Darren Lee Photography
Alex Luehring of Verona in a match versus Janesville Craig on March 5.
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association state boys’ basketball tournament starts on St. Patrick’s Day at the Kohl Center, and the girls’ tournament tips off this weekend at Green Bay’s Resch Center.
Three area girls’ teams — Stoughton, Verona and Madison Edgewood — are bouncing up U.S. Highway 41 with the goal of winning a state championship. But by the time you read this, at least one might already have been eliminated in semifinals action.
Such is the cruelty of high school basketball in March, when a team like 24-2 Stoughton — which advanced to the state tournament for the first time since 1998 after Union Grove missed a final shot as time expired, giving the Vikings an emotional 35-34 sectional final win — could fall to Onalaska (21-5) on Friday afternoon in a Division 2 semifinal.
To avoid that fate, the Vikings will need to score more than 35 points against Onalaska; the Hilltoppers reached the semis by shooting 60% from the field in the second half of their 59-52 win over Hortonville.
Edgewood (20-6) is making its first state tournament trip in program history and will play in the first game of the weekend, a Division 3 semifinal matchup Thursday afternoon against Hayward, a top-five team that only lost once all season.
The Crusaders are on a roll following a signature win over defending state champion Whitewater and an overtime victory against previously unbeaten Marshall. Edgewood cruised past Prairie du Chien, 51-35, en route to Green Bay.
Verona easily beat Big Eight Conference rival Janesville Craig, 63-45, on the way to its first state tournament since 2010. The 23-3 Wildcats will take on Appleton North (22-4) in a Division 1 semifinal Friday night and are led by junior Alex Luehring, whose name already may be familiar to basketball fans in Green Bay; she committed last fall to play at UW-Green Bay upon graduation.
This year’s run to a state championship is likely bittersweet for Verona. Many current Wildcats were teammates with Ebony Nettles-Bey, who fought a high-profile battle with soft-tissue cancer during her junior and senior seasons and died in November at age 18.
With three compelling local storylines, the 2016 state girls’ basketball tournament is worthy of your attention — and serves as a terrific start to the best month of the year for basketball fans.