Witt-Birn girls basketball team dealing with adversity as season starts up

The Wittenberg-Birnamwood High School girls basketball heads into the 2020-21 season hoping to repeat as Central Wisconsin Conference-East Division champions, but needing to replace some key players from last year’s squad to accomplish that.

Witt-Birn graduated two players from the team that finished 22-2 overall and 11-1 in conference play last winter. The Chargers will also be without senior Abi Fraaza when play begins— possibly for the entire season — after she underwent meniscus reconstruction surgery after an injury during the fall sports season.

Fraaza was the conference’s player of the year as a junior, along with making the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association honorable mention team in Division 3. She was the conference’s leader in rebounds and assists per game and third in scoring.

Even with Fraaza out, coach Nick Mechelke believes his team can repeat as CWC-East champions.

“It’s hard to replace Abi, she was last year’s player of the year, but we will have players take on a bigger role to fulfill our needs,” said Mechelke.

Senior Emma Herb is the other all-conference player back for Witt-Birn. She made the first team unanimously after averaging 18 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.

“Losing a player like Abigail can change the entire ball game,” said Herb. “She is an amazing athlete and will be missed greatly on the court. This year we are all going to have to step it up to help fill her role.”

Sophomore Reese Rogowski is the only other starter back for the Chargers.

Senior Amara Schoepke and junior Kaylee Schram played key roles off the bench last year, and will likely play even bigger roles this winter.

Junior Jadalynn Davids is one of the players who could also carve out a role for the Chargers.

“Our team will need to work a lot harder and focus more without Abi right now,” said Rogowski, who averaged just under five points a game last year. “We will have to fill a big void without her there on the court. All of us will have to step up and take a responsibility for our team’s success.”

The CWC-East won’t do the Chargers any favors, as Mechelke believes it will remain as tough and competitive as ever. Only six total players graduated from last year’s all-conference teams.

sports@newmedia-wi.com