Close loss foil some area teams, wins make some conference champions
If only it was horseshoes that was being played.
Because coming so close to could only have been satisfying in one game, but not in another, namely, basketball.
Augusta and Osseo-Fairchild came close last week. Close to beating top teams in the Dairyland Conference, Whitehall and Cochrane-Fountain City respectively. But not close enough.
The Beavers, 5-19, were beaten 77-76 last week Tuesday, Feb. 18 on a last-second shot by Whitehall (17-7) freshman and leading scorer Paige Lisowski near half-court as the buzzer sounded and time expried. The Norse led for much of the ocntest but not b more than 10 which gave the Beavers every opportunity for the win the way they were shooting ferom the outside in the ocntest. Augusta frallied from nine down in the second half to take a brief lead late when Lisowski hit her game-winning shot. She led all scorers with 28 while teammate Aryana Ausderau had 16 points. Augusta was led by 15 points from Cecelia Schroeder, 13 points from Brooklyn Krueger, 10 points from Stella Zank, 13 from Rilee Bethke and 10 from Laney O'Brien, one of the Beavers best games on offense this season.
"As frustrating, disappointing and heartbreaking moments and games this can be we still have to let it sink in to know we have the potential to be a good team and what we have to do to win games like this." AHS head coach Ashlyn Korger said.
Indeed, the competitive losses kept on coming for Augusta as they fell in their regular season finale last week Friday, Feb. 21 at home to Alma/Pepin 64-56. The beavers take on Melrose-Mindoro at Mel-Min Tuesday evening, Feb. 25 in a first round, WIAA Division 4 regional tournament contest with winner taking on top seed and No. 4 ranked La Crosse Aquinas (20-4), winners of the Mississippi Valley Conference on Friday, Feb. 28 in La Crosse. The Mustangs, 13-11 overall, knocked off the Beavers twice this season, 74-35 and a much closer 67-59 score the second time aroundm, led by their leading scorer and one of the Large Dairland's top player Anna Radcliffe at 13.4 points per game for junior point guard and her backcourt mate and fellow junior Cooper Zeman, who leads the tyeam in rebounds and assists.
The Thunder (2-21) had a chance to knock off C-FC at home on Thursday, Feb. 20 in a rescheduled contest and deny them the co-conference championship of the Small Dairyland with Blair-Taylor but were unable to and lost 58-56. The Pirates' Catelyn Comro saved them with a 19 point, eighth rebound effot after O-F had controlled the second half. B-T, 18-6 overall, made sure to nail down their portion Small Dairyland title by beating O-F by a score of 60-38 on Friday, Feb. 21 at B-T and winning at Independence/Gilmanton 53-52 in a rescheduled contest on Saturday, Feb. 22. Osseo-Fairchild, a No. 12 seed in Division 4 takes on No. 5 seed Onalaska Luther (18-6) on Tuesday, Feb. 25 in the first round. Luther was a runner-up in the Coulee Conference to West Salem this season and is led by scoring and assists leader and UW-Platteville bound senior Macie Neumeister at 13.4 points per contest.
Speaking of close but no cigar, the agony Independence/Gilmanton went through last week had to be heartbreaking even if a fan of another team. The Indee Panthers, 19-5 overall, were a mere five points away from winning a conference title but a 67-63 overtime loss at home to Whitehall where they gave up a 10-point second half lead and a 53-52 defeat to Blair-Taylor 24 hours later, also in Indy, was a dinner of ashes for them. They at least have time to regroup before they play again on Friday as a No. 1 seed against either No. 8 seed New Lisbon (11-13) or No. 9 Alma/Pepin (12-12).
Eleva-Strum isn't complaining. Indy/Gilmanton's stumbles and their wins won the Redbirds the undisputed Large Dairyland Conference title. The Cardinals, 18-6 overall, took care of business last week by beating both Melrose-Mindoro on Tuesday, Feb. 18 by a 66-37 score at home as they outscored the Mustangs 43-18 in the second half led by Avery Glenz's 18 points, 11 from Maddea Brown, and 14 from Neely Lasher. Glenz also had eight rebounds and four assists and Avery Spanberg had five steals. On Friday, Feb. 21 in Eau Claire, the Cards avenged an earlier-season loss, as they've done many times this season, to Immanuel Lutheran (12-11) 60-50. Glenz led the way again for E-S with 25 points, Brown had 10, Lasher nine and Avaya Zweifelhofer scored 10 points. After the game was tied at halftime 27-27, Central had another strong second half performance. E-S, the No. 2 seed hosts No. 15 seed and winless LaFarge in the first round of the playoffs Tuesday, Feb. 25.
"We knew to win conference would be a challenge," E-S head coach Dave Hazuga said. "We've been in a lot of close, tough games all year and that went a long way in preparing us for each big as it came upon us, especially on Friday. I was very happy with their effort and poise."
Also not close to their goal was No. 9 ranked Fall Creek. The Crickets won their 19th game and got some time off to prepare for a tough regional assignment after winning the overall Cloverbelt Conference title, the school's 10th, 48-41 over No. 6 Neillsville on the Warriors' home floor Saturday, Feb. 22. It was the second time this season FC had down Neillsville (21-3). During the game, FC junior Jasmin Heuer scored the 1000th point of her school playing days.
WIAA Tournament brackets: https://halftime.wiaawi.org/CustomApps/Tournaments/Brackets/HTML/2025_Ba...
