Bay Conference Preview 2025-26

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Final 2024-25 Standings:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>1. West DePere 11-1 (23-6); 2. Shawano 10-2 (21-6); 3. Xavier 9-3 (19-11); 4. Seymour 6-6 (13-11); 5. Menasha 4-8 (14-13) 6. New London 2-10 (6-19); 7. Green Bay East 0-12 (7-17).<br><em><br>Note: West DePere moves to the Fox River Classic Conference while Fox Valley Lutheran and Winneconne join the Bay Conference for 2025-26.</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With the move of West DePere to the FRCC, we are guaranteed a new champion for the 2025-26 season. Here's how I see things shaking out:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>1. Shawano---Looks to be the class of the Bay conference with the return of three-time All-Conference, Wisconsin commit [player_tooltip player_id='474774' first='Leah' last='Nordin'] (6-2, 24.6 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 3.9 spg). She starts her senior season with 1694 career points and will hit 2,000 by January. Lost 54-46 to Rice Lake in the Sectional final and look to replace the graduations of Ella Stuber (9.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg,1.8 apg), Marissa Tomashek (4.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg), Trinity Popelka (3.7 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 2.8 apg), and Hannah Yeager (1.0 ppg). The Hawks return good front court size with senior [player_tooltip player_id='877828' first='Anna' last='Dreier'] (6-0, 5.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and Sophomore Creden Weisnicht (5-11, 1.8 ppg, 2.2 rpg) to go with a backcourt of senior Maci Beyer (5-7, 3.7 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.6 apg) and junior Olivia Pyawasay (5-5, 2.8 ppg, 1.2 rpg) to form a solid starting 5 that looks to make another deep run this season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>2. Xavier---One of the more interesting teams to keep an eye on this season coming off of a trip to the State final game that ended in a 49-36 loss to Oostburg. They return 10 of 12 players and I believe could give Shawano all they can handle for the conference title. They are lead by senior sisters [player_tooltip player_id='766628' first='Brynn' last='Krull'] (5-8,14.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.2 apg) and [player_tooltip player_id='766619' first='Joy' last='Krull'] (5-8, 8.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.8 apg, 2.6 spg). Other top returning players are senior [player_tooltip player_id='533072' first='Layna' last='Petersen'] (6-2, 3.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg) and junior Hailey Hafner (5-5, 9.1 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.6 apg). They will be tested, right out of the gate, opening the season with a rematch on the road, at Laconia (24-5 last season), who beat them by 23 last season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>3. Winneconne---Winneconne (23-4, 10-2 in East Central) makes the move to the Bay conference after winning the East Central conference last season and will be a tough team to play night in and night out. They graduated 5 seniors however they do have 12 players back including juniors [player_tooltip player_id='751291' first='Grace' last='Mitchell'] (5-11, 13.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.5 apg, 3.0 spg), [player_tooltip player_id='1162234' first='Harper' last='Neace'] (6-1, 13.4 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 2.9 spg), [player_tooltip player_id='1225951' first='Brooklyn' last='Messerschmidt'] (5-7, 7.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.5 apg) and senior [player_tooltip player_id='1325497' first='Jada' last='Kaiser'] (5-5, 10.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.3 apg). They have arguable the state's toughest schedule to start the season opening against Markesan (18-8 last season), at Oostburg (D3 champ), vs Wisconsin Dells (21-3) at the Kettle Moraine Thanksgiving Classic, and home against Xavier who they lost to twice last season. They will definitely be "battle hardened" after this early gauntlet!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>4. Fox Valley Lutheran---FVL (10-14, 8-10 in North Eastern) also makes the move to the Bay conference starting this season. Finished their season with a 54-31 loss to Shawano in the Regional final. FVL graduated 5 players accounting for 8.4 points per game however they do return a strong core including seniors Eden Last (5-10, 12.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg), Grace Meier (5-7, 9.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 3.1 spg) and sophomore Brianna Dahlke (5-10, 10.3 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 2.4 spg). Will be tested early playing Cuba City (25-5 last season), at Xavier and at Shawano in the first month.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>5. Menasha---The Blue Jays look to a slight rebuild this season with the graduation of some key contributors including seniors Hannah Neubert (17.9 ppg, 11.6 rpg), Monica Robinson (7.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 3.2 apg), and Olivia Mohr (4.7 ppg, 4.2 rpg). Lost 72-27 to West DePere in the Sectional however the cupboard isn't completely bare returning senior [player_tooltip player_id='636285' first='Rayanna' last='Jenkins'] (5-4, 9.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.0 apg, 2.5 spg) and juniors [player_tooltip player_id='891648' first='Aria' last='Bilke'] (5-9, 9.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 2.0 apg) and [player_tooltip player_id='1225005' first='Madeline' last='Timm'] (5-8, 6.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg) in what will be a very tough Bay conference this season. They open at Ashwaubenon before home games against Pulaski and Seymour and could realistically start the season 3-0 which would help their confidence!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>6. New London---New London is my "dark horse" team that could make some waves this season. Coming off a season where they lost 49-42 in the Regional Final to a very good Marinette team, they return all but one key piece Caitlin Stroessenreuther (5.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg). There is a lot of hope for optimism with their returning nucleus of rising sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='900204' first='Sarah' last='Daly'] (5-10, 7.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg), junior [player_tooltip player_id='879081' first='Morgan' last='Jones'] (6-0, 8.7 ppg, 5.5 rpg), and seniors [player_tooltip player_id='1324202' first='Djunie' last='Langel'] (5-5, 7.5 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 2.7 spg) and [player_tooltip player_id='1225024' first='Shaye' last='Allen'] (5-7, 6.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.7 spg). If things break right, I could see them competing for third in the conference!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>7. Seymour-Seymour is another team that had a good season (13-11) but is looking to replace some key pieces to graduation accounting for 31.5 points per game. Finished last season in the Regional final with a 55-44 loss to Wittenberg-Birnamwood and return 4 key seniors. Jaelyn Wenninger (5-9, 5.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg), [player_tooltip player_id='1229434' first='Natalea' last='Hill'] (5-8, 4.6 ppg, 0.9 rpg), Kylie Zahn (5-10, 2.4 ppg, 1.5 rpg), and Bree Schuettpelz (5-4, 1.3 ppg, 2.4 rpg) will be counted on to help provide leadership.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>8. Green Bay East-Looks like it could be another tough season for East especially with the loss of All-Conference Jamaya Mariner (18.5 ppg, 9.8 rpg) to graduation. Lost seven players to graduation accounting for 38.8 points per game. Return four juniors in Jada Nelson (5-7, 2.3 ppg) Mya [player_tooltip player_id='1231936' first='Collins' last=''] (5-5, 1.9 ppg), Kylie Rodriguez (5-9, 1.1 ppg) and Lakeria Gonnigan (5-6, 0.3 ppg). Will be a struggle to get to seven wins this season especially with the additions of Winneconne and FVL to the conference.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->