Tough regional tourney tasks await Fall Creek, Eleva-Strum

There's has been talk in high school basketball circles in Wisconsin i.e. coaches, media and other observers that changed need to be made to fix the WIAA seeding process for basketball, now done by computer to prevent brackets being stacked with so many good teams even if not reflected by record due to tough scheduling.

But until that happens, the Fall Creek High School Girls Basketball Team has no choice. It has to go through what soccer afficinado would call "the regional of death" as the No. 8 ranked Crickets, 19-5 overall take on No. 10 ranked Eau Claire Regis, 18-6 this evening, Friday, Feb. 28 at Fall Creek.

No. 3 seeded FC had a first-round bye while Regis, seeded unbelievably No. 6, trounced No. 11 seeded Unity 82-35 in a first-round match-up on Tuesday, Feb. 25. The other regional semifinal in the bracket tonight pits No. 7 seed Mondovi at No. 2 Durand-Arkansaw. The finals are tomorrow Saturday, March 1 at 7 p.m. at the highest remaining seed.

Both teams shared the Western Cloverbelt Conference title, both teams split their games in the regular season. Both teams area as evenly matched as one can get. For Fall Creek, their defense has to set the tone for their play throughout the tournament either controlling Regis point guard Ella Mae Cooper, just a sophomore but already with 1,000 points in her high school career and this year's WCC scoring champ averaging 24 ppg. or making sure one of her teammates, like Karly Borst or Izzy Reichert doesn't have a big game. The senior Borst is averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds per game and Reichert, a junior, led the conference in assist with near five per contest.

A little offense would help too for Fall Creek and they've been getting that of late from junior center Jasmin Heuer, who last week broke the 1,000-point barrier during the Crickets 48-41 Cloverbelt Conference championship win over No. 9 ranked Neillsville last Saturday, Feb. 22 at Neillsville.

But whoever wins what's sure to be a closely contested and emotional contest will have the challenge of having enough left in the tank in the event of more than likely playing Durand-Arkansaw on the Panthers' home floor 24 hours later. D-A is 19-5 overall but has wins over Regis (56-36) and Fall Creek (47-45) this season already. Top players for the Panthers include their leading scorer senior guard Emma Hoyt at 13.4 ppg., and the Auths, senior Chloe, who averages nearly 10 points and four assists per game and Addison who is the team's leading rebounder. Durand-Arkansaw takes on a Mondovi squad that is having a fine season, 17-8 overall and the No. 7 seed in the field. They bounced Glenwood City out of the tournament 61-23 on Tuesday, Feb. 25 in a first-round match-up. Mondovi finished tied for third with Colfax in Dunn-St. Croix. Senior guard Maddy Marten is the team leader in scoring at 15 ppg. and is up there in both rebounds and assists as is teammates senior forward Amber Lund and sophomore guard Addyson Gray.

Down in Division 5, Eleva- Strum, 19-6 overall, had no problem advancing onward from the first round of the WIAA regional tournament, beating No. 15 LaFarge 62-25 led by 18 points each from Avery Glenz and Aliza Kulig. Next up for the Large Dairyland Champs is going to be a tough assignment facing No. 7 seed Hillsboro at home tonight, Feb. 28. The Tigers are 17-8 overall and won their first-round ballgame over No. 10 seed Royall 45-36. Hillsboro finished third in the usually competitive Scenic Bluffs Conference and are led by senior forward Carmen Erickson. She averages 19.2 ppg. and also leads the team in rebounding and averages 2.5 assists per game. Another team statistical leader for the Tigers is junior guard Alaina Clark.

The winner, tomorrow night, will face either No. 3 seed Kickapoo or No. 6 Cochrane-Fountain City. The Redbirds, who will host the regional final if they win, are well aware of the Pirates, 16-9 overall, having beaten them twice 54-37 and 49-34 this season and are aware of their top scorer and rebounder junior power forward Kaelyn Comero, averaging 15 and eight per contest. C-FC downed No. 11 seed Brookwood 39-26 in the first round. E-S may not be quite as aware of the Panthers of Kickapoo, co-champs of the Ridge and Valley Conference with a 21-4 record. Kickapoo topped No. 14 seed Elmwood/Plum City 49-23 in their first game. The Panthers' top players are senior guard Jadence Nagel, averaging 13.6 ppg. and 3.6 assists and nearly six rebounds per game along with teammate Gwenne Frederickson, a senior forward averaging 12.5 ppg. and nearly six rebounds.

The Division 4 sectional semifinals next Thursday, March 6 are at Hudson in Division 4 and La Crosse Central in Division 5 beginning at 7 p.m.

Two Tri-County Area teams were eliminated from the regional tournaments on Tuesday, Feb. 25. No. 12 seed Osseo-Fairchild lost at No. 5 Onalaska Luther in Division 4 and No.10 seed Augusta lost 62-52 at No. 7 Melrose-Mindoro, also in Division 4.

WIAA Girls Basketball Tournament Brackets: https://halftime.wiaawi.org/CustomApps/Tournaments/Brackets/HTML/2025_Ba...