The high school regular season basketball schedule is winding down as there’s two weeks left in the boys’ season, while the girls go a week later.
The contenders and the top teams in the Classic 8 for both the boys and girls are well-established as Mukwonago and Pius have led the boys division much of the season, while Pius and Arrowhead are well above the rest in the girls league.
The Waukesha-area schools, meanwhile, have struggled with consistency and are either in the middle or at the bottom of their respective conferences.
While there are some very talented players on some of the Waukesha-area teams, most of them have yet to solve the league’s best teams. Some haven’t matched their success from last year, while inexperience and youth have contributed to some of the struggles.
Even so, strides have been made at some of the schools and most have had success outside of the conference, which shows the league’s depth. The top teams are also some of the area’s best, especially on the girl’s side.
Regardless, it’s the home stretch of the basketball season and here are my previews to this week’s boys and girls basketball games that involve Waukesha-area schools. My predictions are in bold.
All the varsity games are at 7:30 p.m. after the JV games.
Boys
Waukesha North (12-7 overall, 5-6 Classic 8) vs. Pius (15-3, 9-2)
North was in decent position in the Classic 8 standings one week ago, but two straight losses – to Arrowhead last Friday and to Mukwonago on Tuesday – have dropped the Northstars’ conference record to 5-6 and in a tie with Catholic Memorial for fifth place.
Meanwhile, North is now looking up at Arrowhead and Waukesha West, two teams that are playing better basketball of late. Pius, at 9-2 in conference, is tied with Mukwonago for the conference lead and has a favorable schedule the rest of the way as it doesn’t play a Classic 8 team with a winning record in its final three games.
Friday’s game against North, however, should be the closest of those games, but I see the Popes coming through and remain atop the Classic 8 standings.
Waukesha South (1-17, 0-11) vs. Arrowhead (9-9, 7-4)
South almost got its first win last Friday night when it was narrowly defeated by Kettle Moraine. That was by far its best chance of winning its first Classic 8 game of the season.
The Blackshirts’ first game against Arrowhead last month was competitive at 58-49, but I see Arrowhead winning comfortably on Friday at home. After a four-game losing streak, the Warhawks have won two straight – a 62-41 win over Waukesha North last Friday and a 65-48 victory at Kettle Moraine on Tuesday.
They’re playing better team basketball getting contributions from all over the lineup and led by junior guard Kenny Finco that trend will continue against South.
While this season doesn’t compare to the 14-0 mark it had last year, Arrowhead will continue to ascend up the Classic 8 standings and keep its slim conference title hopes alive.
Catholic Memorial (10-7, 5-6) vs. Waukesha West (10-8, 6-5)
I picked Waukesha West to upset Pius XI last week and while that didn’t happen, the Wolverines almost came out on top, losing a 61-60 heartbreaker to the first-place Popes. The fact that West made it that close was memorable given that Pius raced out to a 20-7 first-quarter lead and held a 35-18 advantage at the half.
The Wolverines also lost senior forward Brandon Kranz after he was injured while going up for a dunk last Friday.
The Wolverines are already playing without junior forward Dylan Chmura who is still recovering from a knee injury and hasn’t played all year. Now Kranz is out indefinitely. This is after he was forced to sit out the second half of last season after suffering a season-ending knee injury, which limited him to playing only 12 games.
Luckily, the Wolverines have some depth and they showed it in a 71-57 win over Waukesha South on Tuesday. CM, meanwhile, got over the .500 in conference play with three straight wins in January, but has now lost two straight. But those were both to the conference’s two best teams. Nonetheless, it dropped them to under .500 in league play.
Like many of the games last week, I see this game as a toss-up. West won by 11 points last time but that was with Kranz, who scored 12 points in the game and averages just more than 12 on the season.
Someone will have to step up and it appears Tyler Domenoski is that person as the junior forward, who averages just more than seven points per game, poured in 21 against South and had 20 against Pius.
With this game being at home for West, I think they’ll continue to play inspired ball and edge out Memorial in a game that won’t be decided until the final couple minutes.
Girls
Waukesha West (6-9, 3-7) vs. Catholic Memorial (6-11, 4-6)
This game should be a good one as these two teams are right next to each other in the conference standings with CM at fifth and West at sixth. Their first matchup last month was a close one as CM edged West, 58-55, behind the scoring efforts of Abby Radish, who led four Crusaders in double figures with 21 points.
Michelle Farrow (22 points) and Kianna Keller (19 points) did everything they could to will the team back after the Wolverines trailed by eight going into the final quarter, but West came up just short.
Since that loss to CM, West is on a six-game stretch where it wins a game, then loses a game as it has not won two straight or lost two straight.
They lost last Friday to Pius, 41-31, so a win should be coming, right? Not this time. With this game on the road, I see a more balanced CM team winning another exciting game between two teams that are relatively evenly-matched.
Pius (14-3, 9-1) vs. Waukesha North (8-8, 2-8)
These programs are polar opposites of each other. Pius is a conference and state title contender year-in-year-out and remind me of the UW-Green Bay women’s basketball team and UW-Whitewater football team, two programs that have just dominated their leagues for years, whose tradition of excellence is unmatched and programs that just develop their talent year-after-year.
Rebuilding isn’t in their vocabulary. It’s all about reloading.
The Northstars, meanwhile, can only hope to get to that level after years of losing. They have shown signs of turning the corner this year, but when your varsity roster has six of nine underclassmen and its two best players are a freshman and sophomore there’s going to be growing pains and taking baby steps is what North has to be happy with at this point.
While this game could be competitive in a few years when North’s youngsters are upperclassmen and have more experience under their belts, right now, Pius – which is tied with Arrowhead atop the league standings at 9-1 – is head and shoulders above North and will dominate this one.
Fortunately for the Northstars, their tough two-game stretch – it lost last week to Arrowhead 53-36 – comes to an end Friday. North should be happy about that and the fact that they go out of conference for a game against West Allis Hale (3-13) next Tuesday.
Arrowhead (13-2, 9-1) vs. Waukesha South (7-9, 3-7)
Arrowhead is on a mission this year and everyone should watch out. They are on a nine-game winning streak and just defeated Germantown, 59-35, in a non-conference game on Tuesday behind Jenny Smith’s school-record 43 points. Yes, 43 points in a high school game where teams sometimes don’t even make it to the 40-point mark.
After having above .500 seasons the last two years in conference, the Blackshirts, despite having a good scorer itself in Eileen Van Horn (14.4 points per game), have struggled this year with consistency and defeating the better teams. This team, however, has come close – many of its losses to the middle of the pack teams in the conference – have been by single digits.
When the two teams played the first time, the Warhawks won 40-23 behind 20 points from Smith. Smith should remain hot from the field and while I could see the Blackshirts sticking around for a while like they did last time (it was a four-point game at halftime), Arrowhead will impose its will in the second half and roll.
They’ll then take a 10-game winning streak into its non-conference showdown with fellow state power and City Conference-leader Milwaukee King (11-6, 8-0) on Tuesday.
Other Classic 8 game: Mukwonago takes on Kettle Moraine in both boys and girls
Last week’s predictions: 6-2