Sports, Union Grove High School

Girls basketball: Broncos keep pace in conference play

Sydney Ludvigsen lines up for a free throw for Union Grove in a Feb. 13 Southern Lakes Conference contest meeting with visiting Burlington (Jason Arndt/Southern Lakes Newspapers).

Team wins fourth in a row

By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer

The Union Grove girls basketball team maintained a top spot in Southern Lakes Conference play Monday when the Broncos edged host Delavan-Darien 42-34 and avenged an early season loss to the Comets.

Union Grove, which won its fourth straight league contest, improved to 17-4 overall while staying tied for first place in SLC with Lake Geneva Badger at 10-3.

Coach Rob Domagalski noted his team displayed swifter passing along the arc compared to the Broncos first meeting with the Comets.

“We were able to move the ball around the perimeter quicker and we got the ball in the middle to attack their zone,” he said. “We didn’t score every time the ball got to the middle, but it opened up some good inside-out kicks for open threes.”

The Broncos, who made seven 3-pointers, received four from leading scorer Sydney Ludvigsen.

Ludvigsen, a freshman, scored all 12 of her points in the Union Grove 21-14 first half.

Sophomore Emmy Pettit, meanwhile, went 3-for-5 from the arc to tally 11 points for the Broncos.

“They both made big threes during the game that always kept Delavan 2-3 baskets out of the lead,” Domagalski said, adding there is a different hero every game and believes Monday’s contest was their turn to shine.

Domagalski believes Pettit has been playing with more confidence as the season progresses.

Delavan-Darien attempted to rally back in the second half, but according to Domagalski, his team kept pace with the Comets.

“It was another tough game against Delavan, but we were able to keep a 5-10 point lead the entire game. We missed some opportunities in the second half to increase a double digit lead and because of that, Delavan was able to cut the lead to five with less than five minutes to go,” he said.

“But we prevailed.”

Freshman Sophia Rampulla contributed in the paint with a team-leading 11 rebounds while pitching in seven assists and six points.

Rylee Crull scored game high 13 points for Delavan-Darien (9-12, 5-8 SLC).

The Broncos learned before Monday’s win they notched the top seed in the WIAA Division 2 tournament and will have a first round bye.

Union Grove will the play either eighth-seeded Wilmot or No. 9 Westosha Central on Feb. 28.

“It will be a difficult road for us, but we earned the right for the number one seed with our play during the course of the season,” Domagalski said. “There will be a lot of growth for our players but I believe we will well represent our conference in regional play.”

The Broncos played at Westosha Central for a chance to secure the conference title on Thursday.

See the full story in the Feb. 21 edition of the Westine Report

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