Arcadia, G-E-T athletes take top Coulee honors

The top boys and girls basketball players from the Coulee Conference both came from the Times area this year.

It was no surprise to see Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau junior Cody Schmitz be named the Coulee Conference Athlete of the Year for boys basketball again this year. Schmitz won the award as a sophomore and was again one of the top players in the state, much less the con-ference, his junior year.

Like Schmitz, Arcadia’s Breah Golden led the conference in scoring for the second straight year, but this year she also won the conference’s top honor, being named the girls bas-ketball player of the year.

Schmitz led the conference with an average of 29.4 points per game, while shooting nearly 52 percent from the field. He was also third in rebounding, averaging 8.8 per game. Schmitz’s scoring average was the sixth-highest in the state and he finished with the second-most total points with 824. 

Teammate Braden Anibas was honorable mention All-CC after averaging 11.3 points per game.

Schmitz was joined on the All-CC first team by Arcadia’s Connor Weltzien, who finished as the conference’s second-leading scorer, averaging 20.3 points per game. The conference’s third leading scorer was Weltzien’s teammate Maverick Drazkowski, who earned honorable mention after averaging 18.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. 

Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division Three State Runner-Up West Sa-lem had two players on the All-CC first team in Carson Koepnick and Peter Lattos. WIAA Divi-sion Three State Champion Onalaska Luther had one in Kodi Miller. 

The All-CC second team was made up of Logan Bahr and Isaiah Schwichtenburg of Lu-ther, Bret McConkey and Tamerrein Henderson of West Salem and Trey Cowley of Black River Falls. West Salem’s Kyle Hehli and Brennan Kennedy joined Anibas and Drazkowski in earning honorable mention.

West Salem won the CC with a 12-0 record, followed by Luther, 10-2; G-E-T, 6-6; Arca-dia, 5-7; BR Falls, 5-7; Westby, 4-8 and Viroqua, 0-12.

Golden averaged more than three points per game more than any other girls player in the CC as she scored 21.4 points per game to earn the conference’s top honors. She was joined on the first team by Megan Johnson and Anna McConkey of West Salem, Jaden Berg of Westby and Hannah Matzke of Luther.

Arcadia’s Casidi Pehler averaged 10.7 points and nine rebounds – second in the CC — as she was named to the second team. G-E-T’s Shayna Kirkey was honorable mention after aver-aging 12.6 points per game, the fifth-best mark in the conference.

Joining Pehler on the All-CC second team was Sam Niemeier and Brynlee Kelly of West Salem and Aubrey Jothen and Kennedy Brueggen of Westby. Also earning honorable mention were Macie Neumeister and Allie Zittel of Luther, Sareece Sackett of West Salem and Hannah Nelson and Denali Huebner of Westby. 

West Salem went undefeated in CC play and advanced to the WIAA State Tournament while Westby was 10-2; Luther, 8-4; Arcadia, 6-6; G-E-T, 4-8; BR Falls, 1-11 and Viroqua, 1-11.