Great Northern Conference Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Today, we highlight two conferences that produced three sectional champions in D1 and D2, respectively. The first one we're highlighting is the Great Northern Conference. After that, we looked at the only conference that sent two teams to the state tournament in the Greater Metro Conference.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Lakeland</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The T-Birds won the Great Northern and made it to the state tournament for the first time since 1993. Although they came up short against a talented Pewaukee team, they did themselves proud and played well against the Pirates. Although Julianna Ouimette is gone and will begin her career at Lehigh shortly, there are still talented pieces left from the Sectional Champions from a season ago. [player_tooltip player_id='338940' first='Kristina' last='Ouimette'], who shared Conference POY with her older sister, is back and made the most three-pointers out of anyone in the state in her sophomore season. [player_tooltip player_id='448291' first='Saylor' last='Timmerman'], a talented softball kid, is back for her junior season. The T-Birds could play two 6-1 kids and play taller than anyone else in the GNC.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Mosinee</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After some talented 22s and 23s left over the past few seasons, the next kid coming through at Mosinee is sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='842211' first='Taelyn' last='Jirschele']. The undersized good has a nice-looking jumper and will improve as she gets stronger. The newcomer earned first-team all-conference honors in her first year in the GNC and will be a staple of Mosinee over the next few seasons.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Antigo</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>5-11 forward Sophie Schlieve is gone and will continue her playing career at Ripon. Now that she's gone, there's plenty of opportunity for others to step up and carve out a new role for themselves. The two names to remember will be the next two leading scorers, junior Tristin Arlen, and senior Keelyn Zwirschitz.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rhinelander</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Hodags will boast the best newcomer in the conference and one of the best in the state in Aubryn Clark, who had a standout summer with [program_tooltip program_id='712778' first='Purple' last='Aces'] and at a few elite camps. Her addition is even more significant after losing the conference's leading scorer, Ava Lamers, last spring.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Medford</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The two leading scorers for Medford last season are gone, and they'll look to improve this season with returners like Breanna Kraemer hopefully thriving in a more prominent role.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Northland Pines</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Northland Pines will look to improve on their past season's performance from within and continue to battle.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Tomahawk</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sophomore Claire Albert is back, and Tomahawk will look to creep closer to the ten-win mark this season after finishing last season with seven.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>My Predictions</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Lakeland</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Rhinelander</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Mosinee</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Antigo</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Medford</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Northland Pines</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Tomahawk</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list -->