Belleville Girls Basketball Clinches Share of Conference Title
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Photo courtesy of Tony Pharo
Front Row (L-R): Athena Vang, Izzy Gomez, Addison Edge, Alyssa Caskey, Destiny Sanabria, Lainey Winkers, Mikayla Caskey, Ava Benash. Middle Row (L-R): Hayden Caskey, Bryn Prochaska, Coach Leah Rempert, Head Coach Tony Pharo, Coach Jon Benash, Coach Eric Liegel, Anika Pederson, Megan Stone.Back Row (L-R): Kenna Edge, Ellie Doyle, Maddi DeSmet, Callie Smith, Kailey Prochaska, Mickey Stampfl, Ava Foley.
Belleville girls basketball finished their regular season play this past week with a final three games in a 4-day stretch. The Wildcats traveled to Cambridge on Monday, February 14th, to take on the Blue Jays. Belleville fought hard throughout this game, unfortunately for the Wildcats the Blue Jays was hot from the field on this night scoring 34 points against them leading to a 58-49 Cambridge win.
The Wildcats were led by Callie Smith's 14 points and 10 rebounds, Ava Foley's 10 points and 7 rebounds, Mickey Stampfl's 10 points and 5 rebounds, and Kenna Edge's 9 points and 4 rebounds.
After this tough loss to Cambridge, the Wildcats were back home the next day on Tuesday, February 15th, to face Division 3 Columbus Cardinals in their final regular season home game. Columbus started the game off on a tremendously hot shooting streak and hit seven 3-pointers in the first 11 minutes, allowing Columbus to take an early 34-12 lead over the Wildcats. Belleville showed true grit and fought back to go into the locker room only down 11 with a 38-27 score at the half. The second half saw the Wildcats come out with great effort and continued to cut into the Cardinals' lead, and with 8 minutes to go they took a 4-point lead, but by this time they had used up a lot of their energy and Columbus started hitting 3-pointers again and the Wildcats received some untimely fouls that allowed Columbus to walk away with a 77-65 win over Belleville.
Belleville was led in scoring by Ava Foley's 16 points, and Alyssa Caskey, Callie Smith, and Mickey Stampfl each with 13 points for the Wildcats.
Then, on Thursday, February 17th, the Wildcats travelled to Wisconsin Heights for their final conference matchup of the season. Coach Pharo noted the team came out very focused and determined they were going to finish their conference season on a high note. The team also knew that if New Glarus would beat Cambridge that the Wildcats would earn a share of the Capitol South Conference Championship. Belleville was in control of the game from the start, and had great defensive pressure which allowed them to a 22-12 halftime lead. The second half saw more of the same and the Wildcats continued their strong defensive pressure which caused the Vanguards to turn the ball over 27 times. The Wildcats came away with a final 54-29 victory over the Vanguards.
Belleville was led in scoring by Mickey Stampfl's 14 points and 6 rebounds, Ava Foley's 11 points, Maddi DeSmet's 8 points, and Callie Smith's 6 points and 18 rebounds.
With their victory over the Vanguards and New Glarus's win over Cambridge, the Wildcats clinched a share of the Capitol South Conference Championship, which is their first conference championship since 2010-11. The Wildcats ended their regular season with an impressive overall 18-6 record and received the #2 seed in their sectional bracket. They received a bye in the first round of sectional play-offs on Tuesday, and will host the winner of Tuesday's Deerfield/Poynette match-up on Friday, February 25th, at 7:00 p.m. If they win this game, the Wildcats will then host the Regional Championship game on Saturday, February 26th, at 7:00 p.m.
