SOUTH WAYNE — The Black Hawk Warriors found themselves behind 27-26 at halftime against Barneveld Feb. 8 in a must-win game in order to stay at the top of the Six Rivers East standings. A few adjustments and 18 minutes later, and the Warriors walked off the court in smiles with a 57-42 win.
Tara Wellnitz hit three 3-pointers and scored 22 points while grabbing seven rebounds and six steals for Black Hawk. Raylin Peterson finished the night with 15 points, five boards and five assists. Tatum Baumgartner tallied right points and five steals, and Maddy Lange added seven points in the winning effort.
Black Hawk (15-5, 10-1) hold a 1/2 game lead on Albany with a week to play — including just one conference game Feb. 17 at home against Pecatonica. A win by the Warriors would mark the sixth consecutive season as conference champion.
Albany 58, Monticello 25
ALBANY — Like Black Hawk, the Albany Comets needed to win on Feb. 8 in order to stay in the mix for the Six Rivers East championship. In the first half, the Comets took care of business, holding the Ponies to single digits and taking a 26-9 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
Brianna Dahl paced Albany with 14 points, eight boards, seven assists and four steals. Gracie Freitag added 10 points, while Kaiya Zurfluh finished the night with eight points and five boards.
Ellie Gustafson led Monticello with nine points.
Albany (18-4, 9-1) closes out its regular season with league games against Barneveld (Feb. 11) and Juda (Feb. 17). The two teams are a combined 3-16 in conference play. With two wins, the Comets would win a share of the conference championship for just the third time in school history, and the first in 20 years.
Argyle 47, Pecatonica 36
ARGYLE — The host Orioles received yet another double-double by senior forward Grace Ganshert en route to a victory over rival Pecatonica.
Ganshert finished the night with 19 points and 12 rebounds, plus another five steals and a 7-for-9 mark from the free throw line.
Maggie Godfrey added 14 points, nine boards, seven steals and four blocks for Argyle, and Hannah Gierhart chipped in with nine points and four rebounds. As a team, Argyle was just 2 of 19 from 3-point land, but finished 15 of 18 from the line.
The Vikings led 20-16 at halftime, but the Orioles overcame shooting woes to outpace Pecatonica 31-16 down the stretch.
Brodhead 66, East Troy 36
EAST TROY — The Cardinals narrowed their scope on winning the Rock Valley title with a robust 66-36 road win Feb. 8.
Kiarra Moe scored 18 points to cross the 1,000-point career threshold. Abbie Dix added 13 points and 13 rebounds. Taetum Hoesly grabbed nine boards, and Moe six. Combined, the Cardinals had 39 rebounds and went 9-for-18 from deep. Moe was 4-for-8.
Brodhead led 32-15 at halftime.
The Cardinals (19-2, 15-0) lead Edgerton by three wins in the wins column with three games to play, though the Tiders have four games remaining, leaving an outside chance of a wild finish that could include Jefferson. Brodhead faces Whitewater (5-16, 4-11) and Jefferson (15-6, 12-3) before the season finale at home against Edgerton (18-2, 12-2) Feb. 17. If the Cardinals win just one game, they will clinch at least a share of a title, while two wins guarantees an outright championship.
In other area girls basketball action from Feb. 8, Monroe was dominated by Mount Horeb 68-43, New Glarus took over first place in the Capitol South with a 52-39 win against Wisconsin Heights, and Darlington’s winning streak reached five games with a 44-32 victory at Southwestern.
