It’s hard to believe, but we are 29 days to the start of the WIAA Girls Basketball Tournament.
It’s never too early to start making predictions on where everyone will be seeded and where teams will be traveling. We are starting today with Girls Division 5 and will release our predictions throughout the week.
Colfax Sectional Semifinal
Loyal Greyhounds
Seed: 3
11-2 T-1st Cloverbelt East (8-1)
First Round Opponent: Home to #14 Clayton
The Loyal Greyhounds have opportunities to raise their seed but currently sit behind undefeated Clear Lake and the 2nd place team from the Cloverbelt West in McDonnell Central. A huge game on Friday night could really give the Greyhounds material to claim the #1 seed with a big win over the Neillsville Warriors. (Watch that game live at onfocus.news/sports). Plus, they should get a shot at either the Fall Creek or McDonnell in the Crossover games, but those will be too late for seeding.
Greenwood Indians
Seed: 15
3-11 Overall 8th Place Cloverbelt East (1-8)
First Round Opponent: At #2 McDonnel Central
Greenwood is in a rebuilding phase under first-year head coach Trevor Wuethrich. They do have some winnable games upcoming and are in a very fluid bottom of this bracket. An upset or two could move Greenwood up a few spots.
Other Games
#1 Clear Lake vs #16 Turtle Lake
#4 Prairie Farm vs #13 Cornell
#5 Flambeau vs #12 Thorp
#6 Gilman vs #11 Lake Holcombe
#7 EC Immanuel Lutheran vs #10 New Auburn
#8 Bruce vs #9 Owen-Withee
Independence Sectional Semifinal
Columbus Catholic Dons
Seed: 7
7-7 Overall 4th Place Cloverbelt East (6-4)
First Round Opponent: Home to #10 Pittsville
The Columbus Dons would be doing pretty well in any other D4-5 conference, but when you have to play the likes of Neillsville, Colby, and Loyal twice each season, it can skew your record. Columbus will be able to point to some close losses to those teams as proof that they are a good squad deserving of a home game. They have opportunities to make their case even stronger with games at Loyal and home to Neillsville to end the regular season.
Pittsville Panthers
Seed: 10
5-11 Overall 5th Place Central WI South (3-5)
First Round Opponent: At #7 Columbus Catholic
The Pittsville Panthers are improving already, exceeding their win total from the previous three seasons. This will give them an opportunity to get a more competitive game as a 10 seed over the much lower seeds they have had the past few years. And with some winnable games upcoming against Tigerton tonight, and at home to Port Edwards on Valentine’s Day we could see one of the better Panther seasons in recent years.
Other Games
#1 Bangor vs BYE
#2 Cashton vs #15 Granton
#3 Blair/Taylor vs #14 Alma/Pepin
#4 Eleva-Strum vs Gilmanton
#5 Royall vs #12 New Lisbon
#6 Alma Center Lincoln vs #11 Plum City/Elmwood
#8 Indpendence vs #8 Augusta
Check back tomorrow as we preview Division 4 Girls Basketball.
