MONROE — On Jan. 29, the WIAA announced that the La Crosse Center will host three of the five divisions for both girls and boys basketball’s state tournaments. Two days later, the WIAA released the regional brackets for girls basketball.
“We are very excited about the opportunity to partner with the La Crosse Center to be a host site for the Girls and Boys Basketball Tournament,” WIAA Assistant Director Kate Peterson Abiad said. “Art Fahey, on behalf of the La Crosse Center, has worked hard to provide us with a plan that will offer a tremendous experience for State-bound athletes, in a safety conscious environment. As always, the city of La Crosse has extended a warm welcome to the WIAA and our State Tournament endeavors.”
Three of the five divisions, to be determined at a later date, will be held at the facility for both genders with two semifinals and a championship game for each division scheduled on one of the three days.
Regional matchups
Division 2
Monroe (5-2) enters the tournament seeded No. 4 in its regional and will host No. 5 Evansville (5-11) Feb. 9 in the opening round of the playoffs. The winner moves on to face top-seeded Jefferson (16-1) Feb. 12.
On the other side of the regional bracket, No. 6 Fort Atkinson (7-13) travels to Beloit Turner (10-6), the 3-seed, with the winner facing No. 2 Edgerton (16-3) in Round 2. The top-seeded team will host the regional championship Feb. 13.
Division 3
Brodhead (10-3) earned the No. 2 seed in its bracket and will face No. 3 Lakeside Lutheran in the regional semifinal Feb. 9. The winner will face either top-seeded Lake Mills (18-1), No. 4 Cambridge (6-11) or No. 5 Clinton (4-8) in the regional final.
Further up in Sectional 3, New Glarus (15-4) earned the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye. The Glarner Knights will host the winner of No. 6 Belleville (3-11) and No. 3 Platteville (10-6). Top-seeded Prairie du Chien (14-1), No. 4 Lancaster (14-5) and No. 5 Dodgeville (11-8) will battle on the other side of the regional.
On Feb. 14, the regional champions will be reseeded for the sectional tournament, which is to take place Feb. 18 and 20. New Glarus and Brodhead could then face off head-to-head for the chance to go to state.
Division 4
Darlington (10-9) is the No. 4 seed and will host Southwestern (3-12) in the opening round of the playoffs Feb. 9. The winner will face top-seed Mineral Point (12-5) in the regional semifinal, and then either Cuba City (10-6) or Potosi-Cassville (9-6) in the regional championship.
Division 5
Top-ranked Black Hawk earned the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye in the regional playoffs. The Warriors will take on the winner of No. 4 Argyle (6-8) and No. 5 Pecatonica (4-8) for the rights to go to the regional championship. No. 6 Benton (1-9) travels to No. 3 Belmont (9-8), with No. 2 Shullsburg (16-6) waiting for the winner.
Further down the sectional bracket, Albany (14-2) earned the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye. Juda (0-11) was seeded fifth and will travel to Burlington Catholic Central (4-14) for the regional opener. Monticello (11-3) earned the 2-seed and will host No. 3 Barneveld (4-7) Feb. 12 in the regional semifinal.
Petitgoue; Rose Selected National Coach of the Year in Respective Sports
STEVENS POINT — Jerry Petitgoue, head boys basketball coach at Cuba City High School, and Michael Rose, head girls swimming and diving coach at Brookfield East High School were two of 23 high school coaches from across the country selected as 2020 National Coaches of the Year by the National Federation of State High School Associations.
Petitgoue, in his 50th year as coach at Cuba City, led the Cubans to a 25-0 record in 2019-20 before the Tournament Series was canceled to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Entering this year, he has led Cuba City to three State championships, in 1981, 1991 and 1998. Following the 2019-20 season, he had compiled a 963-256 record, making him the winningest Wisconsin high school basketball coach in history.
In addition to his basketball coaching duties, Petitgoue taught for 38 years at Cuba City and served as athletic director from 1997-2005. He has also served as executive director of the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association for 25 years.
Rose has served as the Patriots girls varsity head coach since 1985, and he served the dual role as boys head coach from 1983 to 1997. He led the boys program to a WIAA State Division 2 title in 1996, and has won back-to-back State titles with the girls program in 2019 and 2020. In addition, Rose has guided the development of four State girls relay champions and five State individual girls champions that have amassed 23 titles, as well as 13 boys State individual titles and four championship relays.
