Big Wins From Early in the Season

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Plenty of teams have won significant games early in the season, but today, I'd like to highlight some of the biggest wins in the young campaign. Plenty of games qualify for this, but I wanted to highlight four.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Kaukauna 70, Hortonville 59</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The FVA is a crazy place where plenty of the state's best talent plays and thrives. Last season, Hortonville had a stranglehold on the conference going undefeated in the conference season. [player_tooltip player_id='266984' first='Alexa' last='Kinas'] scored 21 points, and [player_tooltip player_id='206730' first='Alana' last='Zarneke'] poured in 15 in the Galloping Ghosts' win. Nothing about the game felt flukey. It seemed like everything Kaukauna did was something repeatable. They forced the shots they wanted the Polar Bears taking, and they had a good but not out-of-this-world shooting performance. The Galloping Ghosts are a team that's been one of the best in the state this season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Waupun 63, Freedom 33</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I've been a big fan of [player_tooltip player_id='209617' first='Kayl' last='Petersen'], [player_tooltip player_id='374233' first='Lydia' last='Aalsma'], and [player_tooltip player_id='209618' first='Gracie' last='Gopalan'] since it became clear those three would have most of the responsibility at Waupun. Those three can all handle, distribute, score, rebound, and defend. They all dominated the game. They'll likely see again at the Resch. Even though the game was a blowout, don't be surprised if these two play again if it's competitive. It got ugly early.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Whitnall 39, New Berlin West 36</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Falcons struggled a season ago, and this game feels like the entire program turned a corner. New Berlin West came off a win against a talented Eisenhower team, and people seemed to be high on them early this season, but Whitnall was not a team that West dealt with well. The scrappy guards of Abby Koch, [player_tooltip player_id='329604' first='Grace' last='King'], and Riley Ward earned nine steals together, and they beat one of the teams people thought of highly in the D2 ranks.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Edgerton 75, McFarland 58</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I thought McFarland could run away with Rock Valley and do so in a dominant fashion. However, the Crimson Tide thoroughly beat a team I think could be a sneaky contender in what appears to be an obvious D2 finale. [player_tooltip player_id='533071' first='Marti' last='Rebman'] was one of the more surprising players in the game the way she controlled the tempo, and seniors Shannon Rusch and [player_tooltip player_id='206699' first='Sylvia' last='Fox'] led the way with 17 points, with Rebman adding 16. The Crimson Tide aren't a team to write off in D3 after showing what they could do to the Spartans.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->