Two strong quarters can't carry Somerset girls basketball to upset

• Bethany Starry

Somerset senior Bethany Starry launches a shot from the corner during the Spartans’ 67-18 tournament win over Cumberland.

Talk about it

Somerset’s girls basketball team nearly pulled off an upset in the second round of the WIAA Division 3 playoffs last Friday.

The Spartans rode strong play in the second and third quarters to build up a 37-28 lead at Chetek-Weyerhaeuser last Friday. The Spartans couldn’t hang on however. Chetek-Weyerhaeuser outscored the Spartans 21-11 in the fourth quarter to escape with a 49-46 win.

Somerset finished its season with a 9-15 record. Chetek-Weyerhaeuser had its season end the following night, losing to Barron in the regional championship game, 58-36.

Senior guard Paige Wagner had one of her biggest games of the season at Chetek. She scored nearly half of the team’s points, finishing with 22 points for the game. Senior Bridget Kieckhoefer contributed eight points. No other Spartan scored more than four points in the loss.

Somerset was the fifth seed in the regional tournament bracket, while Chetek-Weyerhaeuser was the fourth seed.

This was Somerset’s second game in the WIAA regionals. They opened the playoffs last Tuesday with a 67-18 win over a hapless Cumberland team. Cumberland has won once in the past two seasons, including going 0-23 this season.

Knowing that this would likely be a lopsided game, Somerset coach Kendrick Livers brought up several junior varsity players to play against Cumberland. The best part of the game for the Spartans was that some of the younger and less-experienced players were able to get substantial game time.

Tags: sports, spartans, basketball, prep