What a week it was for the Waterloo girls basketball program. The Pirates kicked things off with a 53-42 road win over rival Marshall on Tuesday, Feb. 6. The victory completed Waterloo’s sweep of the Cardinals in the regular season for the first time since 2006-07. Momentum collected from that win carried over into the Pirates’ next game, a home matchup with Wisconsin Heights on Friday, Feb. 9.
Waterloo had already beaten the Vanguards by 11 on the road earlier in the season. A win in Friday’s rematch would mean far more, though. On top of it being senior night for Waterloo’s four-member senior class, it was an opportunity for head coach Gabe Haberkorn to collect his 100th win as leader of the Pirates. They got it done in dominant fashion as they coasted to a 61-44 win.
“It really means a lot,” Haberkorn said of the milestone accomplishment. “To do it with this group of girls makes it even more special. They’ve always fought hard and put a lot into this program. I don’t get here without them. This is their night just as much as it is mine. It’s their senior night, I don’t want to take anything away from their spotlight tonight. It means a ton for our program to get this accomplishment.”
Before Waterloo could hunt down win No. 100 for Haberkorn, it took a pair of great efforts from a pair of seniors in the Pirates’ trip to a hostile Marshall environment on Tuesday. Wing Brenna Huebner led the charge, knocking down six field goals on her way to a game-high 20 points. Guard Tess Blundell wasn’t far behind. She nailed a trio of three pointers to contribute 18. Sophomore post presence Emma Baumann made per impact felt off the bench, as well, with 13 points.
The silver lining for Marshall in the loss was the performance from its younger players. A pair of freshmen led the scoring charge, headlined by 18 points from Tori Justmann. Fellow freshman Paige Colden was right behind her with 15. Senior guard Wynn Held also contributed 11.
“I give Marshall a lot of credit,” Haberkorn said. “They battle hard every single night. They play tough defense. But to beat our big rival both times this season feels pretty good. I know the girls loved it, too.”
With win No. 99 under his belt, Haberkorn and his Pirates rolled into Friday’s matchup with Wisconsin Heights with confidence. It showed in how hot they started the game. Blundell and fellow senior Bri Lauersdorf both hit three pointers as Waterloo launched into an 8-0 run. Things soon stretched to 12-3 as Huebner got involved with a pair of layups.
Wisconsin Heights called a timeout to collect itself. The Vanguards responded, scoring nine straight points to tie the game at 12 all. Then, the Pirates turned up the heat. They finished the first half on a 11-2 run to go into the halftime break with a 23-14 advantage. Huebner and senior Ashlyn Albrecht were at the heart of this late surge as they combined for 10 of the 11 points.
The second half was more of the same. Albrecht kicked things off with a layup, junior Kylie Webster dropped in another and hit a free throw, and Blundell got a post shot to go as the Pirates’ lead grew to 30-17.
Waterloo was able to fully put the game out of reach soon after with a red-hot sequence of three point shooting. Blundell hit her second and third triples of the day, Huebner hit her second, and Webster knocked down her first. In a flash, Waterloo’s lead had ballooned to 44-26. Blundell’s final three also kickstarted a 8-0 run, carried along by a pair of post scores from Baumann.
“I always tell her to be on the attack,” coach Haberkorn said of Blundell. “She can go get her shots and be selfish. I feel like she’s just getting hot at the right time. She always seems to hit big shots right when we need it.”
Wisconsin Heights was able to eat up a little ground against Waterloo’s bench late in the game, but the damage had been done. The Pirates dribbled out the last of the clock to secure their 61-44 victory. Following the game, the team surprised coach Haberkorn with balloons spelling out “100” as well as a few signs congratulating him on his accomplishment.
Blundell and Huebner tied for the team-high in scoring with 16 each. All four seniors made an important contribution to the scoring effort as Albrecht finished with eight points and Lauersdorf had six. Baumann also finished with eight and Webster put up seven. Wisconsin Heights senior Mikayla Teela led the game in scoring with 20.
Coach Haberkorn and his Pirates will go for win No. 101 on Tuesday, Feb. 13 with a road trip to non-conference Deerfield. The 2023-24 regular season then comes to a close on Thursday, Feb. 15 with a road trip to league-leading New Glarus. The Glarner Knights, ranked No. 8 in Division 4 of the wissports.com girls basketball coaches poll, handed the Pirates an 82-31 loss the last time they met.
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Capitol — South conference girls basketball standings
(overall records in parenthesis)
-as of Monday, Feb. 12
1. New Glarus, 9-0 (19-2)
2. Cambridge, 7-2 (15-8)
3. Belleville, 6-3 (14-7)
4. Waterloo, 4-5 (12-10)
5. Wisconsin Heights, 1-8 (4-16)
6. Marshall, 0-9 (8-15)
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