Wildcat girls win their fourth straight regional
Two current players were on all four title squads
By Casey Krautkramer
Edgar’s varsity girls basketball team captured its fourth straight WIAA regional championship on Saturday with a 56-47 home win against Athens. Two of the Edgar’s seniors, Reagan Borchardt and Morgan Schnelle, have played on all four of the regional title teams.
Wildcat seniors Olysta Baumann, Leah Davis and Amber Skrzypcak, along with junior Makayla Wirkus, have played on the last three regional championship squads.
Edgar avenged a 58-53 road loss to Athens in the regular season to defeat the Bluejays on Saturday when it counted most. Wildcats head coach Tom McCarty said it’s a special accomplishment for Edgar to play in and win the last four regional title games.
“I told the girls at practice that I think sometimes we take for granted the opportunity to play in a regional final,” he said. “Some schools go years and never get that experience so to be able to play in four straight regional finals is really something special and I hope the kids realize just how special that is.”
It wasn’t just the aforementioned players who helped Edgar defeat Athens. With both teams saddled with foul trouble, Edgar’s bench players like junior guards Tayler Lemmer and Maycie Yonker stepped up to provide quality minutes for the team while starters Borchardt and Schnelle were on the bench in foul trouble during the second half. Schnelle was proud of her team’s total effort.
“It shows we are a team and not just one player,” she said.
Edgar led Athens, 28-22, at halftime. Borchardt took the game into her own hands at the start of the second half by playing aggressive basketball on the court. She grabbed a defensive rebound and dribbled the basketball the entire length of the court for a layup. Borchardt drew the third foul on Athens junior Addison Lavicka while hauling down another defensive rebound. Later, a referee called Borchardt for an offensive charge which was her fourth foul with still 15 minutes, 41 seconds left in the game.
When Borchardt headed to the bench, Wirkus decided it was her turn to take over where Borchardt left off. Wirkus’ basket gave Edgar a 36-27 lead. Wirkus then stole the ball on Athens’ next possession and she passed it to Baumann for a layup. After Edgar stopped Athens again, Wirkus scored another bucket to give the Wildcats a 40-27 advantage against the Bluejays with just over 12 minutes remaining.
Borchardt was proud of her good friend and teammate Wirkus’ tremendous effort on the court during her absence.
“Makayla did a great job stepping up when we needed her,” Borchardt said. “I get myself into foul trouble quite often and when it happens we always have girls who step up their play.”
Wirkus said she simply did what she needed to do on the court while Borchardt was on the bench with four fouls.
“I just felt like I needed to be a leader out there to get my team pumped up and get my teammates’ confidence back up because they knew Reagan was out of the game,” Wirkus said.
Borchardt achieved a game-high 21 points and 13 rebounds in Edgar’s regional finals victory against Athens. Wirkus added 15 points and she led the Wildcats with six assists, five deflections and four steals. Schnelle contributed eight points while Davis added five. Baumann and Skrzypcak scored four points apiece.
Lavicka led Athens with 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Sophomore Danica Diethelm contributed 12 points while junior Sophia Coker added nine. Senior Celina Ellenbecker and junior Jazelle Hartwig contributed five points each. Ellenbecker paced the Bluejays with six deflections and four steals in her final high school game. Athens’ other senior, Addyson Zettler, also saw playing time against Edgar.
Athens ends this season with a 23-4 record while Edgar improves to 22-5. Edgar now plays against Wisconsin Rapids Assumption for the second straight season in a WIAA Division 5 sectional semifinal at Marshfield Senior High School. The sectional semifi nal is at 7 p.m. this Thursday, March 2. Edgar lost to Assumption, 50-42, in the playoffs last season.
Should Edgar beat Assumption, then it would play in the sectional championship at 2 p.m. this Saturday, March 4, in Rhinelander. The sectional semifinal matchup on the other side of the bracket has Wabeno/Laona, 197, playing against Sevastopol, 25-1, on Thursday in Crivitz.
