Girls basketball season has come to a close, with county squads going 1-5 during Regionals to each be eliminated. Prescott secured the lone win, falling in the Regional Final a day later.

Prescott

With a No. 2 seed and a bye, Prescott dominated Saint Croix Falls at home, winning 60-40. Senior Violet Otto was absolutely dominant, scoring 29 points on 12-of-18 shooting.

“We didn’t play our best game, but we played good enough to win,” Head Coach Owen Hamilton said. “Made some shots, made the ones that counted. I thought we played some pretty good defense."

The win lined Prescott up with No. 3 Baldwin-Woodville, a team that narrowly beat Prescott 44-40 in the regular season finale. The Blackhawks came out swinging to blow the game open with a 17-2 lead and would not cough it up in a 66-49 win.
“Some uncharacteristic stuff. I mean, we shot 3-for-25 from three as a team that shoots outstanding the entire year. Baldwin shoots 50% from three as a team that doesn’t shoot very well throughout the year,” Hamilton said. “It’s just how the game goes… It’s just unfortunate that we couldn’t play our basketball at the time we needed it.”

Prescott’s senior class is made up of Otto, Nora Boles and Talli Roth.

“They’ve meant everything. Got a player of the year, hopefully two-time coming up here with Violet Otto. Kind of the heart and soul of everything,” Hamilton said. “As a group, they came in and wanted to win a lot of games, and play the right way and do things the right way. They left this place so much better than they came into it at, and I think that just says enough about them as it is. They just really mean everything, and it’s tough to see them go, but I know they’re going to kill it everywhere else they go too.”

Prescott finished 16-10 overall and 9-5 in Middle Border Conference play, good for a third-place finish in the league.

River Falls

The No. 6 Wildcats got a first-round bye, going up against No. 3 Onalaska on Friday in the Regional Semi-final. The Hilltoppers got into a low-scoring bout with River Falls, eliminating the road Wildcats 43-35. River Falls trailed 19-14 at the half and could not seem to find the second half surge necessary to claim the lead.

Seniors Hayley Quinn and Abigail Treichel are the two moving on from the Wildcats. They finished the season 13-12 with a 7-7 conference record. River Falls has a stacked sophomore cast eager to take the reins and lead the team next season.

Spring Valley

No. 8 Spring Valley came up short against No. 9 Augusta, falling behind 23-4 early and not finding a comeback push in a 66-43 loss.

The Cardinals were led by a freshman trio in scoring as Riley Zimmerman tallied 11, Amelia Brunner nine and Kemri Schlegel seven.

Spring Valley had a solid season at 12-13 despite missing the previous season’s leading scorer in Jada Hoolihan for the entire year due to injury. Seniors Rylie Fritz, Addison Nelson and Addison Neidermyer now part ways with the team.

Ellsworth

No. 7 Ellsworth fell just short on the road against No. 10 Saint Croix Falls, losing 51-50 to a late comeback effort.

The Panthers roared out of the gates to take a 9-3 lead, with the Saints punching right back to take a 10-9 lead of their own. The Saints went on a run to end the half, leading 25-18 with 18 minutes of basketball to play.

An 8-0 run for Ellsworth early in the half did the trick, slimming the Saint Croix Falls lead down to just 27-26. Sophomore Jenna Stoltenburg hit a three from the right wing for Ellsworth, followed by a pair of free throws from Alivia Maher for a 48-43 lead with a minute to go. The Saints countered with a three, turned up the ball pressure to force a steal and score a fastbreak layup to tie things with 40 seconds left. Stoltenburg got a chance at the line and made it count with two huge makes; however, a three-pointer with 30 seconds from the Saints made the difference in a one-point game. Maher led the team with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

After Ellsworth’s 8-17 season, the Panthers say goodbye to seniors Libby Groh and Lexi Marks.

Elmwood/Plum City

No. 14 seed Elmwood/Plum City kept it close early at No. 3 Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran, but the Lancers ultimately pulled away to end the Wolves’ season. After falling behind 11-0 in the opening seven minutes, EPC sophomore Polly Webb caught a friendly bounce on corner three to get the Wolves on the board.

EPC leveraged that basket into a run to cut the Eau Claire lead to 14-11. Junior Allison Sauve hit a tough baseline shot at the buzzer for a halftime score of 23-18 in the Lancers’ favor.

In the second half, EPC trailed by about 10 throughout until a late Eau Claire run put the nail in the coffin for a 54-33 final score.

EPC was 8-17 on the season and will say goodbye to seniors Addasin Ingli, Willow Cripe, Ellison Maxwell and Madelyn Kopp. It was a big season for the Wolves, improving from one win in a two-year span to an eight-win season.