Lady Eagles make Regional Finals in dramatic fashion but go no further

The Almond-Bancroft Lady Eagles started their postseason run on Feb. 25 at home hosting the #13 seed Athens Bluejays. Almond-Bancroft was assigned the #4 seed in their bracket for the state tournament. The Athens team ultimately presented no real challenges for the Lady Eagles as they steamrolled their first postseason opponent in a 56-14 victory. Mya Dernbach led the team with 28 points and Aaliyah Newby was right behind her with 23 on the night. Oakley Omernik and Madalyn Potts dominated the backboards to collect 13 and 11 rebounds.
After their easy win against Athens, the Lady Eagles hosted the #5 seed Greenwood Indians. The energy in the gym was up as fans from both teams packed into the bleachers, the Greenwood fans traveling more than an hour and a half to cheer on their varsity girls.
From the very start of the game it was clear that this would not be a blowout and the two teams battled it out, frequently swapping the lead and neither managing more than a few points advantage for the entire first half. At halftime Almond-Bancroft had a three point advantage, leading 21-18.
The second half began very much like the first, with both teams working hard for every point and struggling to find a real advantage as tough defensive efforts led to less than desirable shots. Slowly, Greenwood began to pull ahead. While the Lady Eagles struggled to find a shooting rhythm and consistently failed to gather rebounds, with less than five minutes left, the game seemed to be getting away from them as Greenwood expanded their lead to 10 points, the largest lead held by either team all night.
Not to be easily defeated the Lady Eagles battled back as their standout junior guards, Aaliyah Newby and Mya Dernbach, relentlessly pursued the ball and basket, harassing Greenwood guards up and down the court to generate turnovers, draw fouls, and will their team back into the contest within the last three minutes of play. As the games entered its final minute, the drama reached a climax. Almond-Bancroft has battled their way back to a three point lead and Mya Dernbach fouls Greenwood’s Eliska Louchkova with thirty seconds on the clock. Louchkova makes one of two and the Lady Eagles lead is cut to 2. After the inbound, Aaliyah Newby loses the ball to Louchkova, who promptly makes a layup and ties the game with 19 seconds remaining. Mya Dernbach loses the ball on their next trip down the court and back on defense Newby commits a personal foul, reaching in. Tysen Lindner hits her first free throw on a lucky roll to take the lead and the Lady Eagles are watching their playoff dreams disappear as she shoots her second and – misses.

They gather the rebound and coach Chad Newby calls a quick timeout. Greenwood leads by 1 with only three seconds remaining on the clock. The tension is palpable as the players take to the court and the ref blows the whistle. Riya Ceballos throws a beautiful lob pass just out of reach for Greenwood’s Tysen Lindner and into the hands of Mya Dernbach just past the half-court line. Two dribbles, a floating jump shot in a crowd of red jerseys and the Lady Eagles win as Dernbach delivers a buzzer beater for a final score of 49-48. The crowd goes wild and the Lady Eagles go on to play another game in the WIAA tournament.
Mya Dernbach led the Lady Eagles in points with 25, Aaliyah Newby followed up adding 15 to their total.
Just 24 hours after their dramatic home victory against Greenwood the Lady Eagles traveled to Wisconsin Rapids to take on the #1 seed Assumption Royals in the WIAA Regional Finals. Unfortunately for the Almond-Bancroft girls, this is where their season would end.
For all of the drama and excitement held in their previous game, Assumption turned out to be a brick wall for their momentum. With a deep bench of players available, the Royals played a tough physical game to wear the Lady Eagles down. To compound the issue, when they did manage a shot, the Almond-Bancroft girls struggled to make those rare opportunities count on the scoreboard. At halftime Assumptions’ bumpy defensive style had landed them with a 40-17 advantage that the Lady Eagles would prove unable to catch up to. When the night ended Assumption was presented with their Regional Trophy after winning 62-26 and the Lady Eagles kept their heads high and showed a positive attitude as their season came to an end.
Mya Dernbach led the Lady Eagles with 12 points and Assumption was led by Jordyn Jaglinski, Sarah Shaw, and Claire Nelson with 16, 15, and 12 points respectively.
The Lady Eagles season ended with a 20-7 overall record and a 7-4 finish in the Central Wisconsin-South Conference.