The Cats' Den River Falls' student section, what looked to be a collection of about 20 freshmen and sophomore boys, yelled in unison, "O-Ver-Ray-ted," when Rice Lake junior Adaline Sheplee missed a first half shot Tuesday night, Jan. 14 in River Falls for a Big Rivers Conference girls' basketball game.

Sheplee, a smooth and fast 6'3" guard, is the #1 ranked junior recruit in the state of Wisconsin. Sheplee is being recruited by most Big Ten schools. She has over 50 other Division I offers as well.

After Sheplee notched her 18th-point in the first half, Wildcat Activities Director David Crail paid a visit to the Cats' Den to give the raucous boys some cheering lessons telling them their "over-rated" cheer didn't make much sense when Sheplee was almost single-handedly beating the Wildcats. Rice Lake held a 29-24 halftime lead.

"She's (Sheplee) tough," said River Falls' senior guard Kaelin Jalowitz. "Her first step is super quick. She just makes a move and she's gone."

Sheplee finished the game with 34 points on 16 of 22 shooting, racking up eight rebounds, four assists, and three steals, as the Wildcats fell 56-37. Crail was correct. Sheplee was not overrated, not even close. Wildcat Coach Ian Sticht agreed Sheplee's performance Tuesday night may have been one of the best girls' basketball performances in the River Falls' gym.

"There's a big difference from our freshmen playing eighth grade travel ball last year to playing against a bigtime D-1 player (Sheplee) this year," said Sticht.

The Wildcats were led by Jalowitz with 11 points. Freshman Rylan Sticht has been stuffing the stat sheet of late. Sticht finished with 10 points. Rice Lake pulled away in the second half, in part, with the Wildcats shooting 2 of 18 from the three-point line.

The Wildcat/Warrior game Tuesday night also marked a battle of two of the state's top 10 rebounders in division 2. Rice Lake 6'2" sophomore Addison Schmidt is sixth in the state, averaging 12.9 rebounds per game. The Wildcats' 6'2" junior Abigail Treichel is averaging 12.2 rebounds per game, good for eighth in the state. The two powerhouse post players essentially cancelled each other out. Schmidt finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Treichel finished with seven points and eight rebounds.

Eau Claire North- 58, River Falls-51

Abigail Treichel was at it again on the boards, grabbing a game-high 23 to go along with 12 points, but the real story on the night was the injury bug.

North JV player Claire Rinehart went down three minutes into the second half of the junior varsity game. The game was stopped for close to 25 minutes. Rinehart was rolled out on a stretcher and taken to the hospital by ambulance. It would be somewhat positive news for Rinehart, as she was diagnosed with a concussion and a sprained neck. Many were expecting much worse as she was taken from the gym.  The varsity coaches decided to cancel the rest of the JV game, as the varsity game was scheduled to begin.

During warm-ups, senior Jalowitz received an accidental elbow to the eye from her teammate and nextdoor neighbor, Addy Timm.

"That whole 30-minute time period was so bizarre," said Sticht. "The JV game gets cancelled and then Kaelin couldn't see out of her right eye but she was cleared and had no other symptoms. Then on the third possession of the game she sprains her ankle."

With Jalowitz’s ankle on ice and senior Riley Dubois also out, the Wildcats were playing the majority of the game with three freshmen, Treichel and Addy Timm, both juniors, and senior Maddie Vitt.

"I can't tell you how proud I am of Maddie Vitt, she played her heart out." said Sticht.

"Maddie just continues to get better and better on how smart she plays and how she finds her teammates. She brings energy on defense, too."

With a depleted squad, the Wildcats were tied with 30 seconds left and a chance to tie the game with the ball. It was not to be for Coach Ian Sticht and his Wildcats, as they fell to the Huskies 58-51 and dropped to 2-5 in BRC play. Freshmen Rylan Sticht had a team-high 13 points. Sticht was 3 of 6 from behind the arc. Timm finished with 12 points and was 4 of 10 from 3-point land. Vitt had five points, five rebounds, five assists, and three steals.

The Wildcats will host Menomonie on Friday, Jan. 24 at 7:15 p.m.