The River Falls Wildcat girls' basketball team has been dealt their fair share of adversity this season. Hayley Quinn, a likely first-team ALL-BRC player, tore her ACL in AAU last spring and has been in street clothes the entire season. Incoming freshman Brielle Grey was the first Wildcat eighth grader to receive a D1 offer. Grey moved to East Ridge High School in Woodbury over the summer. Another freshman point guard expecting playing time, Eva Englebert had surgeries on both feet and missed the entire season. Eva's dad, Ryan, the assistant coach for the Wildcats and quite possibly the most physically fit person in the state of Wisconsin, had a heart attack in November. Coach Englebert was out for the majority of the year.

The entire program, including JV and varsity teams, only has 16 players. The Wildcats came into the first round of the playoffs against Ashland with a record of six wins and 17 losses.

It would be easy to fold up the tents, start planning spring break, and hit the reset button on this season. It would have been even easier to play selfish in last Tuesday’s game.

That's not what happened. Not even close.

The Wildcats won by 56 points. The final score was 89-23. The Wildcats were up 50-11 at the half. 

The 89 points was season-high. In a game like it was against an opponent like it had, the most amazing stat was River Falls setting the single game program record with 26 assists. Sharing the ball that many times at the end of a long season is a rare accomplishment for any team. Senior point guard Maddie Vitt had a game high seven assists and zero points.  She was genuinely smiling and excited for her teammates’ success on the evening.   

"I like watching everybody score, especially the girls that don't get to play very much," said Vitt. "It was a great game for a last home game." 

"We knew we could get the ball downhill and we did," said senior guard Kaelin Jalowitz. "We attacked the hoop and found our teammates and didn't force anything. It was so fun to go out on a good note."

Jalowitz was 9 of 13 from the floor and knocked down 19 points, including three steals and three assists. Junior Abigail Treichel was 9 of 14 from the floor and scored 20 points to go along with nine rebounds and four steals. Freshman Rylan Sticht scored 20 points on 9 of 10 shooting, including six rebounds and four assists.

It was a game and a season where the Wildcat seniors had every right to crank it up as many times as they wanted, but they chose to pass it even more than they should have. Eight of the 10 Wildcats had assists. Those assists led to easy baskets and 70% shooting from inside the three-point line.

"The first game of the playoffs is tough, right, especially in a season we haven't had a lot of success," said Sticht, "but I like how we responded."

River Falls registered 20 steals on the night and moved their overall record to 7 and 17 on the season.

The Wildcats traveled to Minocqua on Friday for the next round of the playoffs to take on host Lakeland and all-state guard UW-Green Bay signee Kristina Ouimette.

The Wildcats' season ended with a 49-34 loss. They finished the season 7-18 on the year.