Phantoms fall just short in State Semi

GREEN BAY – The West De Pere Phantoms fell just short of a WIAA State Final bid with their 58-71 loss to the Wauwatosa East Red Raiders on Friday, March 14. 

“It was an intense game between two really good teams. We kind of knew they were going to come out the way they did. They’re a fast starting team. We talked a lot this past week about having to weather that storm early, and I thought our girls did a great job of it — even to take the lead at the end of the first half was awesome and it showed a lot about our team,” said Phantoms Head Coach Chris Abaray. 

Though the Phantoms trailed by as much as 11 in the first few minutes of the game, a three by Madisyn Berggren brought the Phantoms momentum going into a timeout with 8:50 remaining until halftime and a score of 20-27. 

The Phantoms were able to continue to narrow the gap to a 1-point lead and a score of 30-31 with 1:42 left before halftime. 

Walder’s pair of free throws earned her team the lead for the first time in the game taking the score to 32-31 with 1:30 left on the clock.  

“We just kept picking each other up. There wasn’t really a point where we felt down and out of the game,” said Walder. “We just kept our heads up.”

The final minute of the first half saw Berggren and the Red Raiders trade buckets to bring the score to 35-33 with West De Pere out in front going into the second half. 

Berggren said that being able to take the court with her senior class was extremely emotional but she was thankful to have one last opportunity to play with the same group of girls who have meant so much to her over the past few years. 

“I feel like it hasn’t really hit me yet that I won’t step on the court with them ever again, but just for them to be by my side means so much and I love all of them,” said Berggren. 

The second half saw an equally competitive matchup as both teams traded scores for the first few minutes of play. 

However, with 5:45 left in the game, a three from the Red Raiders’ Emma Close brought Wauwatosa East out in front 58-50 as they began to pull away. 

The Phantoms continued to battle but a stretch of missed threes allowed the Red Raiders to lengthen their lead and dwindle the clock to 65-56 with 2:26 remaining. 

Despite putting every effort into their final minutes together on the court, the Phantoms saw a final score of 71-58 in what would be their final game of the 2024-25 season. 

“The thought of waking up tomorrow and it being over — it hasn’t quite hit me, yet. I’m a little teared up about it right now,” said Abaray. “They’ve worked so hard to get here and I remember when (the seniors) were younger. They had a drive about them — there was just something special about them. They definitely put a gleam in my eye. As a coach, this is why you want to coach — when you have kids that want to be as successful as they want to be.”