Boys Basketball

River Falls took care of business, beating Rice Lake 81-50 and rallying from down 14 points to beat Rhinelander 70-69. At 16-6 overall and 11-2 in Big Rivers Conference play, River Falls simply needs to beat Eau Claire North at home Feb. 26 to secure at least a share of the conference title. The Wildcats are a No. 1 seed with a bye and will face the winner of No. 8 Rice Lake and No. 9 Lakeland on March 6.

The Middle Border Conference duo are finishing the regular season exceptionally, each entering the final week riding five-game winning streaks. Prescott demolished Somerset 84-50 and cruised past Osceola 61-47. The win over Osceola marked win number 300 for Head Coach Nick Johnson. Ellsworth took down Baldwin-Woodville 67-53 and Amery 83-71. Prescott is a No. 2 seed, receiving a bye and taking on the winner of No. 7 Amery and No. 10 Somerset on March 6. Ellsworth has a No. 6 seed, hosting No. 11 Baldwin-Woodville on March 3.

Spring Valley took a rivalry win over Elmwood/Plum City despite a valiant comeback effort from the Wolves 65-55. Days later, Durand-Arkansaw got the better of the Cardinals 66-35. EPC sandwiched the rivalry loss with a 58-46 win over Boyceville and a 73-64 loss to Mondovi. Spring Valley has a No. 11 seed and will head to No. 6 Luther on March 3. Elmwood/Plum City’s No. 10 seed sends the team to No. 7 Wonewoc-Center on March 3.

Girls Basketball

Ellsworth closed the regular season on the right note, beating New Richmond 72-50 and Altoona 47-45 to close the year with wins in three of the last four games. No. 10 Ellsworth takes on No. 7 St. Croix Falls on the road Feb. 24 to open the postseason. Prescott will take on the winner of Ellsworth and St. Croix Falls at home Feb. 27. The Cardinals closed the year with a 66-35 win over Somerset and a 44-40 loss to MBC Champion Baldwin-Woodville.

EPC wrapped up its season with a split week, beating Chetek-Weyerhaeuser 49-42 at home and losing to Boyceville 52-35. The Wolves are a No. 13 seed in the postseason and will head to Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran to take on the No. 4 Lancers on Feb. 24. Spring Valley also went even on the week, beating Glenwood City 56-49 and losing to Mondovi 55-48. The Cardinals landed a No. 8 seed and will host No. 9 Augusta on Feb. 24 in the playoffs’ opening round.

River Falls took a run at two of the state’s best in Regis and Rice Lake, but came up just short with 63-50 and 57-49 losses. No. 6 River Falls is heading to Onalaska on Feb. 24 for the playoff opener.

Wrestling

Ellsworth and Spring Valley/Elmwood wrestled at Team Sectionals over the weekend. The Panthers took second place, beating Regis/Altoona 51-22, losing to GET 57-20, beating Mauston/Necedah 39-35 and beating West Salem/Bangor 41-29. SVE was eliminated in the opening round against Cadott 46-22.

A week ago, Ellsworth’s Hunter Bench (113), SVE’s Asher Turner (165) and Jack Steinmeyer (215), Prescott’s Bryce Feran (106) and River Falls’ Jacob Hutchins (190) and Oliver Larson (126) secured bids to the boys Individual State Tournament. SVE’s Delia Larson (185) and Prescott’s Addy Allsop (114) joined the boys a week later with huge showings at Sectionals to qualify themselves. Individual State is Feb. 26-28 at the Kohl Center.

Hockey

The River Falls boys dominated the playoff opener, winning 9-1 over West Salem. The Wildcats now host Menomonie on Feb. 24. River Falls beat Menomonie 7-4 and 6-2 in the pair of head-to-head games this season.
The St. Croix Valley Fusion, which just wrapped up a seventh consecutive conference championship season, received a playoff bye and will now face Hudson on Feb. 24. The Fusion beat Hudson 6-0 and 5-3 in the regular season matchups.

Gymnastics

River Falls took third place out of seven teams at the Big Rivers Conference meet with a 136.100 score. Ruby Amundson again won the individual all-around title with a 36.500 and the bars title with an 8.950. Ava Petraitis finished just outside the top 10 in all-around for the Wildcats to provide a spark.