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GAME OF THE WEEK (prep basketball): Six Rivers All-Star Basketball Classic
West girls, East boys win at 13th annual Six Rivers All-Star Classic
West girls
THE 2018 Six Rivers West All-Star girls basketball team included, front row, from left to right: Kylie Esser, Nicole Teutschmann, Faith Ubersox, Hannah Udelhofen, Maria Breuer and Rachael Herrick. Back row: Sophie Langkamp, Brianna Leahy, Kassandra Palzkill, Briana Ernst, Emma Lawrence, Abby Kaiser, Allison Ploessl and Head Coach Nathan Russell. Missing from photo is Assistant Coach Tim Strang.

SWNEWS4U.COM GAME OF THE WEEK (June 27–July 3)

SIX RIVERS CONFERENCE ALL-STAR BASKETBALL CLASSIC

JUDA — For the third year in a row, the West girls and the East boys team came away victorious at the Six Rivers Conference All-Star Basketball Classic.

The West girls’ All-Star team defeated their East counterparts 62–50 to improve their all-time record to 10–3 in the 13-year history of the event, while the East boys’ All-Stars broke away early and cruised to a 99–57 win to also move to 10–3 all-time at the Classic.

In the fifth annual 3-point shooting contest, the East shooters set a new record with 62 made treys as they buried the West, 186–165, to end the West’s two-year reign as 3-point champions.

The true winner of the night was American Family Children’s Hospital, which received a generous donation of over $1,372 on behalf the Six Rivers Conference from the proceeds of the gate and concession sales. In the 13-year history of the All-Star event, the Six Rivers Conference has donated more than $19,000 to the Children’s Hospital.

“What a noble amount to contribute to the American Family Children’s Hospital, and a telling testament as to the influence of the conference,” said Black Hawk girls’ basketball coach and event organizer Michael Flanagan. “A huge shout out comes out to all who made last night’s event a success.”

Girls’ All-Star Game: West 62, East 50

Potosi’s Abby Kaiser, the 2017-18 Six Rivers West Player of the Year, scored a team-high 14 points and Shullburg’s Brianna Leahy– the West’s 2015-16 Player of the Year– chipped in with 11 points to lead the West All-Stars to a 62–50 win over the East All-Stars at the 13th annual Six Rivers Classic.

The teams swapped the lead five times early until a pair of free throws by Belmont’s Briana Ernst put the West ahead to stay at 10–9.

Lawrence followed with seven straight points to pump the West’s advantage to 17–9 midway through the first half, and the West outscored the East 12–11 the rest of the way to take a 29–20 lead into the intermission.

The West maintained a double digit lead for much of the second half, extending it out to as many as 21 at 50–29.

The East went down firing, connecting from 3-point range on their final seven baskets to cut the deficit back to 12, but the West held on to post their third straight win in the series.

The West went 12-for-16 from the free throw line in the second half to hold off the East, and they finished 18-for-23 at the line for the game. The East only shot 4-for-8 at the stripe.

The West also knocked down 19 2-point baskets compared to the East’s five 2-point field goals, while the East sank 12 3-pointers compared to just two made treys by the West.

Kaiser scored eight of her 14 points in the second half, and Leahy tallied nine of her 11 points in that same period, including a 5-of-6 effort at the foul line, to guide the West to victory.

Lawrence and Langkamp each hit a 3 and scored nine points apiece for the West, while Ernst and her Belmont teammate Kassandra Palzkill each added six points in the win.

Barneveld’s Taryn Pickarts connected on five second-half treys to finish with a game-high 15 points for the East.

Barneveld’s Grace Schultz added three 3s to net nine points, while Roth and Hagen hit two 3s apiece and added eight and six points, respectively, for the East.

Shullsburg head coach Nathan Russell improved to 4–0 all-time in his All-Star Game appearances after guiding the West to a win for the second straight year, while Coach Flanagan slipped to 1–5 as the East All-Star coach after suffering his second straight loss to his friend.

 

2018 Six Rivers Girls All-Star Game

West 62, East 50

(from Friday, June 29 @ Juda)

West................ 29  33 — 62

East................. 20  30 — 50

West — Faith Ubersox (Shullsburg) 1, Abby Kaiser (Potosi) 14, Emma Lawrence (Benton) 9, Kassandra Palzkill (Belmont) 6, Briana Ernst (Belmont) 6, Nicole Teutschmann (Shullsburg) 0, Brianna Leahy (Shullsburg) 11, Allison Ploessl (River Ridge) 0, Rachael Herrick (River Ridge) 0, Sophie Langkamp (Potosi) 9, Maria Breuer (River Ridge) 4, Kylie Esser (Highland) 2, Hannah Udelhoven 0. Totals — 21 18-23 62.

East — Mackenzie Byrne (Juda) 2, Brianna Hagen (Black Hawk) 6, Maddie Roth (Juda) 8, Grace Schutz (Barneveld) 9, Hannah Herbst (Black Hawk) 2, Brook Kahler (Albany) 0, Jessica Walker (Barneveld) 0, Taryn Pickarts (Barneveld) 15, Courtney Skaife (Barneveld) 3, Hailey Kammerer (Juda) 0, Brooklyn Hogan-Weier (Barneveld) 5. Totals — 17 4-8 50.

3-pointers: West 2 (Lawrence 1, Langkamp 1); East 12 (Pickarts 5, Schutz 3, Hagen 2, Roth 2).

 

Boys’ All-Star Game: East 99, West 57

Five players scored in double figures led by Barneveld’s Kauy Fargo, the 2017-18 Six Rivers East Player of the Year, with 18 points as the East routed the short-handed West 99–57 in the boys’ Six Rivers Classic.

The West All-Stars, who had just seven available players, were led by Spriggs with 15 points.

Trailing 3–0 early, the East poured in 12 unanswered points to jump into the lead and they never looked back. Their lead swelled to 25–5 thanks to some deadeye 3-point shooting.

The West closed the gap back to 14 with four minutes remaining in the opening half, however the East tacked on 10 more points to their lead before the intermission to head into the half up 53–29 and then extended their lead out to 34 points just four minutes in the second half to erase any hope for a West comeback.

Three-point shooting and dunk attempts ruled play the rest of the way as the East rolled to the second largest margin of victory (42 points) in All-Star Game history.

The East buried 40 field goals in the game, including 18 from beyond the 3-point arch with eight different players hitting two or more treys in the onslaught. Juda’s Cole Fortney and Black Hawk’s Jason Treuthardt each netted three 3s for the East.

Fortney finished with 15 points and Juda teammate Haffele added 14 for the East, who also got 10 each from Argyle’s Brent Ritschard and Black Hawk’s CJ Leuzinger.

Treuthardt and Pecatonica’s Evan Prust scored nine apiece and Ignatius tallied eight for the East.

Redman scored 13 points for the West. Potosi’s Alex Udelhofen added eight, Belmont’s Jacob Wedig contributed seven and Potosi’s Austin Schmitz netted six on the night.

Black Hawk head coach Charlie Anderson guided the East to the victory in his All-Star game debut, while Potosi’s Mike Uppena slipped to 0–2 as the West’s coach.

 

2018 Six Rivers BoysAll-Star Game

West 99, East 57

(from Friday, June 29 @ Juda)

West................ 29  28 — 57

East................. 53  46 — 99

West — Ty Bloom (River Ridge) 2, Alex Udelhofen (Potosi) 8, Ryan Redman (River Ridge) 13, Nic Spriggs (Potosi) 15, Austin Schmitz (Potosi) 6, Jacob Wedig (Belmont) 7, Brandon Kinyon (Cassville) 3, Team 3. Totals — 23 1-4 57.

East — Brent Ritschard (Argyle) 10, Jason Treuthardt (Black Hawk) 9, Keegan Haffele (Juda) 14, Evan Prust (Pecatonica) 9, Jon Errthum (Albany), 4, Kauy Fargo (Barneveld) 18, Cole Fortney (Juda) 15, Jacob Slaney (Barneveld) 2, Jonas Ignatius (Barneveld) 8, CJ Leuzinger (Black Hawk) 10. Totals — 40 1-8 99.

3-pointers: West (Redman 3, Spriggs 3, Udelhofen 1, Wedig 1, Kinyon 1, Team 1); East 18 (Treuthardt 3, Fortney 3, Ritschard 2, Haffele 2, Prust 2, Fargo 2, Ignatius 2, Leuzinger 2).

 

3-Point Shoot-Out: East 186, West 165

Black Hawk’s Brianna Hagen and Juda’s Maddie Roth outscored Benton’s Emma Lawrence and Potosi’s Sophie Langkamp 93–81 during the girls’ round to lift the East out to the lead, and then Barneveld’s Jonas Ignatius and Juda’s Keegan Haffele matched their partners by outscoring the West team of Potosi’s Nic Spriggs and River Ridge’s Ryan Redman, 93–84, to seal their record-setting 186–165 victory. The East now leads the all-time series 3–2.

MCDONALD'S SWNEWS4U GAME OF THE WEEK (Six Rivers Baseball): #10 River Ridge 5, #5 Belmont 2
#11 Timberwolves upset #4 Braves to win a share of first baseball conference title
Blake Reynolds
Sophomore Blake Reynolds collected the win on the mound, limiting #4 Belmont to two runs, one earned, on four hits, while striking out five batters and walking four over six innings to lead River Ridge to a 5–2 win over the Braves last Thursday. - photo by A.J. Gates

MCDONALD'S SWNEWS4U.COM GAME OF THE WEEK (May 20–27)
SIX RIVERS BASEBALL: #10 River Ridge 5, #5 Belmont 2

By A.J. Gates, Herald Independent

#10 Timberwolves upset #5 Braves to win a share of first baseball conference title
PATCH GROVE — Coming into the 2025 prep baseball season, coach Andrew Redman had a hunch his Timberwolves would be a strong contender for this year’s Six Rivers Conference baseball title.

“We have big goals to compete for our first-ever conference title,” coach Redman said this past April in the Grant County Herald Independent’s Spring Sports Preview.” We expect to finish high in the conference standings and rely on our experience from last season to lead us to a successful season.”

After finishing fourth in the conference standings a year ago with a league record of 4-8, the Timberwolves did in fact secure a share of this year’s conference baseball title with a victory in their final regular-season game of the year played last Thursday night.

With a 5–2 victory over visiting Belmont last Thursday night, coach Redman’s Timberwolves (16–7) team concluded the regular season with a league record of 14–2, claiming a share of this year’s conference title along with the Braves (17–5, 14–2).

Belmont, who entered the contest with a league mark of 14–1, could have taken sole possession of the conference crown for themselves with a win Thursday night, but the Timberwolves had other ideas.

“Coming out on top is a great feeling, knowing how much work our players and coaches have put into this,” said third-year head coach Andrew Redman. “My first two years as a head coach we won a total of seven conference games combined. This season alone we doubled that total with 14 conference wins, which was good enough to tie for the top spot.”

“The Six Rivers conference is loaded with great teams, and for us to claim one of the top spots is truly remarkable,” Redman added.

Aside from winning the first conference baseball title since the school’s inception in 1995, this year’s baseball team has also won the most games in a single season, and currently holds an overall record of 16-6 heading into the WIAA postseason tournament.

As they have done all season long, the trio of Blake Reynolds, Carter Copsey and Cael Koenig were at the forefront of last Thursday night’s win over Belmont, doing with their bats, their fielding and their arms.

Reynolds, who pitched the first six innings and collected the win on the mound, limited the Braves to two runs, one earned, on four hits, while striking out five batters and walking four.

Copsey came in to finish the game, pitching a scoreless seventh, striking out one batter and walking one.

At the plate, it was Koenig who led the Timberwolves, going a perfect 4-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI. The team’s other four hits were scattered among Carter Copsey, Andre Nies, Noah Copsey and Brandon Davis.

After a scoreless tie for two and a half innings, the Timberwolves got on the board in the bottom of the third when Koenig’s one-run single scored Carter Copsey, who led off the inning with a double. Noah Copsey then followed with a one-run single of his own to score Koenig.

The Braves plated a run in the top of the fifth to make it a 2–1 River Ridge lead, but the Timberwolves responded with three runs in the bottom of the fifth.

Following back-to-back singles by Nies and Koenig, and an intention walk to Reynolds, Brandon Davis came up big with a bases-loaded two-run single to right field, scoring Nies and Koenig. Reynolds later scored on a wild pitch to give River Ridge a 5–1 lead.

The Braves added one run to their total in the top of the sixth, but couldn’t put anything together in the seventh with Copsey on the mound and the River Ridge defense behind him.

The Timberwolves are no strangers to close games this season, and have won a total of five conference games this season by one-run. They have also proven that, while Reynolds, Copsey and Koenig are undoubtedly the leaders of this team, they also have a stable of other role players that have come up big throughout the season.

“What makes this team special is that everybody takes their turn coming through in big moments,” said coach Redman. “We rely heavily on Blake, Carter and Cael, but three players alone doesn’t make a team. We’ve had several players who took on new or bigger roles this year and they contributed in big time spots.”

“This year our guys really focused on doing their jobs and accepting their roles on the team, which led us to having a successful season,” Redman added. “I’m proud of all our players and this program.”

Heading into the WIAA postseason tournament, the Timberwolves (16–7) hold the No. 2 seed in their division 4 sectional bracket. Following a first-round bye, coach Redman’s squad will host the winner between No. 7 seed North Crawford (10–9) and No. 10 seed Hillsboro (10–7) next Tuesday, June 3. The No. 1 seed in the bracket belongs to Seneca (20–2).

River Ridge 5, Belmont 2
(from Thursday, May 22, at Patch Grove)
Belmont..........000 011  0 — 2 4 2
River Ridge....002 030  x —  5 8 1
Leading hitters - RR: Cael Koenig 4x4. 2B — Carter Copsey (RR). W — Blake Reynolds (6IN,4H,1ER,5K,4BB). L — Austin (4IN,7H,5ER,4K,3BB). Other pitchers - RR: Carter Copsey (1IN,0H,0ER,1K,1BB).