DIVISION 3 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
Mishicot 70, Mineral Point 66
Mishicot it taking home the school’s first-ever gold ball. The Indians topped Mineral Point, 70-66, in the Division 4 state championship game at the La Crosse Center.
Mishicot led 42-36 at the break. The Indians started the second half strong with a 7-0 run .
Mineral Point answered by going on a 19-6 run to tie the game at 55 with 8:08 remaining. That run included three of the Pointers’ seven made 3-pointers in the game.
Mishicot opted to foul leading 69-66 with four seconds to go to send Mineral Point to the line instead of giving them a chance to tie the game with one shot.
Senior Kylie Schmidt sealed the win for Mishicot by hitting on of two free throws to give the Indians a four-point lead with three seconds to go.
Schmidt finished with a 27 points and 13 rebounds. The 6-foot Purdue Northwest signee shot 7-for-13 from the field and made 13 of 18 free throws.
Mishicot ends the year with a 20-2 record and a 19-game winning streak. Last season was the program’s first trip to the state tournament, falling to a strong Melrose-Mindoro squad in overtime, in what ended up being the final game of the 2020 WIAA state tournament.
Mineral Point was led by junior Ella Chambers, a 5-foot-3 guard, who tallied 20 points on 8 of 14 shooting.
Mineral Point’s 20 three-pointers made over its two games at the state tournament is the new state tournament record for Division 4, which was previously held by Aquinas (2019) with 15. The Pointers finish the year with a 17-6 record, taking home the silver ball in the program’s second state tournament appearance.
DIVISION 4 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
Lake Mills 78, Aquinas 67
It was another surprise and lengthy winning streak ended at the 2021 WIAA Girls Basketball State Tournament, as Lake Mills took control mid-way through the first half and scored a 78-67 victory over Aquinas in the Division 3 championship game. It was a reversal of a regular season game between the teams back in December that Aquinas won 75-60.
Aquinas, the Division 4 state champion in 2018 and 2019 to go with a runner-up finish in 2017 (plus an appearance in last year’s championship game before the pandemic canceled things), held a 15-13 lead with 9:18 left in the first half, when the wheels came off, in large part to the poise and inside presence of Lake Mills. Taylor Roughen’s three-pointer with 8:47 left put the L-Cats in front, and they would not trail the rest of the game.
Lake Mills saw its lead cut to 10 early in the second half, but the L-Cats had an answer every time Aquinas made a run, and would push their advantage over 20 points on several occasions. Aquinas hit some shots in the final two minutes and managed to get it to single-digits, but Lake Mills was never really threatened in the second half and posted an impressive victory.
Vivian Guerrero led five Lake Mills players in double figures with 21 points, adding 13 rebounds.
As they did in the morning, Macy Donarski (24 points, 7 assists) and Jacy Weisbrod (22 points) led the way for Aquinas, who saw its 37-game winning streak come to an end. On Thursday, Three Lakes ended Black Hawk’s 75-game winning streak in a Division 5 semi-final.
This is the first girls basketball championship for Lake Mills, who first qualified for state last year, when they fell to Wrightstown. Aquinas takes home its second runner-up trophy (2017).
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