RANSOM — As the final 10 seconds ticked away on the clock, tears flowed freely on the Dragon bench as the Wilson girls watched their team’s — and school’s — final basketball season come to a close Saturday at the Class 1A Division II sub-state.

The Dragons started the sub-state championship game strong and kept the game neck-andneck, but ultimately fell to the Rozel-Pawnee Heights Tigers, 39-31.

“From my standpoint, I was very upset because it’s my last game,” senior Cara Criswell said. “We were all feeling the same thing. Not only am I done with Wilson, so is everyone else on the team. It was pretty rough for everybody.”

Earlier in the season, the USD 112 board voted to close grades 7-12 in Wilson at the end of the year.

“Although we are losing one of our key players next year, it is tough that we don’t get another season to build on after the successful season (we had),” junior Anna Thielen said.

As she entered the season, Thielen said her goal was for the team to continue improving.

“Freshman year we had four wins. Sophomore years we had six wins,” she said.

This year, the Dragons took their game to the next level, beginning their season with a ninegame winning streak.

“I don’t know the last time that happened in Wilson,” Head Coach Ted Long said.

Long began coaching this group of girls in junior high, and the 2022-23 season was his third year as the team’s high school head coach.

“These girls have been in our system for four years now,” Long said. “When you can keep things the same and be consistent, it helps. They’re a hard-working bunch.

“They played a lot this summer. They’re in the gym a lot during the season, working on their shot and what they need to do to get better.”

Thielen said the team focused during the summer.

“We lifted four days a week, practiced two days a week, played rec games once a week and worked with a skills coach over the summer,” she said. “I think that had a lot to do with the success we had. We were fired up after a rough season last year, and also the school situation; it had us wanting to work hard.”

The team had continued support from the Wilson-area community.

“Throughout the season, the stands were more and more packed with fans,” Criswell said. “There was more support on social media — it was encouraging to all of us. People would reach out sending personal messages, wishing us good luck. We really did have so much support from our community.”

The community support continued with a strong crowd for the sub-state championship game. While Wilson lost the tipoff, Thielen forced an early turnover and the Dragons put the first points on the scoreboard. The game continued neck-and-neck during the first half, 3-3 and then 6-6. The score was 11-10 with the Tigers up at the end of the first quarter.

The No. 1-seeded Dragons pulled ahead in the second and entered halftime with a razorthin lead, 17-16.

During the first portion of the third quarter, the Dragons lost momentum as the Tigers chipped away at the lead and slowly widened the gap. The third quarter ended with the Tigers up 28-23.

The Dragons tried to catch up during the fourth quarter, but the Tigers continued to gain momentum. The Dragons kept the gap to 4 points, but eventually, the Tigers widened their lead to the largest of the game at 10 points, a mere 30 seconds before the final buzzer. The Dragons rallied but came up short, and the season ended with a 39-31 loss. The Dragons finished second and ended the season with a 15-7 record.

Thielen was the leading scorer with 11, followed by Criswell with 9. Criswell sunk one 3-point shot.

Long said even with a second-place finish at sub-state, the season was impressive.

“What I said to the players in the locker room is ‘You’ve got a lot to be proud of,’” he said. “As a coach, you can’t ask

“I think because of the situation we’re in, our girls played their hearts out. They played hard every night that we stepped onto the court. As a coach, you can’t ask more than that.”

Ted Long Head Coach too much more from a school or a community than we got. Those big nights of basketball … it was amazing.

“I think a lot of it has to do with our school being closed next year, the junior/senior high school; everybody coming together and wanting to support one another. As an educator, teacher, coach, it’s awesome to see when communities have that kind of support.”

While the team played its heart out, the numbers simply weren’t in their favor Saturday night, Long said. The Dragons shot 18 percent from the field and were 7 for 15 at the free throw line.

“We missed eight free throws. It’s a hard thing for a coach to ask to make every free throw,” he said. “Usually, we’re better from the line.”

Pawnee Heights only had six players, and Long said he spent time preparing for the game.

“I thought we had a pretty good game plan,” he said. “They had a couple pretty tall girls. Defensively, I thought we did a decent job. Offensively, we just didn’t shoot the ball well. Some nights you can’t make a basket, and other nights things go in. Saturday night was just one of those nights when we didn’t make too many shots.”

One change this season was the team’s defense.

“Before this season, we were pretty much a zone defense team,” Long said. “We played a lot of man defense this year, which is what I wanted. Our girls bought into it, they believed in it and it worked out well for us.”

Thielen said the score slipped in the fourth quarter, which coincided with foul trouble.

“Some of us had three or four fouls,” she said. “It’s tough to play when you’re in foul trouble. You don’t want to get the fifth and go out. They started making some of their shots at the end, and we weren’t answering.”

Following the game, the team gathered outside of the gym, hugging fans and teammates alike.

“They know they’re not going to be a Wilson Dragon anymore,” Criswell said. “We were all feeling the ‘I’m done at Wilson’ pain. It enhanced the pain of losing.”

Long said he is proud of the discipline and accomplishments of the team.

“I think because of the situation we’re in, our girls played their hearts out,” he said. “They played hard every night that we stepped onto the court. As a coach, you can’t ask more than that.

“In their minds, this could be it. It could be the last time they put on a uniform this season. As a coach, you can’t ask for more than your player giving it their all.”

Wilson girls team

Cara Criswell, senior Skylar Cullens, junior Anna Thielen, junior Abby Dlabal, sophomore Alivia Koch, sophomore Tyra Meyer, sophomore Serenity Steinike, sophomore Hallie Thielen, sophomore Ted Long, head coach Mary Kratky, assistant coach Railynne Soukup, manager Brekyn Heffel, manager