Barneveld will be seeking the Division 5 championship with that portion of the state tournament takes place Friday. Top seeded Eleva-Strum will face fourth seed Fall River at 9:05 am with the third seeded Eagles meeting two seed Pacelli around 11 a.m. All games take place in Green Bay at the Resch Center. WIAA communications director Todd Clark has put together the following wrap of Division 5.
ABOUT THE DIVISION 5 FIELD: The top seed in the bracket is Eleva-Strum, making its second State appearance and its first since the Cardinals qualified in 2008. That experience resulted in a loss in the Division 4 semifinals. They claimed the title in the Dairyland Conference this season. The Cardinals downed Webster 64-44 in the Somerset Sectional final to advance to the State semifinals. Second-seeded Pacelli will make its first-ever appearance in the State Tournament after defeating Florence 75-46 in the Pulaski Sectional final. The Cardinals are the champions of the South Division of the Central Wisconsin Conference this year. As a former member of WISAA, Pacelli recorded a runnerup finish in Class A in 1983. Last season’s runner-up Barneveld, the #3 seed, qualifies for the State Tournament for the 13th time overall. The Golden Eagles have won six State titles, capturing the Division 4 crowns in 1995, 1998, 1999, 2005 and the Division 5 titles in 2014 and 2015. In addition, they have a Division 4 runner-up finish in 2007 to go with two Division 5 second-place outcomes in 2013 and 2016. They finished second in the East Division of the Six Rivers Conference during the regular season. The Golden Eagles defeated Independence/Gilmanton 38-34 in the final of the Mauston Sectional for another opportunity to win program’s seventh title. Fall River, the fourth seed, qualifies for the State Tournament for the fourth time and for the first time since 2019. The Pirates are seeking to advance from the semifinals for the first time. They beat Lourdes Academy 58-48 in the Markesan Sectional final to earn their return to the tourney. During the regular season, Fall River placed third in the West Division of the Trailways Conference.
BARNEVELD GOLDEN EAGLES
The winningest coach in Barneveld girls basketball history is no stranger to he state tournament. Jim Myers is 742-153 and adding in his season with the boys it is even better at 790-162. He is a 42 year veteran as a coach. Myers returned to the coaching field two years ago after retiring. He has guided his team to the state tournament both seasons. The Eagles are 22-7 with a second place finish in the Six Rivers East. Myers had the Eagles playing their best basketball down the stretch and beat both co-champions, Albany/Monticello and Argyle/Pecatonica in their second meeting. Albany/Monticello is also at the tournament in Division 4 because of the success factor. The Eagles are led by Izzy Durst who averages 20.2 PPG. Hannah Esch averages 11.3. Both girls are seniors and Durst is a four year starter who will be moving on to play at D2 UW-Parkside. Senior Aleea Norton leads the rebounding with 157. The Eagles are seeded third and hope to take it a step further this year as they were runners-up in 2024-25.
GOLDEN EAGLES ROSTER
2 Eliza Gordon G 11 5-2
4 Kenzie Danz G 10 5-4
5 Erin Lasse F 12 5-8
10 Mya Norton F 10 5-9
12 Rowan Valcheff G 10 5-7
20 Hannah Esch G 12 5-6
22 Madelynn Ignatius G 11 5-8
24 McKenna Hopfensperger G95-7
30 Aleea Norton F 12 5-9
32 Jayda Oimoen F 11 5-9
40 Nora Burris F 11 5-8
42 Sophie Reese F 10 5-7
44 Izabel Durst G 12 5-9
Head Coach: Jim Myers Career Record/Years: 790-161/42 School Record/Years: 742-153/40
PACELLI CARDINALS
Head coach Allison Smagik had a role added to her coaching duties this year.
Recruiter,
Low numbers and injuries had her not only looking for additional players. With no junior varsity team she had to find some volunteers from the faculty to be able to have some five on five at practice. A lot of the time Smagik had to be creative for practices and ran a lot of three on three and four on four. She looked at the positive as it gave the girls more touches. “We also shot a ton of free throws,” Smagik said. The Cardinals have a 66% success rate for free throws. Leading scorer for the Cardinals is 5-11 junor Jaedyn Zdroik with a 17.6 average. Another junior 6-0 Haylee Cisewski averages 12.3 and 5-9 junior Madelyn Pionek averages 11.3. Zdroik is also the rebound leader, grabbing 180 for the season. The Cardinlas are 23-4 and went undefeated in the Central Wisconsin Conference, earning the title with a 10-0 mark. Pacelli earned the second seed for the tournament.
PACELLI ROSTER
2 Rebecka Smith G 11 5-8
3 Haylee Cisewski F 11 6-0
4 Anna Matecki F 11 5-6 5 Madelyn Pionek F 11 5-9
13 Kinsley Schurk G 9 5-8
15 Lexington Koenigs G 11 5-7
22 Jaedyn Zdroik G 11 5-11
23 Vivian Berna F 9 5-6
24 Peyton Zdroik F 9 5-10 30 Sami Sankey G 12 5-5
33 Ella Van Order F 12 5-9
Head Coach: Allison Smaglik (UW-Parkside, 2011)
Career Record/Years: 66-13/3 yrs School Record/Years: 66-13/3 yrs
FALL RIVER PIRATES
The Pirates are seeded fourth and were 13-11 in the regular season with a 9-5 record in the Trailways West that put them in third place. They avenged an earlier loss to Lourdes Academy to earn their trip to state. A pair of rangy seniors are the scoring leaders. Natalie Fietz (5-11) and Emma Sampson (6-0) average 19.9 and 17.1 PPG. Sampson leds the rebounding with 312. “We’ve had our ups and downs,” coach Jim Doolittle says. “But we ae coming together at the right time.”
FALL RIVER ROSTER
0 Annamarie Udelhofen G 12 5-6
2 Samantha Coloso G 10 5-5
3 Aspen Schlachter G 10 5-5
4 Alyssa Bittner G 10 5-7
5 Nevaeh Schultz G 10 5-10
10 Macey Bukoski G 10 5-6
11 Emma Sampson F 12 6-0
12 Clara Mickelson F 11 5-10 13 Addison Birr G 10 5-6
14 Natalie Fietz F 12 5-11
15 Bryella Grossman G 9 5-5 21 Cecelia Tavs F 12 5-6
22 Morgan Bittner G 10 5-7
23 Ella Beaver F 12 5-11
32 Elizabeth Brozek F 11 5-5
33 Jaylah Abegglen F 11 5-7
Head Coach: Jim Doolittle (UW- Oshkosh, 1997)
Career Record/Years: 472-193/27 yrs School Record/Years: 266-104/14 yrs
ELEVA-STRUM CARDINALS
The Cardinals are seeded #1 with a perfect 29-0 season record and a Dairyland Conference championship. Junor Avery Glenz leads the scoring with a 17.8 PPG average and junior Maddea Brown averages 11.9. Junior Avata Zwiefelhofer is the leading rebouner with 196, one more than Glenz. Coach Dave Hazuga says the Cardinals pay attention to defense and rebounding. “We want the other team to make the mistakes because of our defense,” Hazuga said. “For us we want to make as few mistakes as possible.”
ELEVA-STRUM ROSTER
0 Avery Glenz G 11 5-10
1 Maddea Brown G 11 5-7
2 Avery Spangberg G 11 5-3
5 Avaya Zwiefelhofer F 11 5-9
10 Brenley Bauer F 10 5-10 12 Aliza Kulig F 12 6-0
14 Mariah Steffenson G 11 5-6 20 Clara Christ G 11 5-9 22 Grace Hulett G 11 5-3
23 Kora Gunderson G 12 5-8
24 Lydia Nicolet G 9 5-8 40 Sydnee Hanner F 10 5-8
Head Coach: Dave Hazuga (Mount Scenario College, 1996)
Career Record/Years: 143-150/12 yrs School Record/Years: 50-7/2 yrs
