Wolf's bunch not quite ready to get off its perch

In Whitefish Bay girls' basketball coach Greg Capper's mind, it's a simple equation.

Some kids, mostly seniors, absolutely refuse to lose and therefore as a result, their teams don't lose either.

And he and his Blue Dukes got a brick wall's worth of that mentality last Friday, when the defending Division 1 state champion Nicolet crew used senior leaders like Brittney Fair (game-high 22 points) and Courtney Smith (10 points) to overpower a short-handed Blue Dukes team to claim a North Shore battle of unbeatens, 40-34.

"I try to stress to our players that there are seniors out there with something to prove," said Capper. "They want to show people that they're really good players too. Fair, Smith, and the others were carrying the water for all those all-staters (Ashley Green, Alex Cohen and Gaby Bronson) for so long.

"Now those kids are gone and now they have a great sense of urgency behind them."

For her part, Nicolet coach Corey Wolf worked hard on that sensibility during the previous week in practice, as the Knights, when they weren't worried about semester exams, kept hearing from Wolf over and over again on how the State Basketball Yearbook picked Bay to win the North Shore this season.

"I must have reminded them of it about 100 times," she said with a chuckle. "But seriously, the players were very excited to play Bay. They knew that Bay was picked to win the league. As a coach, you're always looking for ways to motivate your kids. I couldn't have come up with anything better myself."

That endless motivation, along with talent, is a big reason the Knights are now 60-4 over the last two-and-a-half seasons.

Meanwhile, while Capper refused to make a large issue out of it, the Blue Dukes clearly missed their senior leader, second-leading scorer and rebounder Lindsey Agnew, who was out because of an injury suffered in the previous game.

Capper said that Agnew had received a medical OK as of game-time, but because she had not practiced all week, he held her out as a precaution.

"We just wanted to be safe," he said. "There are other fish to fry down the road. I told Lindsey it would have been nice to have a full quiver going into this, but then it falls on the shoulders of other kids to pick it up. And I tell you, it was not for a lack of effort."

As a result, three-time North Shore champion Nicolet gained a strong beach-head in its quest for a fourth title. The Knights came out of the game and the first half of the league schedule with a 7-0 NSC mark and a 14-0 overall record, while Bay is now 6-1 and 11-1, respectively.

The game began with it looking like the Blue Dukes were going to work past Agnew's loss in a big way.

"Oh my," said Wolf, "they scored on their first three possessions and I was beginning to think that this might be the beginning of a long night, but then we buckled down and our defense then went out and won the game for us."

Starting with Fair and Smith.

"Brittney and Courtney were able to put so much pressure on their guards and then we got great help inside from Lanoira (Duhart) and Sara (Travia). We were really able to take them out of their rhythm," Wolf said. "We wanted to make them uncomfortable and our kids just fed off one another. The energy was contagious."

Nicolet rallied from that poor start to take a 10-8 first quarter lead and then stretched that to 24-15 at the break. Fair matched her defensive intensity with offensive efficiency, scoring 15 of her 22 in the first 16 minutes. She would finish with four three-pointers while Smith would add three long-range bombs.

And with Agnew out, more of the offensive responsibilities for Bay fell to the 6-2 sophomore post Maya Jonas, but she met her match in the 5-8 but very strong Duhart.

"She (Duhart) is so strong in terms of positioning," Wolf said. "She just knows where the ball is going to be."

Jonas worked hard, but finished with only six points as junior guard Elisabeth Johnston led the Blue Dukes with eight.

Behind that kind of defense, Nicolet was able to keep the Blue Dukes at arm's length the remainder of the night with the final score as close as the game was going to get.

Capper liked what he saw in the locker room afterward and sees future motivation.

"Give Nicolet a ton of credit," he said. "They know what they want and they go out and get it, but I expect us to fill in the gaps (by the time of the Feb. 24 rematch at Bay). All the kids were frustrated. They know they have to learn some things as individuals and as a team.

"It's just one game in 22 (in the regular season). We'll move forward from this."

The surprising Knights, meanwhile, will keep mixing and matching their winning formula for whatever game is directly in front of them.

"This was a great high school game," Wolf said. "I know that not having Lindsey hurt them. She is really their glue player, but we did a lot of things right. I thought that Bri (post Briana Gray) got her hands on a lot balls in the paint and that was a huge help.

"But Bay is a team that makes it so difficult for you (offensively). Anything you want to do, you really have to work for it. You have to work for everything.

"Then again, so do we."