State Gymnastics, Girls Basketball Sectionals, Boys Regionals (3/6)

Lots of stuff going on this weekend, so bare with me on it. I'm doing it in order of state>sectional>regional.


STATE GYMNASTICS

We had two gymnasts place in the top 10 for the all around in division 2. Karla Hagen from the Viroqua co-op brought in a 3rd place. She's not just one of the best gymnasts in the area, she's one of the state's elite as well. Congratulations to her on an excellent season and an excellent finish! Courtney Oldenburg from West Salem/Aquinas brought home 7th place.

On individual events, Oldenburg took 2nd place on the balance beam with a 9.25. Hagen took 2nd on the bars and top 5 finishes on floor and vault. Another one of the area's elite, Erin Jennings placed 6th on beam.

Team preview was earlier this week.

SECTIONAL GIRLS BASKETBALL

Logan lost in a heart breaker by 1, Independence lost to number 1 in state Assumption and Weston fell to Potosi. Congratultions to all those teams on a great season.

Aquinas won in overtime and will be taking on Cuba City for a chance to go to state. This will be a VERY tough game for the Blugolds as this young Cuban squad hasn't lost yet this season (and only twice in the last 4 years) and they come in the favorites after beating Wisconsin Heights by 18.

The two players to really watch out for are guards Emily Kaiser and Megan Moor, both average more than 9 points per game.

The Cubans are a strong perimeter shooting team and a very good defensive team. They routinely score into the 60s while keeping their opponents in the 30s and 40s. Aquinas prefers to keep games low scoring and if they want to do that tonight it's going to take a lot of good defense. To win, I think the Blugolds need to try to keep up, use Kassie McGettigan to exploit the teams lone weakness, post play, and run run run to try to keep Cuba City from setting up an offense. I'm certainly routing for the Blugolds but this is an uphill battle.

REGIONAL BOYS BASKETBALL

D2

Black River Falls vs Onalaska - These two teams met up early in the season and BRF won by 7 at Onalaska, but that Onalaska team has improved much and pulled an upset over 2 seeded G-E-T on the road. Pair that with Craig Kowal's excellent coaching, the Hilltoppers may be making a trip to sectionals. But I wouldn't say that to a very good Black River Falls team who stumbled very little on their way to their Coulee Conference co-championship lead by one of the area's best players, Jack Taylor. This game should be a close one.

D3

Eleva-Strum vs Regis - Eleva-Strum comes into this game as the underdogs, but that's a role they've become accustomed to in the playoffs. They laughed off their 5th seeding by taking out number 1 seed, Luck. Regis comes in with a 3rd seed, a 17-5 record and a 3rd place conference finish. I wouldn't put anything past this Eleva-Strum team, I'm certainly routing for a Cardinal win.

Aquinas vs Viroqua - There's nothing I can say about Aquinas that hasn't already been said, they are an excellent team that will be hard for anyone to beat, they're a quick team with a plethora of talent, I'm not sure anyone can beat them. Whitehall gave them a run for it and they did so by trying to outrun Aquinas and they took a lot of people by surprise (proving how good the Dairyland really is) and if the co-Coulee champions want a shot, quick basketball is the key!

D4

Blair-Taylor vs Cornell - Blair-Taylor has their work cut out for them on this one as Cornell won the Lakeland East conference and have only suffered 2 losses all season. They are able to play high scoring games, reaching 90 points twice this season, but also have had some very low scoring games. The Wildcats are favorites in this one, and as long as they control the pace, they should be able to win.

Gilmanton vs. Spring Valley - The Panthers struggled against Plum City on Thursday night winning by 4 in OT, but they got the win which is important. Not much time to rest as they now take on the regions 2 seed who brings in a 13-7 record which gave them a 2nd place finish in the Dunn-St. Croix conference behind a good Mondovi team. The Panthers should win this but it'll be no easy task

Royall vs Assumption - Assumption is an excellent team that Royall will have some trouble with. They beat CRCS with no problem and are ranked 2nd in the state and for good reason. But Royall is not the type of team that rolls over and they could very well stick this one out and if they can keep it close, they can pull out a win in the end.

Hillsboro vs Barneveld - This is a great D4 match-up, Hillsboro is ranked 11th in state and Barneveld is ranked 13th. Both are very good teams and this is the type of match-up that can really turn heads. If you can make it to Reedsburg today, I highly recommend seeing this game.