Byes or not Tri-County Area prep girls hoopsters moving on in tourney

Some sports teams benefit from byes. Other would prefer to play.

Fall Creek High School's prep girls basketball team snagged a No. 4 seed in its WIAA Division 4 regional tournament in spite of a 13-11 record and got a first round bye and got a week's rest from its last contest to get for its regional tournament semifinal contest Friday, Feb. 27 at home vs. No. 5 seed Durand-Arkansaw.

Eleva-Strum, on the other hand, according to head coach Dave Hauzga, preferred to play in the first round on Tuesday, Feb. 24 to keep its recent momentum going and played like a No. 1 seed and No. 1 ranked squad with an 84-15 win over No. 16 Cornell. The unbeaten Cardinals and now moving on to the Division 5 semis Friday, Feb. 27 at home against another team who played Tuesday and a familiar foe: Augusta. The No. 9 seed upended No. 8 Spring Valley 66-43 on the road to win its 10th game this season, it's best mark in three seasons and second win in a row.

D-A improved 17-8 overall but was seeded behind the Crickets in this regional. The Panthers are the defending regional and sectional champions but have just one senior on the team, their leading scorer guard Jaidyn Glaus. Her 12 points helped her team down Osseo-Fairchild in a first-round match-up Tuesday, Feb. 24 in Durand by a 53-28 score. D-A eventually pulled away from the Thunder (1-24 overall) in the second half but it was not the most even or dominating performance against a one-win squad at home. However, FC has not been the most even-team either, as the Crickets won their season opener over D-A back in November but have been up and down ever since. With the team finally healthy and like D-A 's a very young squad with not a lot of seniors outside All-Western Cloverbelt honorees Jasmin Heuer and Becca Sturz, head coach Jason Martzke hopes to find said consistency in the playoffs, which is non-negotiable in a one and done format. The winner will more than likely get No. 2 ranked and No. 1 seed Eau Claire Regis (21-3). The Ramblers face Mondovi in their semifinal contest at home Friday. Olivia Snyder's 18 points and Addy Gray 12 lifted the 12-12 Buffaloes to a 56-41 first-round win over Whitehall on Tuesday, Feb. 24. Regis will counter with the best point-guard in the region in junior Ella Mae Cooper, veteran senior forward and double-figure scorer Izzy Reichert and the 6-5 freshman center Evelyn Borcherding. Regional finals are on Saturday at 7 p.m. with the highest remaining seed the host.

Division 4 bracket: https://tournaments.wiaawi.org/brackets/Basketball/Girls/2026/2026_Baske...

Augusta's Stella Zank made school history in a week's time. The AHS junior broke the career three-point record, surpassing the previous mark of 102 — and she now sits at an incredible 113 career threes! Then at Spring Valley in a first round regional tournament contest on Tuesday, Feb. 24, she did it again — breaking the single-season three-point record! The previous record was 58, and she now has 59 and counting and help the No. 9 seeded Beavers upend No. 8 SV by a 66-43 score.

And just in the nick of time for Zank went down with a knee injury against Eleva-Strum back on Feb. 10 midway through the first half and whatever chance the Beavers to upset the No. 1 Redbirds ended with her out of the game. When she's in there the Beavers have played competitive against the Cards, evening leading them at halftime of their first game back on Dec. 17 by a 31-30 score. By playing on Tuesday E-S hopes to be in a groove and ready to go instead of taking a half off to shake-off the rust, always the potential problem with byes even if the rest this time of the season if often warranted.

The other D-5 regional semifinal pits No. 5 seed Gilman vs. No. 4 Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran. Gilman (13-11) played in the rugged Eastern Cloverbelt against ranked teams like Neillsville, Marshfield Columbus and at times Owen-Withee and finished at .500. They edged Glenwood City at home Tuesday in the first round 41-36. Junior Raygen Souper is their leading scorer at 12 points per game (ppg.) while fellow junior Addy Vick averages nine points and a team-best seven rebounds per contest. Immanuel (11-12) showed the depth of the Dairyland Conference this season by routing Elmwood/Plum City in the first round 55-34. The Lancers are no strangers to either E-S or Augusta. The Cards of course swept them (66-34 and 57-17) while Augusta lost their first game with ECIL by a 63-51 score but won the rematch in Eau Claire 54-42. Immanuel's top player is senior and leading scorer Gabi Radichel. The regional finals are on Saturday, Feb. 28 at the highest remaining seed.

Division 5 bracket: https://tournaments.wiaawi.org/brackets/Basketball/Girls/2026/2026_Baske...

Sectional tournaments are next weekend.