year, so this is motivation to put in the work that we need to compete,” Barker said. “The next step is winning in the playoffs against tough opponents, but at the end of the day, there was a lot of improvement from this group.”
“This was an enjoyable season, but this group is not done yet.”
Pulaski 46, Marinette 45Pulaski 26 20 — 46
Marinette 22 23 — 45
Marinette: Torkko 19, Kunick 10, Bodam 7, Hanson 5, Seymour 4; FTs: 14-20
Pulaski: Sprangers 17, Mangold 13, Hasser 6, Fischer 3, Maggie Lardinois 3, Breanna Urben 2, Lily Urben 2; FTs: 10-16
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