We are so proud of them—they have battled so much adversity all season, and it has only made them stronger.”

Head Coach Ryan Wundrow

The Orioles girls varsity basketball team defeated Northwestern and Hayward last week, finishing their postseason at Mosinee on Saturday in the regional championship, the third Oriole team to play a regional championship since 1999.

Playing an away game Tuesday, Feb. 24 at Northwestern, the Orioles girls varsity defeated the Tigers 54-53, following this up with a 40-38 win against the Hayward Hurricanes on Friday, Feb. 27. Heading east for the regional championship on Saturday, Feb. 27, they closed the season 37-66 against Mosinee, ending the year ranked seventh with an 11-15 overall record.

Oriole girls varsity basketball coach Ryan Wundrow shared more after the score tally.

“During the Northwestern game we came to play from the opening tip,” he said. “These girls were not going to get cheated out of an opportunity to win a playoff game. We battled the two and a half hour bus trip, foul trouble, sickness and missed free throws. We still came out a winner. We were led by Amanda Lew with 15 points and Caitlen Ketterhagen with 16 points. We played amazing defense and were able to hang on after Northwestern made a two point shot at the buzzer instead of a three. Alaina Nitz had 13 rebounds and nine points as well. Ella Nitz had 11 rebounds.”

Of Hayward, Wundrow said the team played fearless, never backing down.

“We played amazing defense tonight. It was a total team effort,” he said. “Our girls played fearless all night long and never backed down. We are so proud of them—they have battled so much adversity all season, and it has only made them stronger.

“Alaina Nitz led the way with 16 points. Amanda Lew and Caitlen handled the ball extremely well all night. Lucy Wundrow, Ella Nitz, Lula Chwala, and Stella Chwala were outstanding on defense from start to finish.

“We couldn’t have won this game without the rest of the girls, either. Ellie Steivang, Gracie Goettl, Abby Weltzin, Addy Charles, and Olivia Overgard gave us great looks in practice this week to help us prepare. Vaida Chwala has been out with an injury but continues to be at every practice, helping out and offering insight.

“This is such an amazing group of coachable student-athletes who truly want to play for each other. We are the road warriors—and we’re only getting better.”

As for the game at Mosinee, Wundrow shared the following.

“After and amazing week of basketball and being together we journeyed to Mosinee for the Regional Final,” he said. “They are a tremendously talented team but as always we battled. Mosinee played very physical and we did our best to match their intensity until the week of ball and travel caught up with our legs. We were within 12 with ten minutes to go and just could not go on a run. Shots stopped dropping and Mosinee went on a run to close out the game. We had a great turnout for fans which the girls really enjoyed. Caitlen led us in scoring with 13 and Lucy Wundrow had a career high with 9. This team will be remember on how most teams are remembered, by how they finished it. They came together when it mattered most and played as hard as they could for as long as they could hoping to extend their season as much as possible. It was such a fantastic and rewarding week for all of us. The girls got extra games together and gained valuable experience for a young core of players. This old coach got to enjoy hearing them laugh and enjoy being together as a team. The goal was to create something they didn’t want to end and I think they did that. We are so proud of what they accomplished. They are only the third Stanley Boyd team to play in a regional final since 1999. I would like to thank the girls, Coach Matt Miklasz, and Coach Karyn Nitz for all of their hard work and time. Thanks to all the parents that supported us through thick and thin. We look forward to what this team can do next.”