LANCASTER — The Darlington Redbirds played a nearly perfect first half in their WIAA Division 4 sectional semifinal against defending state champion Mineral Point. In order to beat their SWAL rival, the Redbirds needed to play a flawless second half. 

“That’s why they are the best team in the state,” Darlington coach Tom Uppena said after his team fell 65-50 March 13 at Lancaster High School, the neutral site for the game. “We took away a lot of the stuff that we wanted to in that first half, and then in the second half they pretty much just went 1-on-1 and just dared us to stop them. They made the plays.”

The crowd roared for the much of the game, adding to the adrenaline and nerves to players of both teams. 

“To see the blue and the red even walking out in warm-ups — we’re a rivalry, so you really can’t beat that,” sophomore guard Zeke Zuberbuhler said. “The energy at the buzzer, introductions when the lights turn off and everyone is going crazy, and then at tip-off, it’s really fun to play in.”

“It hurt my ears down here on the court, so I’m sure it hurt other people’s too,” Darlington junior Broker Buschor said. “They (the crowd) really get it going in the playoffs.”

The first four minutes of the game were a dogfight, with neither team gaining much of an edge. Uppena called a timeout at the 13:15 mark to settle his team down. When they in-bounded moments later they trailed 12-5. Over the next three minutes, the Redbirds went on an 11-0 run with Grady O’Brien and Zuberbuhler hitting loud three-pointers, as well as contested lay-ups at the rim.

“I was feeling good — the atmosphere played a really big part in that,” Zuberbuhler said.

Zuberbuhler himself had a memorable half, putting the team on his back and scoring 17 points, including multiple baskets driving hard into contact deep in the paint.

“We were getting some good looks but not quite hitting the shots. I knew I had to get some buckets of my own just to get the energy going and open up some looks for my teammates,” Zuberbuhler said.

Darlington eventually pushed its lead up to as high as six points at 29-23 with 3:48 to play. Mineral Point then went on a 1-2 run of its own, nearly closing out the half with the advantage — but Buschor put a momentary halt on that effort. Darlington’s leading scorer, he banked in a pull-up three from the top of the key to make it 34-33 headed into halftime.

“We knew we weren’t going to play that well all game,” Buschor said. “Against one of these teams you have to be pretty much perfect, but we weren’t that. We played really well in the first half, we hustled. But in the second half, you could tell we got a little tired and got away from it.”

In the second half, Mineral Point went to the grinder. All of the presence in the paint the Redbirds fought for in the first half flew away quickly after play resumed. On the defensive end, Darlington’s lineup was allowing clean jump shots, put-backs in the paint and back door cuts. Offensively, the contested shots stopped falling — as did the rare wide-open look.

Mineral Point took the lead at 39-38 on a free throw by Drew Aschliman with 13:24 left in the game, and with that, the Pointers never allowed the Redbirds to catch back up.

“We didn’t get great shots — they weren’t falling in the second half like they were in the first half — and we got a little quick on the threes at times,” Uppena said. “That’s what experience will get you, and that’s what Mineral Point has, experience.”

The Pointers out-scored Darlington 29-12 over the game’s final 15 minutes.

“Their experience probably played a big factor. They hit some tough shots and we had to play perfect to even get close to beating them. We couldn’t really leak out and hit those threes there by the end, and they kept hitting their free throws,” Zuberbuhler said.

Jaxson Wendhausen led Mineral Point with 20 points, Eli Lindsey finished with 19 and Aschliman 14. The Pointers also out-rebounded the Redbirds 32-26.

Zuberbuhler led all scorers with 21 points. Buschor had 14 points and 12 rebounds, while O’Brien and Ryder Fitzsimons had six points each. Darlington finished 16-for-47 from the field and 7-for-26 from beyond the arc.

Dante Glendenning took the biggest beating physically for the Redbirds, having to leave the game twice — including changing jerseys — due to a bloody nose from aggressive play in the post. Seniors Taggart Gille and reserve Nolan Carpenter also walked off the floor for the last time.

“We lose Tag and Nolan, but we get everyone back. As much as we might like to have kept this season going, that’s motivation for these guys for next year. I know they are going to put in a lot of work. We’ve got a bright future ahead of us,” Uppena said.

Outside of Gille, the Redbirds are poised to return nearly their entire rotation of major minutes for next year. 

“This (loss) is a ton of motivation. We’re going to want these guys next year, for sure,” he said.

Zuberbuhler said the offseason work begins right away and entails many points of emphasis.

“I think we need to get closer as a team, play as a team, play our own game, AAU for guys, camps for guys,” Zuberbuhler said.

Pointers reach state

For the sixth time in program history, Mineral Point reached the WIAA state tournament. This time, they are defending champions.

The Pointers knocked off Marshall 80-44 in the Sectional 3 championship game March 15 at Verona.

Mineral Point (27-1) received the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will play 3-seed Aquinas (24-3) in the final game of the night on Thursday, March 20, with tip-off expected around 8:15 p.m.

Bonduel (27-1) and The Prairie School (14-15) also reached the Division 4 state tournament.

Barneveld girls take second in D5, Cuba City champs in D4

The Barneveld Golden Eagles (21-8) continued the Six Rivers Conference’s impressive run to the state tournament. A second-place finish to Assumption (29-1) on March 15 was its lone blight on the weekend. In qualifying for state the prior week, this year’s Barneveld team became the 29th Six Rivers Conference program to reach the state tournament since 1991. 

This was the program’s 12th time at the state meet. The Eagles have six titles to their name, and this is the fourth time being runners-up.

To get to this year’s championship game, Barneveld defeated Lourdes Academy (24-5) 41-28 in the semifinal, while Assumption knocked off Owen-Withee (25-5) by a score of 61-36.

In Division 4, Cuba City (25-5) defeated St. Mary Catholic (25-4) 53-50 to win the program’s 12th state title in 17 trips to the tournament. 

Cuba City knocked off The Prairie School (26-3) in the semifinal 68-63, while St. Mary Catholic defeated Durand-Arkansaw (23-5), 58-45.

Elsewhere at the state tournament in Green Bay, Oostburg won 49-36 over Xavier; Wauwatosa East clipped Madison Edgewood at the end of the D2 title game, 59-58; and Kimberly won the gold in D1, 47-26 over Muskego.

WIAA 3-point Challenge Results

Lauren Strifling, a senior from Homestead, won the 2025 girls 3-Point Challenge held Saturday morning at the Resch Center.

Strifling, representing Division 1, was one of 10 participants in the 3-Point Challenge, which was held for the 10th time. She scored an overtime score of 10 points to win the contest. 

Senior Kristina Ouimette of Lakeland was runner-up with nine points in the overtime round. Strifling and Ouimette both score 17 points in the final round to force a 30 second overtime period.

Strifling scored 13 points in first round and 19 points in the second round to advance to the final round. Ouimette opened with 13 points and followed with 15 in the semifinals. 

Junior Melaina Granquist of Wittenberg-Birnamwood was third with 14 points in the second round after scoring 13 in the opening round.

Other participants were senior Sydney Subke of Neillsville, junior Toria Devoe of Belleville, senior Ellen Dotzler of Waunakee, senior Mandi Wehrle, sophomore Armani Tauschek of Greenfield, senior Abby Hollis of Albany/Monticello and Marti Rebman of Edgerton.