Jon Masson, madison.com, March 12, 2017
For senior Estella Moschkau and the Madison Edgewood girls basketball team, redemption finally arrived in their return to the Resch Center.
Edgewood watched a late lead slip away during last season’s state semifinals and used that one-point loss to eventual champion Hayward as year-long motivation.
Edgewood’s crusade this season realized the desired result Saturday in the WIAA Division 3 state championship game.
The third-ranked Crusaders won their 19th consecutive game, rolling to a 51-30 victory over second-ranked Greendale Martin Luther.
It was Edgewood’s first WIAA championship in its second state appearance.
Moschkau, who earlier Saturday was named co-recipient of the Miss Basketball Award scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
“It’s exactly what we wanted,” said Moschkau, a Stanford commit. “It was the revenge we were planning for, I guess you could say. Right after we lost, it was in our minds. Throughout the summer and the course of the season, it was always on our minds — that one loss last year.
“And we always kept that thought and we pushed through every adversity, and we overcame a lot. … It’s all happiness right now. We are so happy now. I can’t describe it right now. It is a you’ve-got-be-there-type feeling.”
The Crusaders (25-3) used a dominating defensive effort and snapped the Spartans’ 25-game winning streak, holding Martin Luther to a season-low point total.
Martin Luther (26-2), making its state debut, shot only 27.5 percent from the floor, including 22.2 percent in the first half when Edgewood earned a 19-11 halftime lead.
The Spartans, who had no players score in double figures, were 1-for-15 from 3-point range and committed 17 turnovers.
Martin Luther coach Corey Scheel said the Crusaders “were just swarming” and demonstrated outstanding hustle and help-side defense.
“I give Edgewood a lot of credit,” Scheel said. “They really ramped up their defensive intensity — it was nothing I’ve really seen out of them throughout the year. They did a really nice job taking away the outside shots. They covered the 3-ball well, which we can shoot. We didn’t shoot it well tonight.”
Edgewood coach Lora Staveness said her team wanted to take away the Spartans’ drives into the lane while also closing out on perimeter shots.
“Halfway through the season we amped up our defensive intensity and focused on that, and that would lead to our offense,” Staveness said.
That defensive emphasis is what won Edgewood the state championship, the 6-foot-2 Moschkau said.
“(Moschkau) is so long and so tall, even if it looked like I was open, I was tentative,” said the Spartans’ leading scorer who was held to seven points. “They played good ‘D.’ We expected them to pack it in more. They kind of did the opposite and they pressured us more in the halfcourt. And unforced errors were the detriment to us.”
The Crusaders also attacked the rim on offense, leading to numerous free-throw opportunities. Edgewood was 16-for-30 from the foul line; Martin Luther was 7-for-12.
A key stretch in reaching that goal came when the Crusaders scored the final eight points of the first half and took an eight-point lead into halftime.
Moschkau scored six of the eight points, including a 3-pointer from the left corner that put Edgewood ahead 19-11 with 2:53 left.
“Too many unforced turnovers in the first half is what really doomed us,” Scheel said.
A 7-2 run opening the second half gave Edgewood a 13-point cushion. The lead ballooned to 22 points late in the game.
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