Tri-County Area ranked prep basketball teams have big games Thursday
Both the Fall Creek High girls and Osseo-Fairchild High School boys basketball teams have made their way into the state rankings this week.
And right away both teams will put those rankings to the test as they face tough competition this Thursday, Jan. 9. Both teams will be at home in both these contests that both begin at 7:15 p.m.
The FCHS girls, 7-3 overall, are now ranked No. 9 in the state in the latest Wisconsin Sports Network State Coaches Poll. Their "Cricket" jump into the polls was largely due to a big upset win over Neillsville, ranked No. 5 at the time, by a 52-36 outcome at FC back on Jan. 3. It was the Warriors first loss of the season and it dropped them to No. 7 in the current poll. Eau Claire Regis is ranked No. 8 in the same poll. (https://www.wissports.net/girls-basketball-coaches-poll)
But it is a team that isn't ranked which leads the West Cloverbelt Conference and that's defending champion Chippewa Falls McDonell. The Macks are only 6-5 overall but are 4-0 in the WCC under new head coach Sally Williams, who replaced veteran head coach Don Cooper during the offseason as he went to Regis as an assistant along with his daughter, sophomore Ella Mae Cooper, the WCC's leading scorer right now at 21.4 ppg. The Macks are led in scoring by returning letterwinners sophomore shooting guard Claire Ruf who is averaging 12 ppg. while another returning letter winner, 6-0 sophomore center Anne Siegenthaler, is averaging nearly 10 ppg. Senior power forward Kendall Hepfler is the team leader in rebounds and also averages nearly 10 ppg. as well.
McDonell has played a very tough schedule so far, taking losses to top-ranked teams like Elk Mound, Neillsville, Onalaska and La Crosse Aquinas. But they've handled their business in the WCC so far, especially a 42-39 win over Regis. For Fall Creek to make its bid for the conference title, with just 12 conference games this season, a win Thursday will be very important. FC also plays this Saturday at home against La Crosse Central in an afternoon tilt at 2:30 p.m.
The O-F boys are 10-0 and have finally broken through into the top 10 in Division 4 at No. 9. But the Thunder face a tough test, perhaps their toughest so far, when they host No. 6 ranked Cochrane-Fountain City this Thursday. Each team are atop their respective divisions in the Dairyland Conference, the Thunder in the Large and C-FC in the Small. The Pirates are ranked in the Division 5 poll. {https://www.wissports.net/page/show/8915716-week-6}
The Pirates are 8-0, having only played Dairyland Conference opponents so far. A troika of their players does the bulk of the scoring and rebounding for C-FC, seniors Cameron Lipinski, Porter Ehrat and Reed Schmidknecht. C-FC has both size, atheleticism and quickness, with a running game similar to that of the Thunder. Cochrane-FC played on Tuesday while O-F was off, with the Pirates routing Independence/Gilmanton 73-41. Lipinski averages 26 ppg while Ehrat is scoring 22 ppg. and Schmidknecht is scoring 11 ppg. Schmidknecht is averaging six points per game and senior forward Grayden Barum leads the team in rebounds averaging seven per game.
Obviously the team which can play the best defense in this situation of similar styles will have the advantange and O-F hopes that spring from the depth they have. They can throw in any number of players to keep the whole team free from serious fatigue and play the tight defense that has fueld an offense averaging almost 80 ppg.
