PURPLE SAGE - Waunakee Community School District

SPORTSLady Warrior basketball finally has a winning conference recordWillie FreimuthReporterThe Lady Warriors takeon new opponents as theseason progresses; however,contradicting the popularexpectation of dominating thenew division, the girls’ havesuffered some tough losses.They started the holidaybreak on a sour note, losing tothe Verona Wildcats 60-43 in anon-conference matchup. TheWarriors squared off in Veronaon December 21. The Wildcatdefense held them to 10points in each of the first threequarters and outscored them33-20 in the first half. JuniorJaci Vanden Brook and seniorBrianna May were the topscorers for Waunakee with11 points a piece. Verona’sBrianna Wittee had 11, and thetop scorer was junior AshleyBartow, with 20 points.The Warriors reboundedquickly after handling RacineSt. Catherine’s 64-55 in theJanesville Craig Holiday Classicon December 27. May andsenior Brianna Johnson ledthe scoring for the Warriors inThough the Waunakee boys’ ski teamhas lost some skiers due to injury, theyare still getting an edge up on the localcompetition this season.The last race at Tyrol Basin was a GiantSlalom, and the Waunakee High Schoolboys’ ski team took second place onJanuary 13.Leading the boys in the first run wassenior Charlie Greiber. Greiber finishedwith a time of 23.08 seconds. SophomoreZach Schmidt was close behind with atime of 23.38 seconds. Other notabletimes came from junior Brandyn Liebewith 26.10 seconds and freshman SawyerOlson with 27.55 seconds.The team improved by their secondrun led by Greiber once again with athe first half as they went on a19-8 run before the break. TheRacine Angels clawed theirway back into the game inthe third quarter, cuttingthe Warriors’ lead to 5. TheWarriors stood their ground,outscoring the Angels 21-17 toseal the deal. The next test inthe tournament was JanesvilleCraig, who beat the Warriors60-40.On January 7, the ladiestraveled to Edgewood anddid not find the successthey wanted. Edgewood’sMackenzie Reese posted 20points, including 16 in thefirst half, her fifth double digitscoring of the season. SeniorAlexa Statz put up 15 points inher first game back from tearingher ACL in last year’s sectionalfinal against Middleton. TheWarriors could not put togetherany sustained runs, as theirrecord fell to 2-5 overall.They would fall to 2-6 ina heartbreaking overtimeloss to the visiting BarabooThunderbirds the next day.Johnson and May each hit twotriples in the fourth to pull theWarriors closer. Senior ChelseaSki team races through seasonSara VincentFeatures Editortime of 22.53 seconds. Senior AaronSchmidt followed with 22.90 secondsbeating his younger brother, Zach, whotimed in at 22.99. Liebe and freshmanBryce Grieber tied with a time of 25.20.Overall Greiber finished fourth placeat 45.29 and Schmidt finished in eighthplace with 46.37.The girls team placed sixth overall,led by senior Cassi Brucker with 23.46seconds for her first run and 22.88seconds for her second run. Withan overall combined time of 46.34seconds Brucker placed 13th.The boys’ team lost senior BenHutchins due to injuries. Last year,Hutchins was the boys’ team numberone seed on the WHS lineup. As ofnow, the team is hopeful that hereturns for upcoming qualifying races.Hagen drilled in the gametyingthree as well. Johnsonput the Warriors up by four,but the Thunderbirds cut thelead in half thanks to two freethrows. With just three secondsleft, Baraboo forced a turnoverand tied the game, sending it toovertime. Baraboo’s intensitywould not be matched in theextra period as the Warriors fell74-63, their third consecutiveloss.Unfortunately the ladies hadto suffer another tough lossbefore they could bounceback.The team faced DeForest onJanuary 11 and started out witha 5-0 lead before the Norskiestook the lead. The girls endedthe second half down by five,but were not settling there.They fought back and lost 46-44in the last minutes of the game.Looking to redeem theirrecord, the girls headed toSauk Prairie. They pulled outa 48-39 victory. On January 21the girls hosted Portage andsecured a win, 60-38The girls record is currently4 - 7 o v e r a l l a n d 3 - 2 i nconference.Senior Brianna May looks to pass against DeForest on January 11.(Photo by Allie Taylor)Senior Charlie Greiber races down the hill in Iowa at a recent ski race. (Photo submitted)January 26, 2011 The Purple SagePage 15