SPORTS

Loyal girls have a season to remember

Mark Massoglia
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
Loyal senior Morgan Reinwand celebrates with her teammates near the end of the Division 5 state championship game last Saturday.

ASHWAUBENON - Morgan Reinwand did her best to fight the urge to smile when she was at the free thrown line during the last minute of the Division 5 state championship game last Saturday. She cracked a quick smile after her first shot.

The same could be said of Karsyn Rueth when she shot and made a pair of free throws 15 seconds earlier.

On the sideline, Loyal coach Mike Rueth was also trying to hold back his enthusiasm, so were the girls on the bench who were getting ready to go into the game.

Chants of "We're from Loyal, couldn't be prouder, if you can't hear us we'll yell a little louder" filled the Resch Center in Ashwaubenon, the home of the WIAA girls basketball tournament.

It was understandable though.

The girls were about to win the school's first basketball championship. Less than a minute later when the final buzzer sounded, the scoreboard read, Loyal 74, Milwaukee Academy of Science 61.

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As Rueth came to the sideline, she embraced her father and the team's coach, Mike Rueth, then greeted her teammates, eyes already watering, but a big smile was on her face. It was easy to tell how much it meant to her as one of two seniors on the teams.

To finally not only get to state, but win, was everything the girls have worked for. They also endured three years of being eliminated from the postseason by the same team, Assumption.

"Going to BFS (bigger, stronger, faster) workouts and getting up as 6 a.m. every day, I was thinking is it really worth it after three years of losing," said Reinwand, the other senior on the Loyal squad, Saturday afternoon. "But you go back out there and look where it's gotten us, we got the gold ball today."

For coach Rueth, winning the sectional final was the breakthrough moment for the program.

"We've had good teams the last few years and we've had to go through Assumption and we know what happened there, they were first or second for four years," Rueth said. "Winning that sectional final to just get here was so big. Once we got here, the kids were amazing. They were calm and they had an attitude that they could do it."

The girls had more than a can-do attitude, they outscored their opponents 118-85.

And the seniors didn't do it by themselves. They got help from a crew of underclassmen battled and will be called on next year to continue the program's tradition.

Building on a championship won't be an easy task. Next season, Loyal will be the hunted, not the hunters.

But for now, enjoy it.

And if you haven't, take a bow ladies, you deserve it.

Mark Massoglia: 715-424-7309 or mark.massoglia@gannettwisconsin.com; on Twitter @markmazzy.