BY BRENT MAYCOCK
KSHSAA COVERED
Even though history seemed on the verge of repeating itself, Chris Beikmann knew better.
And the Hanover coach wanted to make sure his team knew it as well.
“I told the girls after the first quarter, ‘Don’t think this 15-point lead is going to hold,’” Beikmann said after his Wildcats played a nearly flawless first quarter of Saturday’s Class 1A Division II championship game, overwhelming Lebo with a 20-5 period. “They were going to battle back. What happened last year, it wasn’t going to be the same.”
What happened last year was Hanover dominated a previously unbeaten Lebo team from start to finish in the championship game, blowing out the Wolves 59-34. So when the Wildcats got off to their huge start, the makings of another blowout had been laid.
And despite their coach’s warnings, Hanover junior Anna Jueneman said the Wildcats let off the gas.
“We kind of thought we had the game, I’m not gonna lie,” Jueneman said. “We believed him. We just wanted to test him.”
Well, in testing their coach, the Wildcats also tested themselves. Big time
Not only did Lebo put up a fight, the Wolves stormed all the way back to take a lead in the third quarter. But Hanover passed its biggest state tournament test in three years, finishing nearly as strong as it started, outscoring Lebo 18-3 in the fourth quarter for a 50-35 victory and second straight state championship.
“I honestly was not nervous at all,” Jueneman said. “I knew they would come back at some point. But I had faith in my team and we got it done.”
Hanover finished the season 22-4 and successfully pulled off a championship repeat for the second time in the last eight seasons. The Wildcats also won back-to-back Class 1A Division I state titles in 2017 and 2018.
At that point, Beikmann was early in his coaching career and he admitted he didn’t fully grasp the magnitude of the accomplishment.
“I got asked last year, ‘How does this one compare to the first two?’” Beikmann said. “Like I told them, I was young and naïve those first two. I thought this is what happens every year. Then you go through some struggled and realizes it takes a lot of effort. We’re going to enjoy every game and every moment we’re out here. And we’ll enjoy this one.”
Hanover was well on its way to an early celebration after putting arguably the best version of itself forward, especially given the opponent. The Wildcats thrive on getting points off their relentless full-court pressure and their ability to shoot it from deep when having to score in the half court.
In the first quarter, they did both with remarkable ease. Hanover forced Lebo into six first-quarter turnovers and got nine points in transitions off those miscues. When they didn’t score in transition, the Wildcats hit 3 of 4 3-pointers with Tessa Lohse starting the barrage with a trey a minute and a half into the game and Jueneman hitting both of her attempts during a 15-1 run.
“You couldn’t have drawn up a better start to a game, could you?” Beikmann said. “We were getting run outs, hitting threes, getting it to our posts.”
As quickly as Hanover seized control of the game, Lebo snatched it right back. The Wolves eliminated their turnover woes and turned the pressure up on Hanover, committing just one in the second quarter and forcing Hanover into seven.
Lebo scored six straight points to start the second period and crawled right back into the game, trailing 27-18 at halftime.
The sting of last year’s blowout was something Lebo coach Patrick Gardner wanted his team to remember all season as the Wolves worked their way back to the title game. And faced with the prospect of it happening all over again, Gardner said his team refused to let history repeat itself.
“That’s not who we are and that’s why it couldn’t be erased from our memory from last year,” Gardner said. “That’s why I did what I did in case we got in that situation again, it wasn’t going to be who we were. They fought hard. (Hanover) came out hot and we didn’t do ourselves any favors. We settled down and started playing like we know we can play.”
The momentum built in the second quarter turned into a full-blown Lebo onslaught as the Wolves got a 3-pointer from Aubrey Peek, inside bucket from Katie Ott and a lay-up from Saige Hadley to pull within one. The rally was momentarily halted by a span of four straight turnovers, but another 3-pointer by Peek and jumper by Hadley gave the Wolves their first lead at 32-30 with 1:45 left in the third quarter.
Drew Bruna sent the game to the fourth quarter tied 32-32.
“We just realized we needed to pull it together,” Lohse said. “We knew we needed to play our best to pull it out. We knew we wanted it.”
After hitting her 3-pointer in the first quarter, Lohse flashed a devilish grin as she ran back down the court. As if she knew she would come up with a big shot later in the game.
Hanover's Tessa Lohse smiles a devilish grin after hitting an early 3-pointer. She hit a huge one late that gave the Wildcats the lead for good.
That wasn’t necessarily the case in her mind.
“Usually if I hit my first one I don’t do too well,” she said. “But in this kind of game, you have to shoot it.”
After missing her next three 3-point attempts after her early make, Lohse indeed came up with arguably the biggest shot of the game. She flashed open on the left wing and drained a 3-pointer that gave Hanover the lead for good.
A minute and a half later, freshman Gracie Bruna connected on a 3-pointer of her own from nearly the exact same spot and the separation was all Hanover needed.
“Any big shot in this kind of game will get momentum going,” Lohse said. “Just being a senior and being the one to do it and led the team is just an awesome feeling.”
Lebo cut the lead to 38-35 on a 3-pointer by Peek with 3:57 to play. But the Wolves already had lost team-high scorer Saige Hadley to her fifth foul at the 5 minute mark and without her, the Wolves ran out of gas down the stretch and Hanover finished the game on a 12-0 run to secure the title.
“Hats off to Lebo, they’re a hell of a program and Patrick’s got them playing hard,” Beikmann said. “Audrey’s senior season, she wasn’t going to go out without a fight and they didn’t. They got right back in it and some tough foul calls on Hadley – you don’t want to see that because it can change the outcome of the game when you take that talented of a player out of it. It hurt them and we were able to take it to them in that fourth quarter.”
Jueneman scored 16 of her game-high 24 points in Hanover’s dominant first quarter and also added six rebounds and three steals. Lohse had eight points and four steals and Drew Bruna scored 7.
Hanover's Anna Juenean scored 16 of her game-high 24 points in the first quarter.
Hadley finished with 17 points to lead the Wolves and Peek added 15, hitting three 3-pointers. But the rest of the Wolves only combined for three points after playing strong supporting roles in the previous two state tourney games.
“We had them back on their heels and we didn’t capitalize enough,” Gardner said. “We got some big shots from Audrey and were just that close all night and couldn’t get it done. We’ve been there before and that’s what it takes. You’re going to have to take it from them because they’re not going to give it to you. We knew that and that’s why we felt like they were always the better team because we’ve never taken it from them.”
