In the playoffs, seniors feel most intensely how soon it can all be over.
Still, when Madison senior Jordan Mayne banged her head while going for the ball in the Copenhagen gym in last week’s quarterfinal game, it would have been understandable if she had sat out of the rest of the contest. By then, her Blue Devils trailed the Golden Knights by almost 40 points.
But Mayne rejoined the game and was on the court when Madison’s season ended in a 66-24 loss to the 19-2 Knights. The Blue Devils finished the year 15-7.
Despite banging with the Brookfield girls for the last three years over first-place in the Central Counties League, Madison’s fan base two hours north of home contained a fair amount of people wearing orange. Brookfielders, who travel to support their teams in incredible numbers, had made the drive early to be sure to get a seat for the game that followed, Brookfield boys vs. Copenhagen.
The first of the two games started slowly with both Madison and Copenhagen missing shots and committing turnovers. Then the Knights scored off a steal and led for the rest of the game.
Lyncoln Belden’s first 3-pointer made it 4-3, but it took midway through the first quarter for Madison to get on the board. And that was the sum total of their scoring for the game’s first 11 minutes. Copenhagen led 10-3 after…