Topics to Follow This Week

Over the second week of the season, I'm looking at a few intriguing topics heading into the week, so we'll talk about them today. They're mainly games to watch, but there are underlying details in all of them.   Hortonville vs. Pewaukee   Two polar opposite sides are coming into this game. Pewaukee comes in off an extremley impressive win in Green Bay against Notre Dame and no doubt will at least be riding some of that high into Kettle Moraine. However, on the other side, we don't know what they plan on doing rotationally because they haven't played a game yet. I assume their starting five will include [player_tooltip player_id='533074' first='Kardyn' last='Peppler']-[player_tooltip player_id='374227' first='Rainey' last='Welson']-[player_tooltip player_id='209902' first='Kallie' last='Peppler']-[player_tooltip player_id='266988' first='MiKayla' last='Werner'], but after that, I could give you ideas of what they'll roll out, but I can't be sure.   Each team is coming off a trip to the Resch Center last season, and some have them the favorites in their respective divisions. That said, if you can be in KM for that game, I highly recommend it.   Laconia vs. Racine Prairie   I talked last season about how the likely sectional final matchup between Laconia and Racine Prairie would essentially be for a state title, and I ended up being correct. This season, the matchup at KM could be s a preview of what we see early in the afternoon at the Resch Center on March 9th. Both sides have the vast majority of their rotation back but come into the game in a different form.   Laconia welcomed two teams who may also be in Green Bay in Oostburg and Xavier to Rosendale and walked out of the first week 2-0. I thought they got contributions from all of their rotational kids. [player_tooltip player_id='342096' first='Tierney' last='Madigan'] scored it efficiently, [player_tooltip player_id='448258' first='Payton' last='Morgan'] kept shooting it well, [player_tooltip player_id='375953' first='Aubrey' last='Leonard'] continued to lead the show, and Callista Vande Berg did all the dirty work. Even kids like Eva Engel hit big shots, Molly Duel gave the Spartans massive minutes in their opener against Oostbug, [player_tooltip player_id='764914' first='Finley' last='Morgan'] showed why she's so highly thought of amongst her peers, and Kaylee Taplin hit some shots for the Spartans.   On the other side, Prairie took a hefty defeat against a solid Pius XI team with a new-look rotation. However, that likely means that the Hawks will come into this one with enhanced focus because they lost to Laconia last season, but also to right the ship this season. Watch for [player_tooltip player_id='374228' first='JJ' last='Glass-Barnes'], [player_tooltip player_id='529543' first='Reese' last='Jaramillo'], and [player_tooltip player_id='209599' first='Ava' last='Collier-White'] to make an impact in this one.   Monona Grove at Waunakee   Speaking of teams coming into a significant game with different form, MG and Waunakee fits that bill.   Monona Grove, one could argue, was a few bounces of the ball away from making a trip to the Resch Center a year ago, and that argument has some ground to stand on. However, they dropped a tough one against Watertown to start the season after everything seemed to go against them for the final 25 or so minutes. Although they'll come into the game tonight on a loss, they'll be dangerous. If they play well, all their pieces will look like they fit together perfectly, and they're a well-drilled bunch who've been around a while. Kids like [player_tooltip player_id='209606' first='Aubrey' last='Smith'], Karsyn Nelson, [player_tooltip player_id='329598' first='Abbey' last='Inda'], and Brooklyn Torotorice have been around and will have something for the Warriors.   After the first couple of games, it's been the [player_tooltip player_id='209590' first='Claire' last='Meudt'] show for Waunakee. She's scored 33 and 29 in the Warriors' first two games, each being wins against competitive teams. However, with how the Silver Eagles defend, I doubt she'll get to those numbers tonight, but that could mean she plays more as a distributor, which she can do. I'd look for the other backcourt kids to make plays, specifically Claire's sister, [player_tooltip player_id='533066' first='Audrey' last='Meudt'], and freshman [player_tooltip player_id='751287' first='Tessa' last='Bryan']. Each can rack up points on their day and will stress test the backline of Monona Grove's defense.   Pius XI vs. Vel Phillips Memorial   I love early-season "prove it" games, and this is the most obvious one of the week.    Pius has some new rotation pieces like [player_tooltip player_id='632387' first='Charlotte' last='Wentworth'] but has players who are proven significant pieces in [player_tooltip player_id='338944' first='Georgia' last='Acompanado'], [player_tooltip player_id='338964' first='Addison' last='Miranda'], and [player_tooltip player_id='338941' first='Tess' last='Wiczek']. We know that Pius will be good.   On the Memorial side, I see an eager group ready to prove themselves. Heck, look at last season. They went to Minnesota and played one of the better large schools in AAAA in Minnetonka. They want to be tested by the best. They're 2-0 in the Big Eight, beating Middleton and Sun Prairie West, two solid wins. However, Pius XI will be a challenge. The backcourt matches up well with [player_tooltip player_id='533075' first='Avery' last='Blue'] and [player_tooltip player_id='751263' first='Kennedi' last='Harden']. It also helps that they have some size with [player_tooltip player_id='844208' first='Princess' last='Nwachukwu'], who could play a sizeable role in this game.

Over the second week of the season, I'm looking at a few intriguing topics heading into the week, so we'll talk about them today. They're mainly games to watch, but there are underlying details in all of them.