SHOTS from the Hip

The Prescott girls basketball team finds themselves tied atop the Middle Border Conference after a hard fought, defensive-minded victory over Baldwin-Woodville.

Brynley Goehring’s fivefoot, left-handed floater and Katrina Budworth’s two free throws sealed the victory for the Cardinals. Joan Korfhage’s charges will travel to Ellsworth this Friday with sole possession of first place on the line.

Junior guard Jordan Malmlov is on the verge of becoming the next Cardinal cager to score 1,000 career points. Doing so will make Malmlov the first Prescott boys basketball player to reach the coveted scoring mark during their junior season.

Currently five boys have reached millenarian status. They include Randy Hansen, Clay Seifert, Owen Hamilton, Parker Nielsen and Peter Brookshaw. Prescott girls who have scored 1,000 points include Kollyn Eichman, Haylee Yaegar, Kaycee Charette and Isabella Lenz.

Incidentally, Cardinal sophomore Dallas Wallin is poised to surpass 500 points later this month and is also on pace to eclipse 1,000 points during his junior season.

Last week’s column shared some thoughts from area officials about coaches in western Wisconsin. But what about players? The same cadre of referees were asked to identify athletes with extraordinary talent, game acumen and respectfulness. Among the best included Flambeau High School alumnus Jim Leonard, a three-sport athlete and valedictorian who was identified by four officials as being among the best baseball, football and basketball players they have ever seen. Other area stars named by the officials included Ellsworth’s Nate Gruber, Prescott’s Peter Brookshaw, and Ellsworth’s Karen Fenske. Additionally, those identified as among the most respectful athletes included 1999 Prescott grad and Ripon College Hall of Famer Nick Thoen and Spring Valley Cardinal alumnus Sean Hoolihan. When it comes to disrespectful or classless players? Best to leave that list private.

This is for high school basketball scoreboard watchers. The West Salem Tigers lost a non-conference game to Eau Claire Memorial last week by a score of 84-63. However, be careful as you analyze the outcome of this contest. The Memorial Old Abes entered last week as the #4 ranked team in Division I and have a record of 12-2 with losses coming to #3 ranked Appleton East in Division I, and #3 ranked La Crosse Central in Division 2. West Salem, ranked #2 in Division III, may be on a collision course with Prescott in the tournament. Henceforth many Prescott rooters are consistently checking scores weekly with one high school faculty member (not a coach) being among the most crazed and obsessed scoreboard watchers in the district.

Did you know … Nicole Gale, a 1994 Prescott graduate and a former All Conference performer in track and basketball, recorded three triple doubles in points, steals, and rebounds during the 1993-94 basketball season … UW-La Crosse basketball alumnus and Prescott All Conference performer Abby Johnson is listed among the top free throw shooters in Eagles History. Johnson played for UW-La Crosse from 2003-2007 and shot a career best 81.3% from the charity stripe during her junior year and well over 70% for her career … The Wisconsin State Fish is the Muskellunge and the State Wildlife Animal is the Whitetail Deer. Yes, that is correct. The whitetail deer is the state wildlife animal, the badger is the state animal. Look it up.

Retired Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame Coach Mark Fuller will be hosting the 40th Annual Western Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Clinic at Nezzy’s in Cumberland, Wi. Speakers include former Major League Umpire Tim Tschida, Carroll College Head Coach Stein Rear, and Concordia-Wisconsin Head Coach Eddy Morgan. Cost of the clinic is $50.

Headshaker of week. Today we don’t have to write down directions because Google Maps tell us exactly where we need to go. Today, instead of our minds, many of us use calculators for simple addition and subtraction. And seemingly all answers to general trivia questions are just a Google search away. We live in an age where we have almost instantaneous access to information. Therefore, I would argue that when it comes to the acquisition of knowledge it allows us to become lazy because the answer is just a search button away. When it comes to general knowledge about sports this was on full display this week. I asked a teenager who participates in athletics if they had heard of three players, each from a different sport. Here were my questions. Have you heard of Brooks Robinson? Have you heard of Wilt Chamberlain? Have you heard of Joe Montana? The response to each was the same. “No.” “No.” “No.” Now that’s a headshaker.

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