One week after the boys basketball teams from the Waukesha-area schools were eliminated from postseason competition, the girls teams from the city take the floor for the start of their tournament.
Three of the four teams are left after Waukesha North fell to Germantown, 44-35, in a regional quarterfinal game on Tuesday night.
Advancing past Friday’s regional semifinal games, however, will be very difficult. All of the Waukesha teams are big underdogs as each go against teams that won conference championships. Each game is also on the road.
Waukesha West (9-13, 4-10 Classic 8) vs. Sussex Hamilton (17-5, 12-2 Greater Metro)
This is probably one of the best regionals in the state as it features three of the top 10 teams in the state. Sussex Hamilton, the champions out of the Greater Metro Conference, is one of those teams.
They are seeded third behind North Shore Conference champion Nicolet and Classic 8 Conference champion Arrowhead.
West, meanwhile, struggled in the Classic 8 this year and finished seventh out of eight teams.
Waukesha South (12-11, 5-9 Classic 8) vs. Nicolet (19-3, 12-2 North Shore)
The Knights are the defending Division 1 state champions and with the targets on their back, everyone was gunning for them. South took its best shot against the champs in early January and almost pulled off one of the bigger upsets of the year when it suffered a narrow 39-37 loss.
The seventh-seeded Blackshirts enter the regional semifinals having won five of six games with their most recent a regional quarterfinal blowout (65-31) over 10th-seeded Homestead on Tuesday.
Catholic Memorial (11-12, 7-7 Classic 8) vs. Pewaukee (18-4, 16-2 Woodland)
The seventh-seeded Crusaders are coming off a 78-15 thrashing over 10th-seeded Milwaukee Bay View in the first round of the Division 2 state tournament on Tuesday.
But now the Crusaders’ games get tougher beginning tonight when they travel to Pewaukee to face the Woodland-Blue Conference champions. The Pirates, seeded second in the regional, are also ranked No. 8 in the Division 2 state rankings.
All games are at 7 p.m.