Since the fifth grade, Nicole Watzlawick and Jackie Heine have found their way to the basketball courts in Hampshire.
As inseparable seniors, they took Hampshire to the Class A state title game for the first time. Whip-Purs coach Sue Ellett calls them “my dynamic duo.”
But the duo became a solo act for much of the third quarter against Decatur St. Teresa and Hampshire was to suffer from separation anxiety. After Heine picked up her fourth foul with 3 minutes 3 seconds left in the third quarter, St. Teresa went on to a 10-0 run and a 59-50 championship victory at Redbird Arena on Saturday.
St. Teresa, ranked No. 1 in the state’s Class A poll, finished 33-0–the first undefeated Class A champion since Carlyle in 1997. Allison Ippel and Monica Rogers each scored 16 points for the Bulldogs.
Watzlawick finished with 24 points and Heine had 15 with 12 rebounds.
How important was Heine, who fouled out with 1:07 left? She scored eight points in the fourth quarter as Hampshire (30-4) made a desperate attempt to get back in this game.
But Heinie made no excuses. “I think we could have won,” she said. “We played really well against an undefeated team. They had just more intensity then we did.”
St. Teresa rolled into the final by scoring 72 points a game and its only close call in November–a two-point win over Havana. But the Bulldogs trailed Hampshire 25-23 at halftime.
Jessica Goebbert, who has made an impact with her defense in these finals, broke a 23-23 tie with a driving layup on a fast break 33 seconds before the end of the second quarter.
But it was Watzlawick and Heine who gave St. Teresa the most trouble in the half. Watzlawick was able to work her way inside–and even knocked down a 16-footer from behind the free-throw line–for 14 points while Heine had seven points and eight rebounds.
Defensively, they held down Lindsay Ippel and Rogers to a combined eight points in the half. Ippel’s twin sister, Allison, kept St. Teresa close by knocking down three threes and scoring 11 points.
Hampshire wouldn’t even have been in this game were it not for determined effort in the final minute of its 48-46 semifinal victory over Carthage.
Watzlawick came up with the Whip-Purs’ biggest play. She rebounded a Walker miss, scored, was fouled and converted the free throw for a 47-44 lead with 44.5 seconds left.
