WIAA Girls Basketball State Tournament Recap

Our four area teams represented themselves very well in Madison this past week.   

Flambeau took home a Division 4 state title for a third straight year, an amazing accomplishment for head coach Ted Alberson's program.   The Falcons join some pretty elite company in Wisconsin girls high school hoops (Milwaukee Washington, Cuba City), as the only schools to have won three consecutive state titles.   Once again, Flambeau's balance, depth, unselfishness, and defensive pressure helped carry the Falcons to a title--the same characteristics of Alberson's previous teams.   

Altoona should be proud of its first trip to state, but the Railroaders may be wondering "what if" for a long time.   What if Altoona hadn't started out so cold against Monroe in their Division 2 semifinal?  It may very well have been the Rails hosting a gold ball on Saturday afternoon instead of the Cheesemakers.   Still, congratulations to coach Scott Harmon and his team, for a great comeback against Monroe in one of the most entertaining games of the entire tournament.

Likewise, congratulations go out to head coach Joe Doucette and the Colfax Vikings, for making that program's first trip to state since 1994.   Colfax competed very well against a talented Markesan team, and like Altoona, the Vikings kept it close after falling behind early.   Watching all the players in the tournament, I didn't see anyone shoot the 3 better or from a longer distance than Courtney Doucette did for Colfax.

Eleva-Strum's performance against Flambeau in the semifinals showed that the Cardinals may have been the second-best team in the  D4 field.   The Cardinals look to follow the same blueprint that brought a boys state title back to Eleva-Strum: get through to state one season, then make it to the championship game the following year.   With all the starters returning, Kyle Kaufman's team figures to be one of the area's top teams in 08-09.   

Thanks to all the players and coaches from all the teams for a very entertaining 2007-2008 season!

-BOB BRADOVICH