Four area girls named to All-DC basketball team

Two girls basketball players from Blair-Taylor and one from Independence and Whitehall earned All-Dairyland Conference First Team honors, announced last week.

Lindsay Steien and Abby Thompson led B-T to the Dairyland Conference Large Division title with a 13-1 mark. They were the DC-Large’s top two scorers with Steien averaging 22.9 and Thompson scoring 15.7 points per game.

Independence’s Ziy Conner was among the most productive players in the state, averaging 25.7 points and 16.3 rebounds per game. She was named a Division Five All-State Team selection two weeks ago and named to the All-DC team last week. Steien earned honorable mention all-state honors.

Whitehall senior point guard Olivia Youngbauer also earned first-team All-DC honors as she averaged 9.2 points per game.

The rest of the first-team members were Liza Cummings and Jacquelyn Paul, Alma Center Lincoln; Teagan Frey, Melrose-Mindoro and Jordyn Halverson and Lindsey Peterson, both of Cochrane-Fountain City.

The only other area player to be honored was Whitehall senior Abby Semb, who was a second-team pick. Semb also averaged 9.2 points per game as part of Whitehall’s balanced scoring attack.

Other second-team honorees were: Emma Baures, C-FC; Miah Breheim, Lincoln; Lydia Evans, Gilmanton; Paige Hanner, E-S; Emma Miller and Riley Naumann, Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran; Lilly Radcliffe, Mel-Min and Madison Schultz, Eleva-Strum.

The Wildcats won the DC-Large with a 13-1 record, but lost its final two games to C-FC, one in the regular season and one in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division Four Regional Final. C-FC’s season ended shortly after due to a COVID-19 outbreak before their sectional semifinal game.

Melrose-Mindoro was third in the conference at 9-5 followed by Whitehall, 7-8; Eleva-Strum, 5-10 and Augusta, 1-13.

The Indees were second in the DC-Small at 9-4, losing twice to Alma Center Lincoln (11-2) in the regular season, but the Indees topped the Hornets in the regional final. Independence’s season ended at the hands of eventual state champion Wisconsin Rapids Assumption in the sectional semifinal.

Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran was third in the conference at 4-8 followed by Gilmanton, 2-12 and Alma/Pepin, 0-8.