Edgar, Marathon seniors celebrate

By Casey Krautkramer

Edgar and Marathon’s varsity girls basketball teams honored their senior players during Thursday night’s last regular-season games before the playoffs began this week.

The Wildcats beat the Newman Catholic Cardinals, 60-30, at home. It was a special night for the team’s three seniors Addisyn Trawicki, Emery Borchardt and Chloe Mellenberger.

“It was a really great experience because we suffered a lot of losses the past couple of years and it’s been pretty mentally tough for all of us so to still be standing here today is a pretty big accomplishment for all of us,” Trawicki said.

Junior Savannah Koepke led Edgar with 19 points and five steals and she added eight rebounds. Freshman Kendyl Apfelbeck added nine points and she led the Wildcats with 10 rebounds. Borchardt had nine points and she paced Edgar with seven assists. Mellenberger scored seven points and had three assists. Sophomore Isabella Kaiser led the team with three blocks.

Trawicki said her team lost sophomore starting player Natallya Radke for the season due to what she called a silly injury in practice.

“She will have a quick recover after the season and she’ll be fine,” Trawicki said. “She’ll be back next season even stronger than ever.”

WIAA Division 4 No. 7 seed Edgar lost to No. 10 Colby, 47-37, at home in Tuesday’s regional quarterfinal. Edgar ends this season with a 9-16 record while Colby improves to 5-17 and moves on to play at No. 2 seed Chippewa Falls McDonell this Friday, Feb. 28.

Raiders ready for playoffs

Marathon varsity girls basketball head coach Jeff Schneider allowed his five senior bench players Addison Molepske, Katie LeBlanc, Danica Paszek, Katie Oliver and Isabella Vardon to start Thursday’s home game against Auburndale on Senior Night. He allowed them to play the first few minutes of the game even though Auburndale’s starting players utilized a full-court trap defense that led to many Marathon turnovers.

After Auburndale built an 11-0 lead against Marathon, Schneider put his usual five starting players into the game consisting of seniors Cayden Sapinski, Chenpieng Phakkitthong and Kyla Heise along with juniors Emma Love and Mylee Haehlke.

Marathon was down, 23-8, to Auburndale at halftime. The Red Raiders ended up losing the game, 43-30. Marathon concluded the regular season with an 18-6 record while Auburndale improved to 204. Auburndale’s varsity girls basketball team has its first 20-game win season in school history.

WIAA Division 4 No. 3 playoff seed Marathon had a bye in Tuesday’s regional quarterfinal and begins the playoffs with a home regional semifinal against No. 6 seed Cadott at 7 p.m. this Friday, Feb. 28. Should Marathon win then it would likely play at No. 2 seed Chippewa Falls Mc-Donell in the regional championship at 7 p.m. this Saturday, March 1.

Tigers lose finale

Stratford’s varsity girls basketball squad lost to Wisconsin Rapids Assumption, 6847, on the road in Thursday’s final regularseason game. Sophomore Carly Pankratz led the Tigers with 16 points. Senior Kayla Casperson added 13 points and junior Tria Tubbs had eight. Tubbs paced Stratford with 12 rebounds and three assists. Casperson and Pankratz led the team with three steals each. Stratford falls to 19-5 overall this season while Assumption improves to 23-1. The Tigers had a bye in Tuesday’s WIAA Division 4 playoff quarterfinals. No. 4 playoff seed Stratford plays against No. 5 seed Onalaska Luther in a home regional semifinal at 7 p.m. this Friday, Feb. 28. The winner will likely play at No. 1 seed Neillsville in the regional championship at 7 p.m. this Saturday, March 1.

Bluejays season ends

The Athens varsity girls basketball team lost to Prentice, 52-44, in Thursday’s final regular season game. Katie DenOtter led the Bluejays with eight points. Athens then lost, 56-44, at Almond-Bancroft in Tuesday’s WIAA Division 5 regional quarterfinal. Athens concludes its season with a 2-21 record.

EDGAR SENIORS SHINE ON THEIR SPECIAL NIGHT - Wildcats senior girls basketball players Chloe Mellenberger, left, and Emery Borchardt were pivotal players who helped the team beat the Newman Catholic Cardinals, 60-30, on Thursday.

STAFF PHOTOS/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER

MARATHON SENIORS DEAL WITH AUBURNDALE’S SWARMING DEFENSE - Red Raiders senior Isabella Vardon (22) looks for a teammate to pass the basktball to while her senior teammate, Katie Cliver, is shown playing behind her. They are two of Marathon’s eight senior players on this year’s team.

STAFF PHOTO/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER

Addisyn Trawicki