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MCDONALD'S SWNEWS4U CO-GAME OF THE WEEK (SWC Girls Basketball): #5 Prairie du Chien 44, Platteville 38
#5 Blackhawks clinch SWC title with narrow win over second-place Platteville
Ashlyn Knapp
Prairie du Chien's Ashlyn Knapp scored a team-high 13 points to lead the Blackhawks' to a 44–38 SWC title-clinching victory over Platteville last Tuesday night at PDCHS.

MCDONALD'S SWNEWS4U.COM CO-GAME OF THE WEEK (Feb. 7–14)
SWC GIRLS BASKTBALL: Prairie du Chien 44, Platteville 38

By John Ingebritsen, Courier Press

#5 Blackhawks clinch SWC title with narrow win over second-place Platteville

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN — Many times the difference between winning and losing is that 15-feet from the basket free throw. Prairie du Chien (18–4 overall and 9–0 in SWC) had one of those games Tuesday night in a rescheduled game against conference opponent Platteville. 

The Blackhawks outscored Platteville 19 to 3 from the line in a low-scoring hard-fought 44–38 win. Of Prairie du Chien’s 24 second-half points, 15 came at the free throw line in a game that didn’t feature many two or three-point baskets. Prairie du Chien made only three shots in the second half other than the free ones and  only eight more baskets from the field in the first half. 

Sophomore guard Tessa Czajkowki-Higgins made seven of eight free throws with six of those coming in the second half to score 10 points, one of three players on the team in double figures. Senior guard Ashlyn Knapp led the team with 13 points  She was four of five from the line in the second half. Shayla Straka also had 10 points and made all four of her free throw attempts. 

Platteville kept the game close thanks to the hot shooting from beyond the three-point line from Camyrn Nies. She made three in the first half of a 20-18 game at the break and added two more in the second half to finish with a game-best 16 points. No other Platteville player had more than six points. 

On Friday night, Prairie du Chien completed a season-sweep over River Valley with a 71-30 win. The team forced 34 turnovers in the lopsided win. 

Makenna Forde led all scorers with 19 points. She made eight of nine free throws, including six of seven in the  first half when PDC built a 34–16 lead. Tannah Radloff added 12 points for the winning team. With the game well in hand, the bench saw significant action and in all 10 players scored. Shayla Straka scored nine, Ashlyn Knapp, eight, Grenlee Krahn, Tessa Czajkowski-Higgins, and Rita Achenbach had six points each.

Charlotte Feistl was the only player from River Valley in double figures, scoring 12 points.

The Blackhawks finish up league play Friday night at home against Lancaster and a win gives them back-to-back 10–0 SWC seasons. 

Prairie du Chien will get a first round bye next Tuesday as the number one seed in the Division 3 WIAA girls basketball tournament and then will play the winner of River Valley and Dodgeville Friday, Feb. 24 most likely in Prairie du Chien.  That will be followed by a game Saturday night at 7 p.m. Other teams in the PDC’s regional bracket are Edgerton as the two seed,  Platteville as the three seed, and Columbus as the four seed. 

#5 Prairie du Chien 44, Platteville 38
(from Tuesday, Feb. 7 @ Prairie du Chien)
Platteville...............18 20 —  38
Prairie du Chien...20 24 —  44 
Platteville (16–5, 6–2) — Lizzie Poller 2, Camryn Nies 16, Gwyneth Erickson 6, Jaxcyn Berntgen 4, Maddison Carl 2, Alyssa Blevins 5, Ellie Temperly 3. Totals — 15 3-8 38. 
Prairie du Chien (17–4, 8–0) — Greenlee Krahn 5, Tessa Higgins 10, Tannah Radloff 3, Ashlyn Knapp 13, Teagan Radloff 3, Shayla Straka 10. Totals — 11 19-23 44.
3-point goals — P: 5 (Nies 5), PdC: 3 (Krahn 1, Higgins 1 Knapp 1). Team fouls — P: 17, PdC: 10. Fouled out — none.