Girls Basketball

Elmwood/Plum City had two great wins over the week, beating Chetek-Weyerhaeuser 53-29 and Thorp 57-27. Not only did the Wolves get the wins, but they also cruised to notable results.

After losing 66-57 to Red Wing, River Falls bounced back with a 60-55 win over Menomonie in the first Big Rivers conference test.

Spring Valley also split its games with a conference-opening win. The Cardinals beat Mondovi 54-52 after trailing 33-21 at the half. Cadott got the best of them over the weekend with a 70-63 scoreline.

Ellsworth split two conference bouts, beating Osceola 58-51 at home and losing 59-39 against St. Croix Central on the road. Prescott lost 63-58 to St. Croix Central and 75-63 to Amery on the week. The Ellsworth/Prescott rivalry renews Dec. 11 at Prescott.

Boys Basketball

Prescott stayed busy and went 3-0 during the opening week, winning 63-52 over Durand-Arkansaw, 101-67 over Colfax and 69-51 over Elk Mound. As the Cardinals seek a conference title, they took the first steps in the right direction.

Ellsworth’s season opener was at Black River Falls, winning 93-84 despite allowing 44 points to junior Braylon Backaus. While 44 looks like a wild number on paper, Backaus has made it the norm this season, scoring 46 and 38 in the Tigers’ other two matchups.

Spring Valley lost to Alma/Pepin 45-25 and Thorp 56-54. The Cardinals saw every major contributor graduate a year ago, so the underclassmen are seeing their first real taste of varsity minutes.

EPC lost 76-69 to Clear Lake, 71-36 to Osseo-Fairchild and 72-32 to Stanley-Boyd to begin the year.

River Falls lost its lone game, falling 85-59 to St. Paul Central. The Wildcats lift off with a much larger slate of games in the coming weeks.

Wrestling

It was an insane week of action on the mat. Ellsworth beat Prescott 51-13 and lost to St. Croix Central 66-11, beating Chippewa Falls 43-33 later in the week. Prescott also lost to the formidable St. Croix Central 69-12. River Falls beat Cannon Falls 45-29 and lost to St. Croix Falls 48-24.

At the Ellsworth Invitational, River Falls placed sixth, Spring Valley/Elmwood seventh, Ellsworth eighth and Prescott 12th of 14 competitors. Junior Jacob Hutchins won the 190-pound bracket for River Falls.

The River Falls girls also had a strong opening event at Saint Michael-Albertville.

Hockey

The River Falls boys moved to 3-1 on the year after splitting a pair of conference games. The Wildcats won a high-scoring 7-4 bout over Menomonie and followed it up with a 5-3 loss against Chippewa Falls.

The St. Croix Valley Fusion did not take the ice, resuming action Dec. 9, hosting Western Wisconsin Co-op and Dec. 12, hosting Hastings.

Gymnastics

River Falls had its season opening competition at Wisconsin Rapids over the weekend, taking third of seven against a group of large schools, scoring a 136.125. The Wildcats were not far off the 136.85 winning score from Stevens Point. Ruby Amundson took second individually in the all-around competition.

Boys Swim and Dive

River Falls is getting into some conference competition, heading to Rice Lake on Dec. 11, Chippewa Falls on Dec. 18 and Eau Claire Memorial on Dec. 20.