Franklin girls basketball team sees room for improvement after Rathke Tournament

Franklin - The history of the Franklin girls basketball team has been an excellent one over the last 15 years.

And coach Tony Kathrens and the Sabers want to make it even better.

To that end, they're going to continue scheduling and testing themselves like they did in their own recently completed fourth annual Christine Rathke Memorial Tournament, where they went 1-2 over the three-day event last week and took sixth.

"We wanted to play some high-level basketball," said Kathrens, "and the way we responded indicates that we have some room for improvement.

"When we started the tournament, it wasn't set up to be this way (very high level), but we did it last year (with three of the four Division 1 state semifinalists including Nicolet, Middleton and Pius) and it's working out well for everyone."

Franklin lost to defending state champion and eventual tournament victor Nicolet, 52-44, rallied for a 58-57 win over Waunakee and fell to Arrowhead, 60-49. The trio of games left the Sabers at 6-2 overall heading into the new year.

They took on Muskego in an important first-place battle in the Southeast on Tuesday and then will be at Racine Park at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

It's all part of a challenging schedule for the Sabers.

In the Rathke again this year were defending tournament champion Pius XI as well as Middleton. All-state level players such as Terri Bender and Alyson Matkovich of Pius, tournament MVP Brittney Fair of Nicolet and center Jenny Smith of Arrowhead, all made the All-Tournament team.

The 6-2 Smith was unstoppable in the consolation final on Dec. 29 against Franklin, as she had 34 points.

"We have no one taller than 5-9," said Kathrens, "and we tried everything, a box-and-one, traps, everything. The kid just had the game of her life. Sometimes with certain people, you just can't shut off the faucet."

The Sabers were behind the Warhawks for much of the game, but got it down to 44-40 in the fourth quarter before Arrowhead pulled away.

"I give credit to the kids, they kept playing right to the end," said Kathrens.

Cassidy Mihalko and Katie Nord had 15 points apiece for the Sabers while Montana Mack had nine.

Kathrens was very pleased with the effort against Waunakee. The Sabers were down 42-36 going into the fourth quarter, rallied to take a five point lead but then had to hold off a withering rally by the Warriors.

"They hit a three-pointer to get it to two with about 1.8 seconds left," said Kathrens. "They then steal the ball and we foul them. The girl hits the first free throw, but we were lucky in that she missed the second.

"It was a tough game. I think we were a little flat from the Nicolet game."

Mihalko, who also made the all-tournament team, had 18 points to lead Franklin, while Mack had 15 and Kayla Plath eight.

Against Nicolet (9-0), the Sabers had a 22-21 lead on the Knights at the half, but then Nicolet scored the first seven points of the third quarter to take the lead for good.

"We've talked about the third quarter again and again with the kids," Kathrens said. "The problems we have there are starting to become an issue. We give them the fire and brimstone speech but it just doesn't stick.

"We missed too many easy shots and too many free throws (five of 12 in the second half). You can't do that and be successful against a team like Nicolet. We just forgot who we were for a quarter, while Nicolet remembered that they were still the champs."

Nicolet forward Briana Gray was a tough guard for the Sabers with 23 points, while Mihalko had 13, Nord 12 and Mack eight for the Sabers.

"It was a long week," said Kathrens, "but as we said, we wanted to play the best level of competition. Wholesale improvement only comes with competition like that."