Wins adding up for Temperly
By Greg Seubert
Brandon Temperly won 47 games in his five seasons of coaching Waupaca High School’s girls’ basketball team.
He already has 52 wins in his third season at Platteville, including a 68-26 victory Jan. 27 against his former team at JustAGame Fieldhouse in Wisconsin Dells.
After coming up one game short or a trip to state last season, the Hillmen are 13-2 and ranked sixth in Division 3 in the latest wissports.net girls’ basketball poll.
After giving up a early basket to Waupaca’s Seattle Lettau, the Hillmen scored the game’s next 18 points, led 38-9 at halftime and outscored the Comets 30-17 in the second half.
Emma Smidt followed up a 27-point effort in Waupaca’s previous game, a 50-47 home loss to Oconto Falls Jan. 23, with a game-high 20 points that included five three-pointers. Lettau scored Waupaca’s other six points.
Samantha Martin led three Platteville players in double figures with 16 points.
Platteville won Southwestern Wisconsin Conference championships in Temperly’s first two years and made to a WIAA Division 3 sectional final last season before falling to eventual state championship Edgewood.
Platteville’s roster consists of three seniors and nine sophomores.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Temperly said. “We’ve had girls buy in to what we want to do and they’ve been competing very hard. When girls buy in and compete hard, good things happen.”
Besides Platteville, the SWC includes Prairie du Chien, Dodgeville, Lancaster, Dodgeville, Richland Center and River Valley.
“That area of the state has some very good basketball,” Temperly said. “Small schools, large schools, it’s just a basketball area. A lot of it had to do with (former University of Wisconsin men’s coach) Bo Ryan, coach (Jerry) Petitgoue from Cuba City, coach (Jeff) Pustina from Cuba City being around there.”
After leaving Waupaca, Temperly coached Platteville’s boys’ junior varsity team for one season before taking over the girls’ program in 2015.
“There was a good youth program established,” he said. “They won their first conference championship two or three years before I started.”
Temperly’s first team finished 17-8.
“That group wasn’t supposed to win a conference title, but really did a great job coming together and was able to overachieve and accomplish the second conference championship in school history,” he said. “Last year, we were able to build on that and win another. This year, we’re in a conference race and currently in second behind a very good Dodgeville team. We’ll see them again in the next couple of weeks and we’ll see what we can do.”
Temperly teaches physical education at Westview Elementary School in Platteville. His wife, Stacy, a former Waupaca teacher, teaches second grade at the school.
“I enjoy coaching at all levels,” Temperly said. “With three daughters, I like to invest my time in something that would have a great benefit not only for me, but for the community as well. That has a lot to do with it. My time in Waupaca also helped shape me a little as far as this is something that I enjoy. The girls seem to enjoy it as well.”
The highlight of Temperly’s five seasons in Waupaca is a 71-65 overtime win over Medford in a Division 2 regional semifinal on the Raiders’ home court. Waupaca trailed 39-18 at halftime and 56-36 after three quarters, but outscored Medford 23-3 in the fourth quarter and 12-6 in overtime.
“We were down (by) 23 points with 7 minutes, 15 seconds left,” Temperly said. “That was a great night. I actually have a cassette of the radio broadcast of the game that Ashlie Hoffman’s father gave me.
“We still talk about that,” he added. “Whenever we have a team that’s down, we can bring that story up and all of a sudden, people start to believe a little more. Hopefully, what this game teaches more than anything is that willingness to compete and give it your all regardless of what happens. If you can do that, you can be pretty proud at the end of the day.”
The Comets’ season ended the following night with a 50-43 loss to Merrill in a regional final.
“We had an opportunity to win that game,” Temperly said. “We just didn’t have enough in the tank from the night before.”
Temperly said his first head coaching job helped lay the groundwork for what his teams have been able to accomplish in Platteville.
“Every first-year coach has a learning curve,” he said. “I was able to spend some time in a very competitive conference and build on the things that I believed in.
“I’ve certainly taken some things from Waupaca and added on every year,” he said. “I owe a lot to the Waupaca family for welcoming my family and me in. It shaped us into who we are today.”