Appleton Area X-Factors

Martin Crownhart December 18, 2025 @ 02:34 PM

When you watch a game, it's usually pretty easy to pick out the "superstar" players and the Appleton area has no shortage of marquee names. While those players garner most of the attention, here is a list of lesser known players that are X-Factors to their team's success.   Aubrie Erickson---Appleton East   The 5-10 junior is developing a knack for delivering in clutch situations. The closer the game the better she seems to play with that never more evident than in Tuesday's 60-54 win at Hortonville, a game that The Polar Bears held a 2nd half lead. Erickson scored a season high 13 points with 7 down the stretch including layup to end a Hortonville run, a contested catch and shoot 3 as well as two clutch free-throws to flip the momentum back to the Patriots when it looked like the wheels were about to fall off. As a sophomore, Erickson played big minutes in Appleton East's run to The Resch Center including scoring a career high 15 (3-3 from three) in the Sectional to hold off Stevens Point in overtime and finished 5-7 for the tournament from three.   [player_tooltip player_id='890999' first='Sophie' last='Busch']---Appleton North   Coming off of a 10 game, injury-shortened season, the 5-9 senior is showing why the Lightning, winners of 9 games all last season, are off to a 7-1 start. While her high scoring teammates, [player_tooltip player_id='838113' first='Avery' last='Werfal'] and [player_tooltip player_id='533062' first='Tay' last='Maass'] seem to get most of the attention, Busch is the engine that drives the North bus averaging 5.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.9 steals and is shooting 68.2% from the free-throw line and gives the Lightning a viable third option as they get into the teeth of the FVA schedule.   [player_tooltip player_id='889722' first='Annika' last='Heimann']---Xavier   With sisters Ellie and [player_tooltip player_id='766619' first='Joy' last='Krull'] both lost for the season, the Hawks will be relying on fellow sister [player_tooltip player_id='766628' first='Brynn' last='Krull'] and junior Hailey Hafner to continue to carry the scoring load. One player I see as the X-Factor to help get Xavier back to the Resch Center is the 5-6 senior Heimann. While her scoring (7.0 ppg) doesn't necessarily stand out, it's the other areas that she helps the team including grabbing 5 rebounds per game and leading the team with 3.3 assists per game while playing solid defense.   Brianna Dahlke---Fox Valley Lutheran   If I had to come up with one word to describe the 5-10 sophomore it would be consistency. Coming off of a freshman season where Dahlke averaged 10.3 points and 7.4 rebounds, she is producing at remarkable similar rate averaging 10.2 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 51.3% from the floor, 36% from 3, and 81% from the free-throw line in helping the Foxes to a 5-1 start. Dahlke gives the Foxes a much needed third scoring option behind teammates [player_tooltip player_id='1264437' first='Kinley' last='Peterson'] (14.5) and Eden Last (11.8) as they hope to unseat current conference leader Winneconne.   [player_tooltip player_id='624965' first='Claudia' last='Asman']---Kimberly   Coming off of a state championship season, the Papermakers are on everybody's radar and that includes their two D1 prospects, juniors [player_tooltip player_id='764903' first='Ava' last='Van Vonderen'] and [player_tooltip player_id='764909' first='Haylie' last='Dulas']. While the garner the most defensive attention, one player that I see as the X-Factor is the 6-1 senior Asman. She's averaging just over 6 per game but came up big, on Tuesday, with 13 against Fond du Lac to end a rare Kimberly 2 game losing streak and will need to continue to shoulder a bigger offensive load while her teammates get doubled.

When you watch a game, it's usually pretty easy to pick out the "superstar" players and the Appleton area has no shortage of marquee names. While those players garner most of the attention, here is a list of lesser known players that are X-Factors to their team's success.