Most of Sauk Prairie's scoring burden March 11 rested on Kelsey Budd's shoulders, and the senior was poised to accept just a little more of it in the waning moments of overtime.

But Lacey Puls knew better, so the junior made sure to create a little space on the right block beyond Reedsburg's Sophie Lichte just in case Budd decided to do what she's been known to with the game on the line.

Budd drove left, elevated and - sure enough - Puls was right.

"I knew she'd pass it to me," said Puls, who then drew a foul with 23.4 seconds to go and made two go-ahead free throws - her only points of the game - to lift the second-seeded Eagles to an eventual 31-27 win over the third-seeded Beavers in a WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal.

"Her goal is for us to win. She's always looking for her open teammates, she's always trying to create things for us."

Added Budd, whose two free throws with 4.9 seconds left - after Lichte missed a go-ahead 3-pointer - iced the game and provided the last of her game-best 19 points:

"I trust Lacey. ... I'm really proud of her, to be able to step up in a big moment like that. It was the play that worked out, and she caught the ball and did good things with it."

Lexi Lichte did the same for Reedsburg at the end of regulation, hitting a 3 from the left corner to tie the game at 25 as time expired. Then Sophie Lichte's lay-up early in overtime gave the Beavers a 27-25 lead - their first lead since midway through the second quarter - before Budd answered with a fadeaway jumper with 3:03 left to tie it.

Puls' free throws more than two minutes later provided the game's next scoring, a drought created because the Beavers wanted to slow the tempo.

"We wanted to extend the game as long as we could," said Reedsburg coach Mark Simon, whose team lost decidedly in both regular-season contests with Sauk Prairie but opened with a 7-2 lead and held the Eagles to 1-of-10 shooting after the first quarter in this one. "We wanted to create our pace. We did that."

Indeed, but not so much in the second quarter, when Budd scored five points and had a fastbreak assist to Rachel Meyer during a 9-2 surge that gave the Eagles their first lead at 11-9 with a little more than 3 minutes gone by in the quarter.

Later, Budd pushed the tempo with a fastbreak pass to Brittany Hahn before Hahn dished to Kelsey Kohlbeck for an easy lay-in. That made it 13-9, and Budd made two free throws with 2.9 seconds left in the half to make it 15-12 at halftime.

"I was probably most proud of their mental toughness," Marquardt said of his team's ability to rebound from the lackluster first quarter as well as Lexi Lichte's tying 3 and the early deficit in overtime.

Sauk Prairie (19-4) led by as much as seven in the third quarter and 23-18 entering the fourth before Reedsburg (15-9) was able to trim the deficit to 25-22 with 4:27 left behind a 3 from Hannah Ethun and a free throw from Sophie Lichte.

Budd and Aimee Thrune both missed the first of bonus free throw chances in the last 1:12 before Lexi Licthe's desperation 3 from a couple steps beyond the arc on the left wing forced overtime.

"I was hoping it (wouldn't be close), but i was expecting it to be a dog-fight," Marquardt said. "They obviously gave us everything we wanted and more tonight, so hats off to them. They played really well."

Reedsburg 7 5 6 7 2 - 27

Sauk Prairie 2 13 8 2 6 - 31

REEDSBURG: S. Lichte 8, L. Lichte 6, Schulenburg 5, Ethun 5, Walker 3. Totals (field goals-free throws made-attempted-points) 9 4-5 27.

SAUK PRAIRIE: Rachel Meyer 4, Jen Wilkinson 2, Lacey Puls 2, Brittany Hahn 2, Kelsey Kohlbeck 2, Kelsey Budd 19. Totals: 11 8-11 31.

3-point goals: Reedsburg 5 (L. Lichte 2, Schulenburg 1, Ethun 1, Walker 1) Sauk Prairie 1 (Budd 1). Total fouls: Reedsburg 11. Sauk Prairie 12. Fouled out: L. Lichte.

Sauk Prairie 72, Mauston 31

Rachel Meyer knows playing with Kelsey Budd is a little like playing with Brett Favre.

The halfcourt line is the line of scrimmage, and once you cross it, you better be ready on a moment's notice.

"Anybody who runs on the court, she can always find them and throw the long ball," Meyer, a Sauk Prairie senior, said March 9 of Budd, also a senior, after catching two laser-sharp passes from Budd for fastbreak lay-ups early in the Eagles' regional quarterfinal against No. 7 Mauston. "It's always fun ... and It just helps getting the transition and the tempo up for the team."

Indeed, Meyer's lay-ins - the first of the two came as time expired in the first quarter - provided the first four points of a 16-3 run and sparked a convincing 72-31 win for the Eagles.

"They pass really, really well and they got some good passes," Golden Eagles' coach Lori Hammer said. "(Their) second-quarter surge kind of took the wind out of our sails."

It did the opposite for the Eagles.

Budd's pull-up jumper with three minutes, 25 seconds to go in the quarter capped the run to make it 29-10. But she hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key almost a minute later to make it 32-12, and Meyer - who scored 10 points in the first half and finished with 12 in the game - hit a baseline jumper with three seconds to go to stretch the lead to 36-14 at halftime.

"Rachel played awesome," said Budd, who scored 13 first-half points and finished with a game-best 23 points and seven assists. "Her game has come along great this year, and it's just really fun to see her be able to run the floor, finish lay-ups and make jump shots. ... She just really stepped up tonight."

So did Lacey Puls, who added 11 points to go along with eight from Aimee Thrune and six from Brittany Hahn.

"Kelsey always puts up her points - she was shooting really well tonight - and then when other people chip in, it just helps everyone's confidence," Meyer said of the balanced scoring effort.

The Eagles were balanced in other ways, too.

Puls secured eight rebounds - four of them offensive, including one that directly led to a baseline jumper for Meyer during the second-quarter surge - to go along with eight from Kelsey Kohlbeck. And Thrune added five assists to complement Budd.

All of this helped Sauk Prairie build a 58-23 lead late in the third quarter before Budd's night was finished. Meyer and Thrune both finished early in the fourth quarter, and the decisive lead allowed Eagles' coach Bob Marquardt to make sure that everyone on the team got minutes.

"To be honest, it's kind of what we were hoping - that we would have a nice lead, so we could rest some of starters," he said. "And it's just a good reward, because all our kids work extremely hard in practice and so it's nice for them to get on the court and have their moment, too, and let everyone else see how they contribute to the team."

Mauston 7 7 11 6 - 31

Sauk Prairie 15 21 24 12 - 72

MAUSTON: Goedjen 8, Schumer 4, Jirousek 4, Golden 2, Thomas 12, Barber 1. Totals (field goals-free throws made-attempted-points) 10 9-17 31.

SAUK PRAIRIE: Kelsey Kohlbeck 9, Aimee Thrune 8, Brittany Hahn 6, Kelsey Budd 23, Alison Halweg 2, Rachel Meyer 12, Lacey Puls 11, Andrea Fiene 1. Totals: 29 11-17 72.

3-point goals: Mauston 2 (Thomas 2). Sauk Prairie 3 (Thrune 2, Budd 1). Total fouls: Mauston 16. Sauk Prairie 13. Fouled out: Jirousek.

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