WIAA State Girls Basketball Preview: Division 4
Tuesday, March 6th, 2018 -- 10:53 AM
The 43rd Annual Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Girls Basketball State Tournament will take place this Thursday-Saturday, March 8-10, at the Resch Center in Green Bay. Here's a preview of the Division 4 field....Thursday, March 8
Division 4
#1 Aquinas (26-0) vs. #4 Crandon (22-2) - 6:35 p.m.
#2 Melrose-Mindoro (26-0) vs. #3 Manitowoc Lutheran (21-4) will begin approximately 15 minutes following the previous game.
STATE TOURNAMENT ON THE AIR: The State Tournament will be televised live in our area on WAOW-TV in Wausau, WXOW-TV in La Crosse, and WQOW-TV in Eau Claire. Also, download the Magic of March app for live streaming video, scores, highlights and more about the WIAA State basketball tournaments. Live coverage of the tournaments on iOS or Android phones and tablets are also available on the app.
ABOUT THE DIVISION 4 FIELD: Top-seeded Aquinas is State-bound for the second straight season after finishing runner-up a year ago in the programs first State appearance. The Blugolds are undefeated this season, and they are the champions of the Mississippi Valley Conference. They breezed through the Baraboo Sectional, winning their games throughout the tournament by an average of 45 points, including an 86-33 blowout over Cambridge in the sectional final. Prior to its membership in the WIAA, Aquinas won back-to-back WISAA Division 2 championships in 1996-97 and finished runner-up in Class A in 1985 and 1989. Second-seeded Melrose-Mindoro will experience the State tournament for the first time in school history. The Mustangs are undefeated and the champions in the Large Division of the Dairyland Conference this season. They rolled over Colfax 52-31 in the final of the River Falls Sectional to punch their ticket to the Resch Center. Third-seeded Manitowoc Lutheran will make its initial appearance at State following its 71-57 victory over Milwaukee Academy of Science in the Whitefish Bay Sectional final. The Lancers finished runner-up in the Big East Conference standings this year. Prior to joining the WIAA through membership option, the Lancers had a runner-up finish in Class B of the WISAA tournament in 1989. Fourth-seeded Crandon advances to the State tournament for the first time by winning the Antigo Sectional by virtue of the Cardinals’ 50-44 victory over Marathon in the final. During the regular season, the Cardinals tied for the Northern Lakes Conference championship with Elcho.
THREE-POINT CHALLENGE: The WIAA will conduct the third annual 3-Point Challenge prior to Saturday’s championship games. The event will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Resch Center. The top two players per division were selected for the contest based on the best 3-point field goal percentage with a minimum of 75 attempts during the regular season. The contestants representing Division 4 include seniors Carley Elmhorst of Colby and Lexi Schmidtknecht of Cochrane-Fountain City.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.