1999/2000 Game Results Last Updated: February 3, 2000

February 1, 2000  

North 64, Hudson 55

Planert chucks aside frustrations as Huskies humble No. 2-ranked Hudson

By Steve Beaudry Leader-Telegram staff

HUDSON -- Tears were threatening to mingle with the sweat glistening under Emilee Planert’s eyes.

But as the Eau Claire North senior stood alone at the free-throw line with 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter Tuesday night, she wouldn’t let herself cry. Planert had endured too much pain -- physically and emotionally -- over the past three months to let any more tears blur her focus.

Emilee Planert

So, after inhaling deeply and exhaling heavily, Planert slapped the basketball between her hands, bounced it twice, swished two shots, turned, bolted toward midcourt and leaped into the waiting arms of jubilant teammate Larissa Parr. Parr’s bear hug left a wide-smiling Planert breathless.

Planert’s free throws iced the Huskies’ reverberating 64-55 statement win over Hudson, the five-time defending Big Rivers Conference champion currently ranked No. 2 among Division 1 teams in The Associated Press state poll.

The loss was the first for Hudson (9-1, 14-2) since a 76-74 double-overtime setback to Holy Angels of Richfield, Minn., in the season’s second game. It also was the Raiders’ third Big Rivers loss since the 1994-95 season. North has been responsible for two of those defeats.

For the Huskies (7-3, 11-4), Planert picked the perfect time to have her best game of the season -- a game in which the 5-foot-8 guard unloaded bales of heartache and frustration.

"It feels so good to finally be able to do my part to help this team," said Planert, who had 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds. "I love this team."

Planert transferred to North this year from Altoona, where she was the Railroaders’ top scorer for three straight seasons. Her game-breaking talents earned her an NCAA Division I basketball scholarship from Kent (Ohio) University.

But, until Tuesday, Planert hadn’t been able to showcase her skills with her new team. Stress fractures were discovered in her left fibula and right foot following North’s season-opening game and kept her out of action for nine games.

"It’s not like you can rehab stress fractures. I felt like I was wasting away," said Planert, who dedicated this season to her grandfather, Bill Planert, who died of cancer on Nov. 9 -- two days after she accepted her college scholarship.

Upon her return to the Huskies’ lineup in mid-January, Planert’s world on the court seemed to her like an early 20th-century silent-film clip -- laughingly moving too fast to seem quite normal.

She missed her first nine shots. She hit only three of 15 shots in North’s overtime loss to Eau Claire Memorial last Friday. She averaged an un-Planert-like 5.5 points per game through four contests. She admits she heard the whispers.

THIS is a Division I college player? Seriously?

"I didn’t have anything to prove to anyone," Planert said. "I just had to get healthy and take advantage of whatever opportunity I got."

Planert barely got an opportunity to play Tuesday. Her leg and foot were sore again Monday. She missed practice and had a magnetic-resonance-imaging tests performed Tuesday afternoon.

"When (Planert) came into the locker room today, she lets out this big scream: ‘I got the results from the tests! I can play!’ " Parr said. "We were, like, ‘Whew.’ "

Planert’s presence against Hudson was vital. Nicki Robinson, North’s senior starting point guard who’d averaged a team-best 14.3 points per game this season, suffered a concussion Friday against Memorial and was ruled out of action Tuesday. And Scooter Aspen, the Huskies’ other senior starting guard, was flogged by early foul trouble Tuesday and mustered just three points against Hudson.

The absence of Robinson and Aspen seemed to ignite Planert’s domination mechanism.

She did more than score and rebound. She continually fed brisk, no-look, wraparound passes to Parr and forward Kricket Whyte in the post, helping them score 19 and 14 points, respectively. Planert played pesky defense against Hudson’s Allison Burchill, inarguably the BRC’s top girls player this season, helping limit her to 1-for-10 shooting from 3-point range.

Planert also displayed poise. With 4½ minutes left in the fourth quarter and North clinging to a 55-53 lead, Planert was driving toward the basket for a layup. Burchill soared in from behind and defiantly blocked the shot into oblivion. As a hearty faction of Hudson fans exploded and the game’s momentum seemed to shift again, Planert shrugged, laughed … and, on the ensuing inbounds play, flipped the ball to guard Beth Hoenisch, who fed Parr for an easy basket.

After eight ties and seven lead changes, the Huskies refused to give up the driver’s seat down the stretch.

"North was a step faster to the loose balls, and we were more ragged than usual," said Hudson coach Dave Johnson, whose team had its 49-game BRC winning streak halted by North on Jan. 5 of last season. "That Whyte did a nice job getting big second-chance shots.

"North’s got a nice ballclub. They played hard; we weren’t ourselves."

Burchill scored 11 of her team-high 17 points in the first half, and Hudson’s Katie Garms scored 13 of her 16 points in the second half. Garms, a 6-foot-1 senior forward, had a game-high 12 rebounds.

"Dave Johnson is one of the best coaches at any level of basketball anywhere," first-year Huskies coach Dan Sippel said. "When you beat a Dave Johnson-coached team, you’ve accomplished something.

"After the game, I said to the girls, ‘Doesn’t this feel good? This is what can happen when you play together as a team. Remember this feeling.’ "

Chances are, Planert won’t soon forget it.

EAU CLAIRE NORTH (64)

FG-A FT-A TP: Scooter Aspen 1-5 0-0 3, Emilee Planert 5-11 3-4 15, Lindsey Rongstad 1-1 0-0 2, Kricket Whyte 6-10 2-5 14, Larissa Parr 9-18 1-1 19, Beth Hoenisch 2-6 2-4 8, Gretchen Schroer 0-1 1-2 1, Anne Connell 0-3 2-2 2. Totals 24-55 11-18 64.

HUDSON (55)

Emily Anderson 2-7 0-0 6, Jessie Syfko 3-7 0-0 6, Allison Burchill 5-17 6-9 17, Katie Garms 6-19 4-10 16, Annie Nelson 1-4 6-6 8, Molly Simon 0-0 0-0 0, Greta Tracey 1-1 0-0 2, Megan Hanson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-55 16-25 55.

3-point goals: North 5-11 (Hoenisch 2-3, Planert 2-4, Aspen 1-3, Connell 0-1), Hudson 3-16 (Anderson 2-3, Burchill 1-10, Nelson 0-1, Syfko 0-2). Rebounds: North 32 (Planert 8, Parr 7), Hudson 40 (Garms 12, Nelson 7). Fouls: North 21, Hudson 19. Fouled out: North, Aspen; Hudson, Syfko. Turnovers: North 16, Hudson 21.

RECORDS: North 7-3, 11-4, Hudson 9-1, 14-2.