EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Thursday or Friday throughout the calendar year.

By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal / Fennimore Times / Boscobel Dial

Lexi Olmstead, Fr., PG, Lancaster girls basketball
LANCASTER — Platteville came all the way back from a 15-point deficit to take a two-point lead with seven minutes left in regulation. 

But in the end, freshman Lexi Olmstead and the host Lancaster Flying Arrows withstood Platteville’s comeback punch and pulled out a key 70–63 overtime win to get a leg up in the race for this year’s Southwest Wisconsin Conference title.

The Hillmen shared last year’s SWC title with Prairie du Chien, while Lancaster hasn’t won a conference title since 2006.

Olmstead scored seven of her game-high 28 points in Lancaster’s opening run and five of the Arrows’ 14 point in overtime to lead the home team to victory.

Olmstead’s quickness and length at the top of Lancaster’s 1–3–1 trapping defense flustered Platteville early as the Arrows raced out to 15–0 lead just over six minutes into the game. Lancaster’s pressure defense led to 18 steals and 30 Platteville turnovers in the game.

Olmstead finished the game with 28 points, 16 rebounds, seven steals and two assists to lead the Flying Arrows, while Driscoll added 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Morgan chipped in 15 points and three assists. 

Platteville fought back to make it a four-point game at the half, 28–24, after the Flying Arrows' magnificent start. 

Lancaster’ lead continued to ebb and flow before Platteville freshman Kinley Bendorf hit a pair of 3-pointers to aid the Platteville comeback and the Hillmen tied the game at 47–47 on another 3-pointer by junior Avery Richard from the top of the key with 8 minutes left. Richard then assisted on a go-ahead jumper by senior Maggie Grabandt on Platteville’s next possession to give the Hillmen their first lead of the game.

Lancaster answered with a quick 6–0 run — with Olmstead scoring four of the points — to give the home team a 53–49 lead with 5:05 left. Sophomore Quinn Temperly and Richard each split a pair of free throws two minutes later, and after a free throw by Lancaster junior Addison Morgan, Richard sliced through the defense for a layup to pull the Hillmen within a point at 54–53 with 22.8 seconds left.

Following a quick Platteville timeout, the Hillmen fouled Olmstead on the inbound play and sent the fab freshmen to the line for a 1-and-1 bonus situation.

Olmstead missed her first attempt, but Platteville was called for a lane violation. The Lancaster freshman took advantage of the second chance and made two straight free throws to extend the lead to 56–53 before Bendorf sent the game to overtime with a game-tying 3-pointer with 7 seconds left.

After turnovers by both teams to open the overtime, Lancaster took a 59–56 lead on a 3-point play by Olmstead.

Platteville answered with another clutch 3-pointer by Bendorf on the ensuing possession, but Maddie Burr hit a jumper and Olmstead made a pair of free throws to give the Arrows a 63–59 with 2:21 left. Lancaster never trailed in overtime.

Last Monday, Olmstead posted 25 points, eight steals, six assists and five rebounds in a 66–24 non-conference victory at Southwestern. She also tallied a career-high 31 points, 12 rebounds, six steals and five assists in a 70–17 rout at Potosi/Cassville Saturday, Jan. 10.

Olmstead is averaging a mind-boggling 24.3 points, 7 rebounds, 7 steals and 3.1 steals per game, while shooting 50 percent for the D3 #9-ranked Flying Arrows, who are now 14–1 overall and 5–0 in the SWC.

HONORABLE MENTION (in alphabetical order)
Maya Baumeister, Sr., G, Boscobel girls basketball
Baumeister went a perfect 5-for-5 on 3-point attempts and scored a career-high 17 points to led Boscobel to a 59–43 Southwest Wisconsin Activities League win over visiting Southwestern last Friday night. Baumeister’s incredible shooting night tied a program record for most 3-pointers made in a game.

Kinley Bendorf, Fr., G, Platteville girls basketball
Bendorf scored a career-high 18 points and made 6 of 8 3-point attempts in 21 minutes off the bench to lead the Hillmen in last Friday's 70–63 overtime loss at D3 #9-ranked Lancaster (14–1, 5–0 SWC). Bendorf sent the game in to overtime with a clutch game-tying 3-pointer from the left corner with just seven seconds left in regulation.

Jaxon Busse, Sr., 175 pounds, Iowa–Grant/Highland wrestling
Busse went 3–1 and finished second at 165 pounds at last Saturday's Batavia (Ill.) Clint Arlis Invitational. In the process Busse, also recorded his 150th career victory. Busse also notched a 16–0 technical fall and a 9–0 major decision victory in a pair of Iowa–Grant/Highland dual meet victories over Cuba City/Southwestern/Benton and host Fennimore last Friday night. The three-time WIAA Individual State qualifier entered this week with a career mark of 151–23. 

Waylon Miles, Jr., 165 pounds, Fennimore wrestling
Miles did all he could to battle through a broken nose in Friday night’s dual against Iowa–Grant/Highland before losing by injury default (blood time). Amazingly, Miles returned to the matter later that night to record a pin in Fennimore’s 47–27 win over Cuba City/Southwestern/Benton.

Avery Richard, Jr., PG, Platteville girls basketball
Junior Avery Richard drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing to make it a five-point game with 16:12 left to play in Platteville's 70–63 overtime loss at Lancaster last Friday night. Richard finished the game with 15 points, six assists and two steals. The triple gave Richard exactly 1,000 career points. Richard became the sixth Platteville girl to reach the 1,000-point milestone, joining PHS all-time leading scorer Sami Martin (1,571 points, class of 2021), 1993 graduate Nikki (Taggart) Collen (1,381), 2023 grad Camryn Nies (1,282), 2021 grad Josie Nies (1,100) and 2001 grad Kimberly Becker.

All five of Platteville’s previous 1,000-point scorers went on to play college basketball with Martin at Division 1 Bradley, then D3 Loras College, Taggart at D1 Purdue and later Marqutte, Camryn Nies currently at D3 UW–Whitewater, Josie Nies at UW–Stevens Point, and Becker at D1 UW–Milwaukee.

“Avery reaching 1,000 career points is an incredible accomplishment,” said Platteville head coach Brandon Temperly. “ This year is the 50th anniversary of the WIAA girls basketball state tournament and in that time, we now have six 1,000 point scorers in our program’s history.  Avery has worked really hard to become the player that she is and she continues to get better.  It was great to see Avery and her teammates share this accomplishment as a group.”