A controversial traveling call played a huge role in a WIAA sectional semifinal that eliminated a top-ranked girls basketball team

JR Radcliffe, Appleton Post-Crescent
·2 min read

A controversial traveling call cast a pall over a WIAA Division 1 sectional semifinal girls basketball game Thursday, a game in which Neenah upset top-seeded Hortonville in Kimberly, 65-60.

Neenah moved onto the sectional final, one win away from the state tournament. Hortonville, ranked No. 1 in the state in the final Division 1 coaches poll, incurred just its second loss of the season.

The game was streamed live by the Appleton Post-Crescent, with announcers Brett Christopherson and Ricardo Arguello on the call.

The call came with 20 seconds left, when Hortonville was attempting to call timeout, but officials didn't immediately acknowledge the request and called traveling instead.

Hortonville High School's Kamy Peppler (23) and coach Celeste Ratka question an official on a traveling call when she was calling a timeout with 20 seconds left in the game and down by two points against Neenah High School during their WIAA Division 1 girls basketball sectional semifinal Thursday, March 3, 2022, at Kimberly High School in Kimberly, Wis. Neenah won, 65-60

After Hortonville was whistled for a foul in the backcourt, Neenah standout sophomore Allie Ziebell hit two free throws with 21.7 seconds left to break a 60-60 tie.

Hortonville inbounded, sending the ball ahead for Kamy Peppler, who picked it up and shouted for a timeout near midcourt.

But the trailing official blew his whistle and assessed a travel on Peppler instead. As boos rained down from the stands, coach Celeste Ratka was assessed a technical foul for arguing.

Ratka, nee Hoewisch, is a former Hortonville star herself and two-time first-team all-conference player at UW-Green Bay, named co-MVP of the Horizon League in 2011.

Neenah split the subsequent free throws but was given another inbound because of the technical, then Ziebell was fouled and went to the line for two more freebies to make it 65-60. She finished the game with 30 points.

Down two possessions with 11.8 seconds to go, Hortonville was unable to score again.

Neenah advanced to face Appleton East in the 1 p.m. sectional final in Oshkosh on Saturday.

Ziebell, who's received a number of NCAA Division I offers, is already the all-time leading scorer in Neenah girls basketball history despite only being a sophomore. She surpassed the school record that had stood since 1979 in the regional with a 43-point performance against Wausau West, and she's now up to 1,258 career points.

You be the judge; was it the right call?

JR Radcliffe can be reached at (262) 361-9141 or jradcliffe@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JRRadcliffe.

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This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Timeout or travel? Controversial call keys Neenah upset of Hortonville