Eagles’ girls earn No. 6 seed

The road will be tough. It always is at this time of the year. But Sauk Prairie’s girls basketball team has shown that anything and everything is possible when it’s at the top of its game. Sauk Prairie received the No. 6 seed and will host 11th-seeded Portage in a WIAA Division 2 regional quarterfinal game on Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. The winner will travel to No. 3-seeded Reedsburg for a regional semifinal game on Friday, Feb. 28. “It was an easy seeding,” Sauk Prairie coach Amber Fiene said. “It was only a question of us Mount Horeb and Monroe for the No. 5, 6 and 7 seeds. Mount Horeb tried to take the six seed on appeal, but weren’t able to override the vote.” The Eagles are currently 12-9 overall and 5-8 in the Northern Badger Conference after splitting a pair of games last week. Sauk Prairie routed Richland Center, 72-32, in a non-conference game on Feb. 11 and fell to host Waunakee, 80-41, in a Badger North Conference game last Thursday. The Eagles have posted their highest win total since going 12-12 during the 2013-14 season and are guaranteed of their first winning record since finishing 20-5 in 2009-10. “That’s huge for us,” Fiene said. “We’re stepping forward and showing that we’re moving in the right direction. Our goal is to continue to battle and play a lot better.” Following is a look at last week for the Eagles. • Sauk Prairie 72, Richland Center 32 — Junior guard Naomi Breunig scored 27 points, including three three-pointers, and finished with six rebounds, five assists, eight steals and three blocked shots as the visiting Eagles stung the Hornets. Sauk Prairie (12-8) took charge with a 41-18 first-half run behind Breunig’s 16 points. Junior guard Olivia Breunig added 11 points, and sophomore forward Olivia Paukner finished with 11 points and six rebounds for the Eagles. Freshman forward Maggie Hartwig grabbed a team-best eight rebounds. “We had one of our better shooting games of the season,” Fiene said after the Eagles made 30 of 69 field goal attempts (43.5%), including 5 of 15 from beyond the arc and 7 of 11 at the free throw line. “We need that to carry over against some of the tougher teams on our schedule.” Richland Center (5-14) was led by Aliyah Ruhland’s 10 points. • Waunakee 80, Sauk Prairie 41 — The host Warriors opened up a 21-point halftime lead and cruised to the Badger North Conference victory last Thursday. Naomi Breunig scored 21 points, and Ella Schad chipped in with 11 points to pace Sauk Prairie (12-9, 5-8 Badger North).  Elena Maier scored a game-high 23 points to lead Waunakee (16-5, 9-4), which also got 17 points from Brooke Ehle. • On deck: Sauk Prairie hosts DeForest in a Badger North Conference and regular-season ending game on Thursday on Senior Night at 7:15 p.m.    Feb. 11 Sauk Prairie 72,  Richland Center 32 Sauk Prairie …….. 41 31 — 72 Richland Center … 18 14 — 32 SAUK PRAIRIE (fg ft-fta pts) — Lexi Tobias 2 0-0 4, Naomi Breunig 11 2-2 27, Claudia Miller 1 0-0 2, Olivia Breunig 5 0-0 11, Faith Holler 3 0-0 7, Kassia Marquardt 0 0-0 0, Madi Pertzborn 0 0-0 0, Lauren Wideen 0 0-0 0, Ella Schad 1 0-0 2, Ruth Baker 0 1-2 1, Olivia Paukner 4 3-3 11, Kaya Wilson 1 0-0 2, Makenzie Breunig 1 0-0 2, Annika Braund 0 0-0 0, Maggie Hartwig 1 1-4 3. Totals 30 6-9 72. RICHLAND CENTER — Aliyah Ruhland 3 4-4 10, Katie Schmitz 4 0-0 8, Breanna Stibbe 3 0-0 6, Lexi Mieden 2 0-0 4, Paige Keller 2 0-0 4, Madelyn Bauer 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 4-4 32. 3-point goals: SP 5 (N. Breunig 3, O. Breunig 1, Holler 1). Total fouls: SP 11; RC 12.   Feb. 13 Waunakee 80, Sauk Prairie 41 Sauk Prairie ...….. 23 18 — 41 Waunakee ....……. 44 36 — 80 SAUK PRAIRIE (fg ft-fta pts) — Naomi Breunig 8 3-3 21, Olivia Breunig 1 0-0 3, Faith Holler 0 1-4 1, Kassia Marquardt 0 0-1 0, Lauren Wideen 0 0-1 0, Ella Schad 3 4-6 11, Annika Braund 0 1-4 1, Maggie Hartwig 1 2-5 4. Totals 13 11-24 41. WAUNAKEE — Anne Dotzler 1 0-0 2, Brooke Ehle 6 0-0 17, Lauren Meudt 4 0-0 11, Melanie Watson 1 1-3 3, Elena Maier 8 3-4 23, Lauren Statz 1 0-0 2, Kylee Grabarski 1 6-6 8, Ebba Harrison 0 2-2 2, Caitlyn Lynch 1 0-0 2, Ava Bryan 1 1-1 3, Ashley Sawicki 3 1-1 7. Totals 27 14-17 80. 3-point goals: SP 4 (N. Breunig 2, O. Breunig 1, Schad 1); W 12 (Ehle 5, Maier 4, Meudt 3). Total fouls: SP 16; W 20.          BOYS  BASKETBALL Sauk Prairie suffered a pair of Badger North Conference losses in a span of four days last week. The Eagles fell at Mount Horeb, 68-56, on Feb. 11 and suffered a 53-37 setback against DeForest at home last Friday. “We did not play very well this week,” Sauk Prairie coach Sean McGann said. “We need to get out of that funk.” Following is a look at last week’s action: • Mount Horeb 68, Sauk Prairie 56 — Trevor Spray scored 18 points, but the visiting Eagles lost to the Vikings. Brandt Wilson scored 14 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds, Parker Breunig added 11 points and Isaac Breunig had 10 points for Sauk Prairie (7-9, 5-5 Badger North). Spray sank three field goals, including two three-pointers, to stake Sauk Prairie to an 11-3 lead just three minutes into the game. But Mount Horeb used a 15-6 surge to take an 18-17 lead midway through the first half. Owen Ziegler scored seven of his game-high 19 points during the run. He also finished with a game-high eight assists and grabbed five rebounds. Parker Breunig sank a 3-pointer off an assist from Brandt Wilson to give the Eagles their last lead at 27-26 with 2:24 remaining in the first half. Mount Horeb’s Carter Gilkes drained a three-pointer, though, to help the Vikings take a 31-29 lead into halftime.  Mount Horeb (10-7, 7-3) then outscored Sauk Prairie, 37-27, in the second-half run to help the Vikings earn a split in the season series. The Eagles defeated Mount Horeb, 59-51, in Prairie du Sac on Dec. 17. “They were tougher,” McGann said of Mount Horeb. “We couldn’t get any stops. They kept back-cutting us. We talked about it so much. But they probably had six back-cut layups, and we lost by 12.” • DeForest 53, Sauk Prairie 37 — The visiting Norskies held the Eagles to just 10 points in the first half en route to sweeping the season series. DeForest edged Sauk Prairie, 56-55, in the first meeting on Dec. 20. “In the first half, we had 27 possessions and turned the ball over on 11 of them,” McGann said. “That just killed us. We didn’t handle pressure very well all of a sudden. They have a lot of athletes who impact the game.” Isaac Breunig and Ben German each scored nine points to lead the Eagles (7-10, 5-7 Badger North). Brody Hartig led DeForest with 12 points. • On deck: Sauk Prairie was at Beaver Dam Tuesday, then travels to Baraboo on Friday at 7:15 p.m. The Eagles will then play a non-conference game at Wisconsin Dells on Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. and host River Valley in a non-conference game on Feb. 25 at 7:15 p.m.   Feb. 11 Mount Horeb 68,  Sauk Prairie 56 Sauk Prairie …… 29 27 — 56 Mount Horeb ….. 31 37 — 68 SAUK PRAIRIE (fg ft-fta pts) — Ben German 1 1-2 3, Isaac Breunig 4 0-0 10, Trevor Spray 8 0-0 18, Brandt Wilson 6 0-1 14, Parker Breunig 4 0-0 11. Totals 23 1-3 56. MOUNT HOREB — Carter Gilkes 5 0-0 14, Ethan Post 5 1-2 12, Torin Hannah 3 0-0 7, Tyler Banfield 3 0-0 6, Ray Woller 1 0-0 3, Anthony Lange 2 1-2 5, Owen Ziegler 6 4-4 19, Caden Thomas 1 0-0 2. Totals 26 6-8 68. 3-point goals: SP 9 (I. Breunig 2, Spray 2, Wilson 2, P. Breunig 3); MH 10 (Gilkes 4, Post 1, Hannah 1, Woller 1, Ziegler 3). Total fouls: SP 13; MH 7.   Feb. 14 DeForest 53, Sauk Prairie 37 DeForest …....…… 22 31 — 53 Sauk Prairie …...... 10 27 — 37 DeFOREST (fg ft-fta pts) — Jahyl Bonds 5 0-2 10, Max Weisbrod 4 3-4 11, Trace Grundahl 2 0-0 4, Trey Schroeder 4 0-0 8, Alex Winters 1 0-0 2, Deven Magli 3 0-0 6, Colby Hartig 5 2-2 12. Totals 24 5-8 53. SAUK PRAIRIE — Tyler Uselman 2 0-0 4, Ben German 4 0-1 9, Isaac Breunig 3 1-1 9, Garrett Hertzfeldt 0 0-0 0, Trevor Spray 2 0-0 4, Brandt Wilson 3 0-0 6, Parker Breunig 1 0-0 2, Fadil Ahmetaj 1 0-0 3. Totals 16 1-2 37. 3-point goals: SP 4 (I. Breunig 2, Berman 1, Ahmetaj). Total fouls: D 8; SP 12.   GYMNASTICS Junior Heidi Kuhnau posted a school-record score of 9.4 on the balance beam, but visiting Watertown recorded a 130.9 to 122.55 victory over Sauk Prairie in a Badger Conference dual-meet held at Grand Avenue Elementary School on Feb. 11. The Eagles followed that up with a ninth-place finish at the Platteville Invitational last Saturday. Mount Horeb won the team title with 143.875 points, while the Eagles scored 117.875. “Kylie (Wilson) could not be there due to a family emergency, but Alexis Strunz and Emma Bockhop stepped up in her place and did an incredible job,” Sauk Prairie coach Justine Anderson said of the Platteville meet. “Emma got a (personal-record) on the beam in her first varsity beam experience.”  At Platteville, Kuhnau medaled in three events, tying for fourth in the floor exercise with a score of 9.15, tying for fifth in the balance beam (8.6) and placing eighth in the vault (8.3). She was also seventh in the all-around (34.45). “Heidi had a great meet,” Anderson said. “She got a PR on bars, which was a great day to do it to get more confidence going into conference. She’s also rivaling for a spot at state and has a decent shot on beam, floor, and possibly all around.”  Next up is the Badger Conference meet at Waunakee on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. “They know what needs to be done going forward,” Anderson said. “Overall their confidence is exponentially better and that is more than half the battle. We’re hoping to fight for more consistency this week so we can show up and rock it at conference.”    Feb. 11 Watertown 130.9, Sauk Prairie 122.55 Balance beam: 1, Heidi Kuhnau, SP, 9.4; 2, Hurtgen, W, 8.74; 3, Ava Putnam, SP, 7.75.  Sauk Prairie – Rachel Endthoff, 7.05; Kylie Wilson, 7.05; Addie Desroches, 6.75. Floor exercise: 1, Hurtgen, W, 9.2; 2, Kuhnau, SP, 9.1; 3, Ashenfelter, 8.9. Sauk Prairie – Putnam, 8.6; Wilson, 8.35; Desroches, 8.3; Emma Bockhop, 7.6.  Uneven bars: 1, Hurtgen, W, 8.8’ 2, tie, Kuhnau, SP, and Marks, W, 7.8. Sauk Prairie – Putnam, 6.75; Endthoff, 5.45; Desroches and Alexis Strunz, 4.85.  Vault: 1, Olson, W, 8.4; 2, Jacob, W, 8.3; 3, Hurtgen, W, and Kuhnau, SP, 8.25. Sauk Prairie – Wilson, 8.2; Putnam, 8.05; Desroches, 7.6; Endthoff, 7.25.  All-around: 1, Hurtgen, W, 35.55; 2, Kuhnau, SP, 34.55; 3, Putnam, SP, 31.15; 4, Desroches, SP, 27.50.   Feb. 15 Platteville Invitational Team scores: Mount Horeb 143.875; Waunakee/DeForest 133.775; Dodgeville/Mineral Point 132.9; Platteville co-op 130.175; River Valley 128.15; Baraboo 128.25; Reedsburg 123.2; Monona Grove 120.575; Sauk Prairie 117.875; Southwestern co-op 117.525; Prairie du Chien/Fennimore 114.5; Whitewater 112.675.   Event leaders Balance beam: 1, O’Connell, MH, 9.65; 2, L. Weier, MH, 8.95; 3, Honerbaum, DMP, 8.85; 4, Sanftleben, RV, 8.65; 5 (tie), Heidi Kuhnau, SP, and Domask, WD, 8.6. Sauk Prairie -- Rachel Endthoff, 7.25; Addie Desroches, 7.05; Emma Bockhop, 7.0; Ava Putnam, 6.95. Floor exercise: 1, Shatrawka, RV, 9.5; 2, O’Connell, MH, 9.425; 3, O’Neil, MH, 9.3; 4 (tie), Kuhnau, SP, E. Weier, MH and L. Weier, MH, 9.15. Sauk Prairie – Putnam, 7.95; Desroches, 7.65; Bockhop, 7.525; Endthoff, 7.15. Uneven bars: 1, O’Connell, MH, 9.225; 2, O’Neil, MH, 8.925; 3, Bockhop, DMP, 8.825; 4 (tie), Powers, WD, and Stoenner, MH, 8.75. Sauk Prairie – Kuhnau, 8.4; Putnam, 6.35; Desroches, 5.4; Endthoff, 5.2; Alexis Strunz, 0.75. Vault: 1, Shatrawka, RV, 9.5; 2, O’Connell, MH, 9.3; 3, Lutter, Reed, 9.075; 4, E. Weier, MH, 8.975; 5, L. Weier, MH, 8.9. Sauk Prairie – Kuhnau, 8.3; Putnam, 8.0; Desroches, 7.05; Endthoff, 7.0; Strunz, 6.65. All-around: 1, O’Connell, MH, 37.6; 2, O’Neil, MH, 35.35; 3, L. Weier, MH, 35.325; 4, Shatrawka, RV, 35.225; 5, E. Weier, MH, 34.875. Sauk Prairie – Kuhnau, 34.45; Putnam, 29.25; Desroches, 27.15.