Oconto Falls, Gillett get No. 1 seeds

The Oconto Falls High School girls basketball team earned a No. 1 seed and will open the WIAA Division 3 regional March 7 at home against either fourth-seeded Wittenberg-Birnamwood or fifth-seeded Clintonville. Wittenberg-Birnamwood (16-4, 11-2 Central Wisconsin Conference-8) and Clintonville (3-16, 2-12 Eastern Valley) play Tuesday in Wittenberg. The winner will travel to Oconto Falls to face the Panthers (16-2, 11-2 Bay). “Our regional is very tough,” Oconto Falls coach Mike Kaczmarek said. “There are four teams with 16 or more wins in it. It’s very tough, but it’s nice to have that bye and home-court advantage throughout the whole thing.” The regional bracket also features Peshtigo (17-3, 13-1 Marinette & Oconto), the third seed, and Northland Pines (16-3, 7-2 Great Northern), which is seeded second. “We’ll have three (games) this week, then we’ll take about three of four days to prepare and we’ll go from there,” Kaczmarek said. In the Division 5 regional, Gillett (7-12, 7-6 M&O) earned the top seed. After a first-round bye, the Tigers will open the tournament at home against either No. 4 Lena (7-13, 5-9 M&O) or No. 5 Sevastopol (1-16, 0-13 Packerland), which play Tuesday in Lena. “Hopefully, the regional championship will go through our gym,” Gillett coach Justin Daul said. The match-up is an interesting one for Daul, who spent the last four years coaching the Lena girls junior varsity team before taking over the Gillett varsity program. “Coming from Lena last year, I know a lot about Lena and their players,” he said. “I don’t know much about Sevastopol. … They do play a tough schedule in the Packerland, so you never know what they could bring.” Suring earned the No. 2 seed in its regional and will open against Marinette & Oconto Conference foe Wausaukee (2-18, 2-12 M&O), which is seeded seventh, Tuesday. The winner of that game will face either No. 3 Three Lakes (10-8, 8-5 Northern Lakes) or No. 6 Florence (6-10, 3-9 Northern Lakes). Games will be played at the higher seeded school throughout the regionals.