Notes From the Early Portion of the Season

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We're not looking at specific kids today, but we'll catch up with all the news and notes throughout the state. I'll have a handful of stuff you may find interesting as we creep to the halfway mark.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Pewaukee's Dominance</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As a team, shooting 45% from three is the closest you can get to sorcery at the high school level. The Pirates have all the shot makers a team can have, and their unity makes them possibly the most challenging group for an in-state team to beat in a long time.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='374229' first='Amy' last='Terrian'] is at the peak of her shooting powers, making 61% of her three-pointers in her first four games on seven attempts per game. That is unheard of at any level of basketball. Most kids couldn't replicate that success in a gym to themselves, let alone game action. It also helps that [player_tooltip player_id='536013' first='Giselle' last='Janowski'] and [player_tooltip player_id='333100' first='Kennedy' last='Retherford'] are a combined 16/34 from three this season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The way that group defends is a thing of beauty. Every step they take on defense has a purpose, and each player plays for one another. They may not have a dominant post, but teams with a talented post think they can overpower the Pirates around the basket fail because Pewaukee swarms post kids and forces turnovers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>None of that even mentions [player_tooltip player_id='448223' first='Anna' last='Terrian'], [player_tooltip player_id='766616' first='Maddie' last='Chabot'], or [player_tooltip player_id='533084' first='Vanessa' last='Johnson'], or that they won't be 100% this year with [player_tooltip player_id='533087' first='Aubree' last='Spitzner'] out for the season with a knee injury and [player_tooltip player_id='533086' first='Kylie' last='Pieper'] missing most of it with a knee injury herself. Hopefully, Pieper can recover soon enough to play this season, but that's to be determined.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>People from the Milwaukee area, if you haven't seen the Pirates before, I recommend it.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Mount Horeb's Youth Movement</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Over the past few seasons, Mount Horeb has had a competitive group without the ceiling of winning a regional title. However, quietly, they've pieced together a young core who could do something special together these next few seasons.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Morgan Monroe-[player_tooltip player_id='915003' first='Maren' last='Johnson']-[player_tooltip player_id='880249' first='Lauren' last='Mester'] is a backcourt that could make something happen for them in the Badger-Small.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As long as the WIAA doesn't move the Vikings to a new conference, Edgewood will be the measuring stick for Mount Horeb. Those games will show them what level they must reach to get the most out of themselves in their time at Mount Horeb.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Remember, you heard it here first. The Vikings have something brewing.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Division 2 Sectional 1</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The race for this particular sectional is one of the most intriguing. The individual talent here is second to none in D2, and three teams are good enough to earn that plaque. Let's look at those three.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The presumptive favorite has been Lakeland. The T-Birds have been to the state tournament. [player_tooltip player_id='338940' first='Kristina' last='Ouimette'] and [player_tooltip player_id='448291' first='Saylor' last='Timmerman'] know what it takes to get there, and the coach's poll placed them as the highest-ranked D2 team in this sectional.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>However, Rice Lake has thrown a spanner in the works with their road win over Lakeland this past week. The [player_tooltip player_id='533077' first='Adaline' last='Sheplee']-[player_tooltip player_id='914910' first='Addison' last='Schmidt'] duo looked excellent in that game, and the Warriors won without Sheplee having this other-worldly game against the T-Birds.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The team from the bottom half of the sectional to watch is the Shawano Hawks. Newly minted Badger commit [player_tooltip player_id='474774' first='Leah' last='Nordin'] is an uber-talented 6'1 or 6'2 wing who can score from all three levels. They'll have to figure out who they can rely on outside of her game-to-game, but they're in the thick of that race.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->