Morning State Sports Briefs: UW's Taylor named first team All-Big Ten

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MADISON - University of Wisconsin senior point guard Jordan Taylor was named last night to the All-Big Ten Conference men’s first-team by the league’s coaches. And he made the second team as chosen by the media.

Wisconsin sophomore guard Josh Gasser made the coaches’ all-defensive team. Badgers’ forward Ryan Evans and center Jared Berggren were consensus honorable mentions. Taylor joined Draymond Green of Michigan State, Jared Sullinger of Ohio State, John Shurna of Northwestern, and Robbie Hummel of Purdue on the coaches’ top squad. Taylor became just the sixth Wisconsin player to be a two-time all-conference first-team selection. The others were Alando Tucker, Kirk Penney, Michael Finley, Ab Nicholas, and Don Rehfeldt. Taylor averaged 16 points in Big Ten games, and was second in the league with an assist-to-turnover ratio of two-point-two. Michigan State’s Green was named the consensus Player-of-the-Year. And the Spartans’ Tom Izzo is the Coach-of-the-Year.

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The UW-Milwaukee women’s basketball team ended its season last night with a 47-39 home loss to Valparaiso in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament. The Panthers only made 5-of-26 shots in the first half, and they trailed by 11 at the break. Milwaukee made a pair of runs in the second half, but the Crusaders answered each time. The Panthers got to within four with 53 seconds left, but Valparaiso made 7-of-8 free throws to seal its victory. Courtney Lindfors was the only Milwaukee player to score in double figures. She had 13 points and 10 rebounds, as the Panthers ended their season at 9-21. Ashley Timmerman scored a career-high 20 points for Valparaiso, which improved to 10-20. They’ll play at top-seeded UW-Green Bay in tomorrow night’s quarter-finals. The 10th-ranked Phoenix earned a first-round bye.

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The state girls’ high school basketball regionals begin tonight. Four-hundred-73 teams are competing in five divisions. There are 153 games on this evening’s schedule. 167 schools have byes until the second round on Friday – and that includes defending champions Glendale Nicolet, New London, Eau Claire Regis, and Wausau Newman. Only returning Division-Three titlist Altoona plays this evening. Thirty-six of the 40 number-one seeds also have the night off. Only top-seeded Seneca, Black Hawk, Milwaukee Heritage Christian, and Chippewa Falls McDonell are in action – and they’re all in Division-Five, which has the largest number of games tonight with 59.

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The boys’ high school tournament is back on schedule, after 33 weather-delayed regional finals were played last night. Defending Division-Five champion Randolph stayed alive with a 55-32 victory over Monticello. Top seeds went 13-1 last night throughout the five divisions. The only Number-One to lose was Sheboygan Falls in Division-Three. Only two of the five defending champions made the sectional round – Randolph and Division-One titlist Madison Memorial. Thirty of the 40 top seeds are still alive. The sectionals begin on Thursday.

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The Green Bay Packers will settle for a possible compensatory draft pick in 2013, for letting quarterback Matt Flynn go. The Packers did not use its franchise tag on Flynn – or anybody else for that matter, after yesterday’s NFL deadline for using the tags. There was talk that general manager Ted Thompson would franchise Flynn, and see if he could make a trade – even though the fourth-year pro is expected to leave as a free agent, to try and win a starting job somewhere else. His agent said the franchise tag would have limited the number of teams Flynn could pursue – and if a trade had not worked out, the Packers would have been stuck paying Aaron Rodgers’ back-up $14.4 million dollars this year. If Flynn does well someplace else, the Packers would get as high as a third-round compensatory pick next year.

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Pewaukee native Mark Wilson moved up one place to third in the Fed-Ex Cup season point totals. And he held steady at Number-24 in the new World Golf Rankings released this morning. That’s after Wilson finished 30th at the Honda Classic in Florida over the weekend. Wilson was pushed up the Fed-Ex standings by Rory McIlroy, who won the Honda Classic and jumped from 20th place to fourth. McIlroy also took over the top spot in the World Rankings, dropping Luke Donald to second. Steve Stricker of Madison remains fifth in the world, and he slipped one place to ninth in the Fed-Ex totals after taking the weekend off. Jerry Kelly of Madison missed the cut at the Honda Classic, and only eight players did worse. Kelly dropped 11 places to 158th in the Fed-Ex standings. And he fell six places to 150th in the World Rankings. Kyle Stanley still leads the Fed-Ex point totals.

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Two Bayfield County natives are the first set of twins to compete in the Iditarod sled dog race in Alaska. The 40th annual race from Willow-to-Nome began yesterday. And Anna and Kristy Berington, both 28 from Port Wing, were among the 66 mushers. As of this morning, Anya Berington was 31st, and Kristy was 61st. The race goes for 975 miles. Kristy Berington is racing in her third Iditarod. This is her twin sister’s first. After graduating from South Shore High School in Port Wing, the sisters joined the National Guard before moving to Alaska.

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SCORES

WIAA boys' high school basketball regional finals

Makeup games played Monday night:

Division 1

Sectional 1

Appleton West 56, Appleton North 51

Oshkosh North 61, Neenah 57

Sectional 2

De Pere 45, Kimberly 38

Sheboygan North 74, Bay Port 58

Sectional 3

Mukwonago 63, Beloit Memorial 55

Sun Prairie 49, Middleton 47

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Division 2

Sectional 2

Beaver Dam 48, Waupun 36

Kaukauna 50, Luxemburg-Casco 39

Sectional 3

DeForest 54, Madison Edgewood 48

Oregon 72, Westosha Central 38

Stoughton 55, Milton 51

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Division 3

Sectional 2

Brillion 55, Sturgeon Bay 39

Wrightstown 50, Valders 48

Sectional 3

Clinton 60, Jefferson 42

East Troy 65, Lake Mills 40

Wisconsin Dells 50, Dodgeville 36

Sectional 4

Marshall 75, Watertown Luther Prep 67

Omro 51, Winnebago Lutheran 40

Oostburg 43, Sheboygan Falls 27

Racine St. Catherine's 49, Milwaukee Thomas More 37

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Division 4

Sectional 2

Shiocton 59, Bonduel 44

Sectional 3

Cambridge 73, Darlington 61

Cuba City 89, New Glarus 41

Onalaska Luther 70, Blair-Taylor 57

Sectional 4

Howards Grove 60, Fond du Lac St. Mary's Springs 54

Ozaukee 55, Reedsville 34

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Division 5

Sectional 2

Hilbert 73, Green Bay NEW Lutheran 61

Sheboygan Lutheran 79, Goodman/Pembine 42

Sectional 3

Benton 46, Shullsburg 45, OT

Southwestern 56, North Crawford 43

Sectional 4

Milwaukee Academy of Science 49, Williams Bay Faith Christian 42

Randolph 55, Monticello 32

Waupun Central Wisconsin Christian 66, Cambria-Friesland 43

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