State Sports briefs: WIAC hoops tournaments begin tonight

• Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

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The WIAC men’s basketball tournament opens tonight. Top-seeded UW-Stevens Point and number-two River Falls both have byes until the semi-finals on Thursday night. Third-seeded Whitewater hosts number-six Superior this evening. And No. 4 seed La Crosse is at home against fifth-seeded Platteville. The winner with the lower seed will take on the fourth-ranked Pointers on Thursday. The title game will be played Saturday. The WIAC women’s tournament begins tomorrow night.

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The Northern Athletics Conference women’s tournament begins tonight. Wisconsin Lutheran has the top seed, and will host number-eight Milwaukee School of Engineering. Wisconsin Lutheran forward Erika Laete broke a league scoring record with 50 points last Saturday in an overtime win over Dominican. And Laete became the 13th player in school history to score a-thousand points for her career. Second-seeded Dominican is at home against Marian of Fond du Lac. Concordia-Mequon has the third seed, and will host Rockford. And number-five Edgewood plays at fourth-seeded Benedictine. Tonight’s winners will square off the in the semi-finals tomorrow night. The tournament title game will be played on Saturday. The NAC men’s tourney opens tomorrow night.

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UW-Stevens Point moved up two places to fourth in the new men’s small college poll from D3hoops.com The defending national champion Pointers are on a 10-game winning streak, and they received one first-place vote in this week’s poll with an overall record of 22-3. Saint Norbert moved up four places to 20th. Concordia-Mequon jumped four spots to 21st. River Falls plunged from 12th place to 22nd after losing three straight games. Whitewater also received votes. Williams College of Massachusetts moved into the top spot, after Whitworth of Spokane Washington dropped to second. Both are 24-1.

In the D3 women’s poll, Stevens Point remains at Number-Four this week with an overall mark of 23-2. Saint Norbert rose two spots to 16th. Whitewater went up one place to 21st. La Crosse and Wisconsin Lutheran also received votes. Thomas More of Kentucky is still the women’s Number-One.

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The Marquette University women’s basketball team will play at Providence tonight. The 24th-ranked Golden Eagles will try to recover from a 21-point loss to Rutgers on Saturday in which they shot a season-low 28-percent. Marquette is tied for fourth with three other teams in the Big East standings at 8-5, and they have an overall mark of 20-6. Providence is 5-6 in the conference and 12-13 overall. The Friars are coming off a 14-point win at Cincinnati in which Teya Wright had 14 points and 18 rebounds. Marquette has three starters averaging in double figures in scoring. Senior Angel Robinson leads the way with just over 13 points a game.

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Green Bay Packers’ assistant strength coach Dave Redding has retired. Coach Mike McCarthy hired Redding two years ago as the team’s new strength-and-conditioning coordinator to replace Rock Gullickson. He held the job for a year before becoming an assistant under current coordinator Mark Lovat. The 58-year-old Redding was previously a strength coach for Cleveland, San Diego, Washington, and Kansas City. He spent two years as a private fitness-and-nutritional consultant before McCarthy brought him back to the NFL.

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The UW-Green Bay men’s basketball team ended a five-game losing streak with an 81-80 overtime home victory over Valparaiso last night. Bryquis Perine scored the game-winning basket with 11 seconds left in the extra period. Valpo was up by two with 33 seconds to go, but Perine made a free throw before scoring his game-winning basket. It also prevented Valparaiso from moving into a first-place tie with Cleveland State for the Horizon League lead with two games left. Brandon Wood scored 24 points for the Crusaders, who dropped to 11-5 in the conference and 20-9 overall. Perine had 20 points for Green Bay, which improved to 7-9 in the league and 13-16 overall. They’ll play at Youngstown State on Thursday night. Tonight, the 24th-ranked Marquette women will play at Providence.

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University of Wisconsin forward Keaton Nankivil missed practice yesterday with a minor right ankle injury from Sunday’s victory over Penn State. Nankivil said it was nothing serious, and he expects to return to practice today. The senior was hurt during the first half of Sunday’s contest. But he returned in the second half and tied a career-high with five three-pointers. Also, sophomore forward Mike Bruesewitz sat out yesterday’s practice with an illness. But he’s expected to travel with the 12th-ranked Badgers to Ann Arbor, where they’ll play Michigan tomorrow night. Bruesewitz has had flu-like symptoms for over a week. He’s averaging almost five points and three rebounds a game. Nankivil has started all 26 contests for the Badgers. He’s average 10 points and four-and-a-half boards. Also, the starting time was set yesterday for Wisconsin’s regular season finale at Ohio State on March sixth. It will start at three that afternoon, and CBS will televise it.

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Appleton East is still the Division-One boys’ leader in this week’s AP state high school basketball poll. East is the only unbeaten team in the Top-10 at 21-0. Germantown remains second, and Milwaukee Riverside is still at Number-three. Waunakee still leads Division-Two. Onalaska remains second, and Wisconsin Lutheran moved up one spot to third. La Crosse Aquinas still leads Division-Three, followed by East Troy and Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau. There’s a tie for first place in Division-Four. Blair-Taylor has held the top spot for most of the season, and Oostburg joined them this week. Eau Claire Regis is third. And Randolph still rules the roost in Division-Five, followed by Benton and Clayton.

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In the AP girls’ basketball poll, the top three spots in Division-One are unchanged. Middleton is still first, followed by Glendale Nicolet and Milwaukee Pius XI. Luxemburg-Casco remains the Division-Two leader. Union Grove and Pewaukee each moved up one spot to second-and-third. In Division-Three, the top spots are unchanged. Whitefish Bay Dominican is still first, followed by Columbus and Chilton. Eau Claire Regis still leads Division-Four, with Oshkosh Lourdes second and Hurley and Algoma tied for third. And Wausau Newman remains atop Division-Five, followed by South Wayne Black Hawk and Seneca.

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The University of Wisconsin is still Number-One in the new women’s poll from U.S. College Hockey Online. The Badgers have a seven-game winning streak after sweeping Minnesota State-Mankato to close out the regular season. Wisconsin will open the WCHA Playoffs on Friday night with a best-of-three series in Verona against Saint Cloud State. The Badgers are 30-2-2 overall. Cornell is second the new poll, followed by Mercyhurst. The Wisconsin men fell one spot in their new poll to No. 13 They’re 19-11-4.

In Division-Three, Saint Norbert remains second in the men’s poll behind Oswego of New York. Milwaukee School of Engineering fell three places to 11th. Superior, Stevens Point, and Stout also received votes. In the Division III women’s poll, UW-River Falls is still Number-One with a record of 22-0-3. Superior remains 10th.

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UW-Milwaukee baseball senior Doug Dekoning has been named the Horizon League’s Batter-of-the-Week. Dekoning, an outfielder, went 6-for-12 in three games last week with a double, four RBI’s, and four runs scored. He had a .583 slugging percentage and a .571 on-base percentage for the Panthers. Kevin McCulloh of Youngstown State was named the league’s pitcher-of-the-week.

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SCORES

Wisconsin boys' high school basketball...

Arcadia 63, West Salem 60

Baraboo 44, DeForest 43

Brookfield Central 65, Waukesha North 45

Eau Claire Regis 71, Altoona 54

Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau 80, Onalaska Luther 43

Hartford 64, Cedarburg 57

Kenosha Reuther 62, Williams Bay Faith Christian 50

La Crosse Aquinas 56, Onalaska 43

Mequon Homestead 71, Milwaukee Lutheran 50

Milton 59, Wilmot 51

Milwaukee Thomas More 57, Cudahy 46

Monona Grove 52, Oregon 49

Pembine 72, Phelps 51

Pewaukee 69, Shorewood 42

Reedsburg 38, Mount Horeb 37

Somers Shoreland Lutheran 67, Kenosha Tremper 63

Three Lakes 65, Wabeno 35

Watertown 50, Slinger 42

West Allis Central 53, Kettle Moraine 37

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Girls' high school basketball...

Deerfield 51, Waterloo 27

Edgerton 69, Beloit Turner 43

Hurley 46, Lakeland 28

La Crosse Central 50, Holmen 48, OT

Lake Mills 61, Whitewater 56

Menominee Michigan 41, Wausaukee 30

Walworth Big Foot 46, Palmyra-Eagle 17

Washburn 75, Mercer 25

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