NOTE: Each week, the sports editors of swews4u.com; A.J. Gates (Grant County Herald Independent), Jason Nihles (Platteville Journal), Tom "Gunner" Gunnell (Republican Journal) and Erik Olson (The Richland Observer) combine to nominate our "Prep Performers of the Week".
PERFORMERS OF THE WEEK (Dec. 21-28)
BOYS BASKETBALL - PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Ty Kartman, so., G (Cassville) – scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed six rebounds in a 54-53 win over Shullsburg last Tuesday, then put up 22 points and two steals in a 54-10 victory over Weston two nights later. This week the sophomore point guard scored 16 points in a 49-48 victory over Brookwood in the consolation game of the Brookwood Holiday Tournament on Wednesday. He also scored 15 points earlier in the day in a 62-50 loss to Richland Center to pace the 4-4 Comets.
HONORABLE MENTION
Michael Droessler, sr., F (Benton) – scored 21 points in back-to-back wins over New Glarus and Southwestern earlier this week to lead the Zephyr’s (7-1) to the championship of their own two-day Mike Alexander Benton Holiday Tournament. Tuesday night Droessler’s game-high 21 points propelled Benton to an easy 63-43 victory over New Glarus. Wednesday night the senior forward scored 21 points again to lead the host Zephyrs to a 58-56 championship-game victory over Southwestern.
Aaron Kaiser, jr., F (Southwestern) – made 10-of-17 shots, including 3-of-3 from behind the arc, en route to a career-high 29 points in Southwestern’s 67-44 victory over Shullsburg on Tuesday night. He also had seven rebounds in the opening round game of the Mike Alexander Benton Tournament. A night later Kaiser had two points in a 58-56 loss to Benton as the Wildcats fell to 6-2 on the season.
GIRLS BASKETBALL - PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Elisa Bilderback, jr., F (Platteville) – scored a career-high 20 points, including 16 in the second half, and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Platteville to a 43-29 victory over visiting Mineral Point last Thursday night. The 5-10 junior forward them scored 12 points in a 53-32 loss at Barneveld Tuesday in the first round of the Barneveld Holiday Tournament. A night late she scored 11 points as Platteville (5-2) bounced back with a 70-44 consolation victory over Orfordville Parkview.
HONORABLE MENTION
Ashley Flesch, sr., G (Potosi) – did a little bit of everything totaling six points, six rebounds, four assists and five steals in Potosi’s 41-35 Six Rivers West win at River Ridge last Thursday night. Last Tuesday Flesch posted a double-double of 15 points and 11 assists, and also had four rebounds and six steals in a 88-46 victory over Galena last Tuesday.
Katelyn Hoppman, sr., C (Southwestern) – scored 24 points on just 13 shots, grabbed 12 rebounds, passed out six assists and had three steals and two blocks to lead the Southwestern girls’ varsity basketball team to a 60-45 SWAL victory last Thursday night over visiting Iowa-Grant. Hoppman made 10 of her 13 shot attempts and went 4-of-4 from the line to propel the Wildcats (4-4, 2-2 SWAL) to their third victory in four games after a 1-3 start.
Maleah Mumm, sr., F (Potosi) – scored all eight of her points in the fourth quarter of last Thursday’s 41-35 victory over River Ridge as Potosi rallied for the win by outscoring the host Timberwolves 18-10 in the final quarter. Two nights earlier Mumm scored a season-high 14 points in Potosi’s 88-46 victory over Galena.
WRESTLERS OF THE WEEK
Jarod Donar, sr., 145 (Cuba City) and Trenton Cornell, so., 138 (Lancaster) – Cornell moved up a weight class to challenged the three-time state champion Donar, who has yet to lose a high school match and provided the match of the night in Lancaster’s 60-15 non-conference dual victory last Thursday night. Donar entered the match with a season record of 12-0, all coming by pin, and a 156-0 career mark. Cornell, a 2011 state qualifier as a freshman, entered Thursday’s match with a season record of 11-2. Donar scored an earlier takedown in the opening period, but Cornell even the match with escapes in the first and second periods. With the score tied 2-2 neither wrestler scored in the third. Early in the extra period with the two locked up, Donar reached in and grabbed Cornell’s leg. Cornell tried to counter by shifting his body weight to the side looking to catch Donar in a throw, but the veteran wrestler’s athletic ability and experience allowed Donar to avoid being thrown and enabled him to turn Cornell’s aggressiveness into a two-point takedown for the win.
HONORABLE MENTION
Blake Welu, sr., 182 (Iowa-Grant) – used a first-round bye, back-to-back pins, and a 6-2 decision over Merrill’s Noah Lassa to win the 182-pound title at last Friday’s Badger State Classic Madison. Welu helped the Panthers rack up 164 team points and finished second out of 19 teams in a quality tournament. This week Welu’s winning streak was snapped at 17 with a 7-5 overtime loss on Thursday to unbeaten Marcus Hudson (19-0) of Delevan-Darien in the 182-pound championship match of the two-day 42-team Mid-States Classic in Whitewater. Welu’s second-place finish did help the Panthers finish third as a team with 161.5 points.
SWIMMER OF THE WEEK
Ben Bahr, so. (Platteville) – was the night’s brightest Hillmen star setting a new meet record of 1:08.16 to win the 100-yard breaststroke in Platteville/Lancaster’s 94-74 non-conference victory over visiting La Crosse last Thursday night. Bahr also teamed with Jake Fulton, Jordan Kress and Ryan Murray to win the 200-yard medley relay in 1:55.19 in the Parents’ Night dual meet.
TEAMS OF THE WEEK
Cuba City Boys Basketball – The unbeaten and top-ranked (AP Division 4) Cubans stay perfect with a lopsided 80-18 victory over River Ridge/Scales Mound (Ill.) Wednesday night in the opening round of the Cuba City Classic and in the process gave legendary head coach Jerry Petitgoue his 800th career victory. A night later Cuba City (8-0) defeated the Milwaukee Science Academy 79-53 in the coach’s 1,000 prep basketball game on the bench. In 44 years as a coach Petitgoue has a career mark of 801-199, including 738-178 in his 40th season with the Cubans. His first career victory was on Nov. 19, 1963 when he was coaching Gratiot. “It was never about numbers, it was always about the next game,” Petitgoue told the Wisconsin State Journal after Wednesday’s record-setting win. the game. “This one is special but you try to go out and win them all and hopefully along the way you build some character too.”
Potosi Girls’ Basketball – Not wanting to fall two games behind Six Rivers West-leading Belmont (5-1, 2-0 SRW) and badly needing to avoid an 0-2 start in league play to keep their conference championship aspirations alive the Potosi girls outscored the host Timberwolves 18-10 in the fourth quarter to complete a 41-35 come-from-behind victory. It might be too early in the season to say any game is a must-win, but for the preseason Six Rivers West Conference favorite Potosi girls’ basketball team, last Thursday’s league road game at River Ridge certainly qualified. With the win Potosi improved to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in league play. “For us, to even stay in the conversation for the conference race we couldn’t afford to lose a second league game,” explained Potosi head coach Brad Bierman. “I give the girls a lot of credit for hanging in there even with the double-digit deficit in the first half and finding a way to comeback
