The lights felt brighter inside Williams Arena than Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton’s high school gym, but that didn’t affect the Bulldogs who held off Red Lake County in a 67-58 semifinal game.
“With all these big courts, the lights are just crazy,” said junior guard Gavin Weedman. “It’s just a huge stadium. It’s really cool to play at.”
“It’s just crazy,” added senior guard Daulton Bauer. “I’ve never played in an environment like that or an arena like that. With the raised court, I’ve never seen something like that.”
Some players get to the state tournament and those overhead spotlights, screams from the crowd and the deafening screech of goal horns throw them off their game. The high scorer in today’s semifinal game, Bauer, assured that wasn’t the case for J-W-P, despite returning to the state tournament for the first time in 17 years. Why? The Bulldog mindset.
“From the start of the year we’ve had the mindset of making it here and playing games here,” said Bauer, who scored 29 of J-W-P’s 67 points. “We kind of all have the mindset of staying calm and composed no matter what goes on.”
In a back-and-forth game with state title final stakes on the line, keeping that mentality was more important than ever.