’Cats roll into regional semifinals
Florence varsity hoopsters Leah Young (14) and Victoria Peterson (15) get their hands up to block the vision of Gibraltar’s Andie Schar (21) and upset the Vikings’ offensive attack the first half of the regional tournament opener at Florence on Wednesday night. The Ladycats defended their home floor for 61-41 win and will advance to play No. 4 Gillett in the semifinals Friday night. (Dennis Mansfield/Daily News photos)
Florence freshman guard Kamdan Johnson (3) looks on as teammate Isabella Millan (2) tries to stay inbounds and control the ball, despite being bumped by a Gibraltar defender during first-half action of the Ladycats’ tournament win over the visiting Vikings on Wednesday night. (Dennis Mansfield/Daily News photos)
Florence varsity hoopsters Leah Young (14) and Victoria Peterson (15) get their hands up to block the vision of Gibraltar’s Andie Schar (21) and upset the Vikings’ offensive attack the first half of the regional tournament opener at Florence on Wednesday night. The Ladycats defended their home floor for 61-41 win and will advance to play No. 4 Gillett in the semifinals Friday night. (Dennis Mansfield/Daily News photos)
Florence freshman guard Kamdan Johnson (3) looks on as teammate Isabella Millan (2) tries to stay inbounds and control the ball, despite being bumped by a Gibraltar defender during first-half action of the Ladycats’ tournament win over the visiting Vikings on Wednesday night. (Dennis Mansfield/Daily News photos)
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FLORENCE, Wis. -- Powered by 33 points from sophomore Isabella Millan, the Florence Ladycats rolled into the WIAA Division 5 semifinals with a 61-41 victory over Gibraltar on Wednesday night in Florence.
With the victory, the fifth-seeded Ladycats will travel to No. 4 Gillett on Friday night for the right to play in the regional final on Saturday.
Gillett beat White Lake 64-10 in its regional opener Wednesday.
Florence coach Brad Perry said the Vikings, who play in the Packerland Conference and came into the game with a 1-23 record, were better than that mark suggests.
"They do nothing but play Division 3 and 4 schools in their conference," Perry said. "So I told the girls, 'Expect a fight, especially early on.'"
And that's exactly what Florence (16-7) got in the first half. In fact, after freshman Andie Schar nailed her second consecutive 3-point shot, Gibraltar led 17-14 with 6:11 to play before halftime.
Florence freshman Kamdan Johnson answered quickly with a triple of her own to tie the score and then Millan sank two free throws.
That got the Ladycats kickstarted. Johnson and Millan splashed back-to-back 3-pointers to lead Florence to a 31-24 advantage at the break.
Perry then delivered his halftime message.
"I told them, 'We're where we thought we'd be,'" he said. "We wanted to be up 7, 8, 9 and playing our game and that's what we did. But I said, 'Be ready, they're going to hit a lull and be ready to take advantage of that.'"
That lull happened almost immediately once play resumed. The Ladycats went on a 10-3 spurt to push out to a 41-27 lead with just under 13 minutes to play.
Sophomore forward Victoria Peterson started the run with a short jumper before Millan scored in transition, Johnson hit a jumper and senior Paige Uren sank a layup.
The Vikings never got closer than 12 the remainder of the game.
Millan finished with 30 points for the sixth time this season and played the part of the security blanket for her teammates as they got acclimated to tournament play.
"It's a challenge to me and to her to find more ways to keep her open because obviously she's No. 1 on everybody's scouting report," he said. "She's not a secret anymore. So it's a credit to her and her teammates for finding her when she has that chance."
Her backcourt mate Johnson put up big numbers in her first tournament game with 13 points, 17 rebounds and six assists.
Peterson finished with seven points, while Uren and Leah Young added four each.
"Once they start collapsing on (Isabella), she's setting her teammates up," Perry said. "Notice Kamdan opened up, Leah Young opens up and hits a couple of big shots.
"She tries to establish that she's going to be the force, and then after that she distributes and does an excellent job of it."
Schar paced Gibraltar with 26 points. She scored all but three of her team's 17 second-half points.
Jerry DeRoche can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 244, or at jderoche@ironmountaindailynews.com.