Waukesha West's girls basketball team moved to 14-0 on Monday with a convincing win over West Bend East, and the No. 1-ranked team in the state in Division 1 now embarks on an intriguing stretch of games.
At Waukesha North, meanwhile, Jessica Kelliher's outrageous scoring numbers reached new heights when she scored 46 points Jan. 10 in a 69-65 nonconference win over Wilmot. North has now won five straight games.
Kelliher dropped 30 points in a 68-65 win over Kettle Moraine on Jan. 9, and she's now scored 30 points in 11 of her team's 13 games this season. At 8-5 overall and 3-4 in the Classic 8, North is entering into the equation for a top-tier finish, especially with Catholic Memorial (7-5, 4-3) on a four-game losing skid heading into games Jan. 13.
Kelliher is averaging 32.5 points per game, which somewhat remarkably is only second in the state behind Megan Gustafson of South Shore (38.3), a University of Iowa recruit who has scored as high as 47 in a game this year. Kelliher is committed to NCAA Division II Lewis University and has been named first-team All Conference in the Classic 8 three times, with the fourth all but a certainty this season.
From a team standpoint, West has been unstoppable. The Wolverines defeated Arrowhead by a 51-41 count on Dec. 16 and since, West has won each of its next six games by no fewer than 18 points, winning by at least 30 points in the other five (average margin of victory: 33.8 points). Only once this season has West won by fewer than double digits (a 58-54 win over Appleton North on Nov. 22), and that list of wins includes powerful foes such as Kimberly, New Berlin West, Notre Dame, Mukwonago and Arrowhead.
West defeated Mukwonago by a comfortable 53-33 outcome Dec. 5, but the Wolverines will travel to face Mukwonago in the rematch Friday. The Indians are led by another Iowa recruit, Bre Cera, and recent Ball State commit Morgan Glatczak, who has notched two triple-doubles this season (points, blocks and rebounds) and flirted with at least two more.
After that battle, West will meet Milwaukee King, the No. 7 team in Division 1, on Jan. 20. Battles with North (Jan. 30) and on the road against Arrowhead (Feb. 6) also loom as obstacles to an undefeated regular season.
The Wolverines continue to be led by junior point guard Dani Rhodes, whose 20.4 points-per-game average is second in the conference behind only Kelliher. Senior Katy Walz (9.4) is second on an otherwise balanced roster featuring players such as Ashley Solberg, Christine Allen, Lauren Paquin, Megan Weise, Calli Delsman, Maddie Cruz and Kariss Keller.
West's half of the sectional features many conference foes (Mukwonago, Arrowhead among them) and talented one-loss Germantown. The other half of the sectional features No. 4 De Pere, No. 5 Sheboygan North, No. 8 Middleton and No. 9 Kimberly — but West would only have to face one of those teams if it advances that far. The Wolverines have never been to the girls basketball state tournament.
West recently downed Memorial, 57-18, the latest setback for a Crusaders team that was 7-1 at one point but has struggled to keep rolling after the loss of one of their top players, Tori North, to an ACL injury. The Crusaders have their own positively brutal portion of the Division 2 bracket, with a regional that includes No. 3 Pewaukee and No. 4 New Berlin Eisenhower, and No. 1 Milwaukee Pius XI awaits in the sectional.
Waukesha South has fallen to 0-7 in conference play and 6-8 overall. Freshman Theresa Wichser is fifth in league scoring with 12.2 points per game.
On the boys side, area teams have struggled. Waukesha South (4-6 overall, 2-4 in league play) and Waukesha North (6-5, 2-4) have been the best, with South's Cody Hurtado scoring 14.8 points per game for the second-best output in the league. North defeated South on Jan. 6, however, 73-66, bolstered by 28 points from Kyle Petersen and a 28-18 edge in the fourth quarter. North also defeated two opponents in the Shawano Sundrop Classic between the holidays.
It's been a rougher road for Catholic Memorial (2-0, 1-5) and Waukesha West (1-10, 1-5), though West has shown well in close losses to Brookfield Central (49-41), Kettle Moraine (54-48) and Milwaukee Hamilton (67-62) in recent weeks. Memorial likewise has been in many close calls, including five of its six straight losses by single digits.
Adam Wieczorek and Troy Viegut each score 11.4 points per game for North, and CMH is led by Parker Carlson's 11.3 per game.