Mid-Season conference updates-Bay Conference

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The conference races are heating up, in Northeast Wisconsin, with a few surprise teams jamming up the works. Yesterday we turned the calendar to 2026 and, starting tonight, the race for March will begin. Here is what is happening on this side of the state in part 3 covering the Bay Conference.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Bay Conference</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>1. <strong>Winneconne</strong>-5-0 (10-1 overall)---The newcomer Wolves, last season's North Eastern conference champions, have wasted no time in staking their claim, for the Bay Conference, as we start 2026. Racing off to a 5-0 conference record, Winneconne has shown they are legit with wins over Xavier, New London, and Shawano. Their only loss was against defending champion Oostburg back at the end of November. Leading the way are a trio of talented juniors headlined by 5-11 [player_tooltip player_id='751291' first='Grace' last='Mitchell']. She is averaging 20.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 3.6 steals. 6-1 [player_tooltip player_id='1162234' first='Harper' last='Neace'] is second with 11.1 points, a team high 6.6 rebounds per game to go with 1.6 assists and 1.8 steals. [player_tooltip player_id='1225951' first='Brooklyn' last='Messerschmidt'] (5-8) leads the team in assists at 3.2 per game to go with 8.7 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.4 steals. Winneconne has been shooting up the rankings with an eye on a potential rematch, with Oostburg, at the Resch Center in March.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>2. <strong>Xavier</strong>-3-1 (7-3 overall)---Losing two of your best players, so early in a season, can sometimes cause a team to throw in the towel. That is not the case for the Hawks who are putting together another impressive season even without sisters Ellie and&nbsp;[player_tooltip player_id='766619' first='Joy' last='Krull'] who are both out with knee injuries. Carrying the load, for Xavier, has been the third Krull sister, senior Brynn who is leading with 15.6 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.2 spg while shooting 40.6% from 3 and 81% from the free-throw line. Junior Hailey Hafner is close behind at 13.1 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2.1 apg, and 2.5 spg. Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='1232585' first='Kayla' last='Standish'] (8.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.0 apg, 2.1 spg) and Senior [player_tooltip player_id='889722' first='Annika' last='Heimann'] (6.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.6 spg) make up a solid nucleus that has Xavier nipping at Winneconne's heels as they gear up for a January 13th matchup in Appleton.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>2. <strong>Fox Valley Lutheran</strong>-3-1 (7-1 overall)---FVL, another Bay Conference newcomer, has impressed in the early part of the conference schedule. Battle-tested early, the Foxes hold road wins over both Shawano and New London with their only loss at Xavier on November 25th. Leading the way is 5-9 freshman phenom [player_tooltip player_id='1264437' first='Kinley' last='Peterson'] who is averaging 15.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.8 apg, 3.4 spg, and 1.0 bpg. Senior Eden Last (11.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.0 apg), 5-10 Sophomore Brianna Dahlke (10.1 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1.5 spg, 1.4 bpg/55.3% from the floor and 42.9% from three) and 5-10 senior Grace Meier (9.6 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 0.9 apg, 4.1 spg) make up a strong core that has the Foxes in the hunt as we start down the homestretch.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>4. Shawano-3-2 (7-3 overall)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>5. Seymour-2-2 (5-4 overall)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>6. Menasha-2-3 (4-6 overall)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>7. New London-1-5 (5-6 overall)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>8. Green Bay East-0-5 (0-8 overall)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->