More Standouts at the State Tournament

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Yesterday, I mentioned a standout in each division at the state tournament. Today, I want to keep highlighting some individuals before I name all-tournament teams later in the week. I thought all the kids I'm about to mention played pivotal roles in helping their teams compete at the Resch Center.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='602360' first='Keegan' last='Lodes']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After an injury to Claire Vosburg, Lodes had to play more minutes than she's used to in a Kettle Moraine uniform, but there wasn't much more she could've done to make an impact in her role. The 5-foot-11 wing made shots, moved her feet defensively, rebounded the ball, and took advantage of almost every situation. By no means did the offense run through her, but when the ball found her. Positive things happened.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Madeline Jakusz</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After two meetings in the regular season, Germantown was beaten convincingly by Brookfield East, so someone besides KK needed to step up if things were going to be different, and that's what Jakusz did. There was a portion of that game where the Spartans had no idea how to defend her. Jakusz was getting to the free-throw line, scoring in traffic, and attacking the middle of the Spartan zone repeatedly. She was playing out of her mind, and the Spartans couldn't slow her down. It seemed like the goal was to let Jakusz make decisions in the middle of the zone, but that goal quickly shifted to try and not give her room, and it didn't work for most of the second half.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='417959' first='Parker' last='Johnson']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I always thought that Johnson was the barometer of this MAS team, and in the state semifinals, that was on display for the state to see. Johnson finished that game with 11 points and 15 rebounds and looked like the best rebounder on the floor. She was relentless on the floor, and she flew up and down the floor. Her ability to find the ball and play on the wing made her one of the most fun players to watch at the state tournament.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Elise Freeman</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Usually, when opposing little-known guards face the pressure of Notre Dame, they get overwhelmed. In all fairness, she had excellent ball handlers beside her, like [player_tooltip player_id='209586' first='Teagan' last='Mallegni'] and [player_tooltip player_id='209598' first='Brynn' last='Kirch'], but Freeman had her fair share of the ball. After that classic of a game ended, I looked at the box score, and one of the first things I looked at was the turnover number for each McFarland player and noticed Freeman had zero. As a guard, to play a team that good and never turn the ball over once is insane.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->