EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Thursday throughout the calendar year.
Hunter Mayte, Sr., G, Shullsburg boys basketball
Senior Night was extra special for Shullsburg’s Hunter Matye. Matye scored a team-high 19 points to top the 1,000-point mark for his career while leading the Miners to a 62–55 victory over second-place Highland last Friday night that secured a third-straight Six Rivers West title. Mayte’s performance earned him a share of this week’s Mast Water Technology SWnews4U.com Athlete of the Week award.
“We don’t run a ‘star system’ here so in order to acquire 1,000 points one has to play in a lot of games and be consistent,” said Shullsburg head coach Mark Lierman. “Hunter has done both. I actually think his rebounding and assists totals are just as impressive.”
Matye, who also has nearly 700 career rebounds and more than 300 assists, became the second Miner this season to go over the 1,000-point plateau, joining fellow senior and University of Minnesota–Crookston recruit Joey Meyer, who topped the milestone against Potosi on Jan. 26. Matye recently announced that he will be joining older brother Brett on the Loras College football team next fall.
“For us to have two players this season to go over 1,000 points is fairly unique. It also means they have great teammates who have gotten them the ball, whether it be an assist or by playing great defense to get the ball back for another possession,” Lierman added.
Matye needed just six points to reach 1,000 going into the night and he reached it exactly when he sank his second of five 3-pointers late in the first half. He finished with eight points in the half to lead the Miners (19–2 overall, 11–0 SRW) out to a 30–27 halftime lead over the Cardinals (14–6, 9–2). Highland used a 17–5 run to take a 44–40 lead midway through the second half, but the Miners outscored the Cardinals 22–11 the rest of the way.
Matye scored a game-high 17 points last Tuesday to lead the seventh-ranked Miners to a 63–28 victory over Benton. Shullsburg will open the WIAA Division 5 playoffs Tuesday at home against 15th-seeded Riverdale (1–20).
Reid Larson, So., G, Fennimore boys basketball
Sophomore guard Reid Larson made four 3-pointers and led all scorers with 25 points to lead Fennimore to an impressive 66–62 victory over Mineral Point last Friday night. With the performance Larson earned a share of this week's Mast Water Technology SWnews4U.com Athlete of the Week and the Golden Eagles (15–6, 10–3 SWAL) moved into a tie for second-place with the Pointers (15–6, 10–3).
“This was a big win for us,” said Fennimore head coach Tom Needham. “Mineral Point has been playing well all year long and for us to beat them was huge. I thought as a team, we played really well on both ends of the court. In the second half, we really played well defensively. We got a lot of tips and made it really hard for them to get anything going offensively. I thought our zone defense got them out of synch a little bit.
Last Tuesday, Larson had 16 points, five rebounds and four steals to lead Fennimore to a 63–54 win over visiting Iowa–Grant. Last Monday, he had 15 points and a team-high eight boards in a 69–50 win at Southwestern. Fennimore has now won seven straight games going into Thursday night’s regular season finale against Southwestern.
Larson, a first-team All-SWAL pick a year ago as a freshman is averaging 18.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists with a team-high 59 3-pointers made while shooting 49.2 percent from beyond the arc.
Larson and the Golden Eagles earned a the four seed in the upcoming WIAA Division 4 regional playoffs and a first-round bye. They will host either #12 Whitehall of #5 Brookwood in a regional semifinal game Friday night at Fennimore High School.
HONORABLE MENTION (in alphabetical order):
Kiera Holzemer, Fr., Cuba City girls basketball
The freshman made 10 of 11 free throw attempts and scored a game-high 20 points and pulled down eight rebounds to lead the Cubans to a 52–47 victory at Mineral Point (17–5, 12–2 SWAL) last Thursday night. The victory gave Cuba City (17–5, 12–2) a share of the conference title, coach Jeff Pustina’s 21st in 30 years on the sideline. Holzemer also scored a game-high 15 points to lead the Cubans to a 53–47 win at Lancaster last Tuesday night.
Sophie Langkamp, Sr., Potosi girls basketball
Langkamp scored a team-high 24 points and pulled down 14 rebounds to lead the to a 60–51 victory over second-place Benton in last Thursday’s regular season finale. Potosi finished the regular season 10–12 overall and 5–7 in the Six Rivers West.
Miah Lemanski, Fr., Dodgeville/Mineral Point gymnastics
The freshman gymnast won two events and finished second in another while capturing the all around title to lead the Dodge–Point co-op to the conference title at last Friday’s Southwest Wisconsin Conference Championships at Platteville High School. Lemanski won the vault (9.0) and beam (9.3), and finished second on the floor (9.275) to finish with a winning all around score of 36.755.
Chas Sagedahl, Sr., G, Prairie du Chien
Sagedahl scored a game-high 18 points and passed out 10 assists to lead the Blackhawks to conference title-clinching 57–44 victory over Platteville last Tuesday night. He then scored 14 points and passed out seven assists in a 45–32 win at Westby on Thursday night and closed out the week with eight points and eight assists in a lop-sided 82–62 win over Onalaksa Luther as Prairie du Chien improved to 19–2 overall and 9–0 in the SWC.
Will Schwartz, Sr., G, Darlington boys basketball
Schwartz scored eight of his team-high 16 points in the final nine minutes as Darlington rallied from 38–32 deficit to defeat upstart Iowa–Grant 61–51 last Friday night to clinch the outright SWAL title. The second-ranked Redbirds improved to 13–0 in conference play and remained unbeaten on the season at 21–0. Darlington will face either #8 Cambridge or #9 Lancaster in a WIAA Division 4 regional semifinal next Friday night to open the playoffs.
