EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Thursday or Friday throughout the calendar year.
By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal, Fennimore Times, Boscobel Dial
Avery Richard, So., PG, Platteville girls basketball
Sophomore Avery Richard is the engine that makes the Platteville Hillmen go. The talented second-year point guard is averaging a team-high 14.7 points, a SWC-high 6.3 assists, 4.4 rebounds and a team-high 3.7 steals per game for the Division 3 #5-ranked Hillmen.
She was her usual spark plug self in three Platteville victories over the past week. Last Thursday, Richard made 4 of 5 3-point attempts and finished with a game-high 19 points (on just 11 field goal attempts) and five assists in a 56–51 SWC victory at third-place Lancaster (10–7, 3–3 SWC).
Platteville opened the second half on a 7–2 run — on another 3-pointer by Richard, and pair of layups by fellow sophomore Rianna Dye — to take a 36–28 lead with 15:25 left. Richard then hit back-to-back 3-pointers five minutes later to push the lead to 12 at 46–34 with 10 minutes left, but Lancaster again made a run.
Driscoll hit a 3-pointer to spark a 8–2 run, which was capped by a pair of post-up baskets by senior Nicole Kelley, but 48–42 was as close as Lancaster could get. But Richard scored a layup on the other end and after a defensive stop, Dye scored on a well designed inbound play to make it 52–42 with 3:35 remaining, and the Hillmen made 4 of 6 at the free throw line in the final 1:16 to close out the win.
Two days later, Richard had 15 points, five steals, four assists and three rebounds in a 48–32 non-conference win at Reedsburg. This past Monday, she had another stat-stuffing all-around effort of 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists in a 60–40 non-conference victory at Mount Horeb to led the SWC-leading Hillmen (16–1, 6– SWC) to their ninth-straight win.
HONORABLE MENTION (in alphabetical order):
Thomas Freeman, Fr., C, Belmont boys basketball
Freeman made 10 of 13 field goal attempts and 7 of 10 at the free throw line to finish with a game-high 27 points in last Tuesday's loss to Division 5 #3-ranked Highland (14–1, 12–0 SRW). He also had nine rebounds in the game. The freshman pheonom them had 13 points and six rebounds in a 74–31 victory over Albany last Friday night.
Ben Infield, So., G, Cassville boys basketball
Infield has been playing his best basketball of the season over the past two weeks, averaging 20 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3 rebounds over his past four games. He had a 16-point, 11-rebound double–double in last Thursday's 35–29 win over Wauzeka–Steuben. He then made 10 of 11 free throws and poured in a career-high 31 points to go along with six assists in a 63–59 win over Pecatonica last Friday night
Macie Galle, Sr., Platteville/Belmont/Lancaster gymnastics
Senior Macie Galle finished second in the all-around at 34.9, after second-place finishes in the vault (9.2), uneven bars (8.55) and balance beam (9.025) to lead the Platteville/Belmont/Lancaster gymnastics team to a third-place finish at last Saturday’s five-team Southwestern Invitational with a season-high score of 133.275.
Tyler Kisamore, Jr., 150 pounds, and Dylan Weigel, Jr., 138 pounds, Belmont/Platteville wrestling
Junior Tyler Kisamore (36–6) cruised to the 150-pound title with a pin and a pair of major decisions while fellow junior Dylan Weigel won a pair of close matches to win the 138 pound title to lead Belmont/Platteville to the team title at last Saturday's 16-team Monroe Invitational. After a first-round bye, Kismaore (36–6) used a pin to reach the semifinals, where he beat Cuba City’s Brody Blackbourn 11–1. In the finals, he cruised to a 17–5 major decision over Monroe’s Connor Eckdhal. After a first-round bye, and a Weigel (37–4) notched a 19–3 tech fall before defeating Conner Brimeyer of the Cuba City co-op 4–2 in the semifinals. Weigel then blanked Parkview/Albany’s Tavin Bomkamp 4–0 in the finals.
Eli Lindsey, Sr., G, Mineral Point boys basketball
Lindsay made 7 of 10 3-pointers and 14 of 22 shots overall en rout to a career-high 41 points in a 86–38 SWAL win at Boscobel last Thursday night. He also had nine rebounds, four steals and two assists in the win. Lindsey then had 13 points, four steals and three assists in a 68–39 win over Belleville on Saturday.
Brooklyn Ritchie, So., G/F, Fennimore girls basketball
Ritchie's continued improvement has coincided with a season-long four-game winning streak for the Golden Eagles (8–11, 6–5 SWAL). She posted a double–double of 10 points and 11 rebounds in a 53–49 win over Southwestern last Monday night. She then posted a game-high 20 points, nine rebounds and eight steals in a 62–49 SWAL win over Boscobel Friday night, before she posted 18 points, five rebounds and five steals in Saturday's 74–40 non-conference win over Benton. Ritchie then played one of her best games of the year in Tuesday's 65–40 blowout win at Riverdale with 21 points on 8 of 16 shooting, nine rebounds, six steals and four assists. Ritchie is now averaging 13.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 1.4 assists per game this year after posting 17.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, 5 steals and 2 assists over the last four games.
Aidan Uppena, Sr., F, Potosi boys basketball
Uppena averaged 16.3 points per game to lead the Chieftains (12–2, 10–1 SRW) to three key conference wins in the past week. Uppena scored 15 points and grabbed four rebounds in a 58–53 win over Division 5 #7-ranked River Ridge (12–2, 8–2 SRW) last Tuesday night. He then had 14 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists in Friday's 67–43 win over Barneveld before scoring a season-high 20 points and six rebounds in Monday's 77–52 blowout win at Belmont. Potosi has now won 10-straight games since a 64–59 loss to SWC-leading Platteville Dec. 13.
Ella Vosberg, Sr., G/F, Cuba City girls basketball
The Cuba City volleyball star continues putting up big numbers on the hardwood for the short-handed Division 4 #2-ranked Cubans, who began the season without senior point guard Olivia Olson (who suffered a torn ACL last April) and have now lost fellow senior Dea Crist to a knee injury. Vosberg, who joined the 1,000-point club two weeks ago — despite not playing basketball last year as a junior, poured in a career-high 34 points on 14 of 17 from the field, grabbed 11 rebounds and snatched eight steals in a 92–28 win at Iowa–Grant last Friday night.