Witt-Birn girls basketball team joins loaded regional after move to D4

The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association released girls basketball division placements and playoff assignments for the 2020-21 season, with many area teams having their regional pods changed.

Wittenberg-Birnamwood was the only area team to move from its 2019-20 regional pod. Instead of staying in a Division 3 regional, the Chargers dropped to Division 4, joining a loaded regional that includes Bonduel and Menominee Indian.

Division placement is determined by school enrollment numbers. When Witt-Birn’s enrollment number was released, Nick Mechelke — the varsity coach for the Chargers — knew there was a chance the team could get bumped down to Division 4.

“I am happy going down, and I think that this is where we belong,” said Mechelke, whose team won the Central Wisconsin Conference-East Division title last season and had just one regular season loss (to Bonduel), but was still handed a No. 3 seed in its Division 3 regional bracket.

The Division 4 regional that the Chargers will be joining was won by Crandon this past season. Crandon topped Bonduel in a sectional semifinal matchup and later qualified for state.

Bonduel was the top seed in the 11-team bracket, defeating eighth-seeded Manawa and fourth-seeded Crivitz to claim a regional title.

In the bottom portion of the bracket, Menominee Indian earned a No. 7 seed. The Eagles topped 10th-seeded Coleman before falling to Crandon.

St. Mary Catholic (No. 3), Shiocton (No. 5), Iola-Scandinavia (No. 6), Oconto (No. 9) and Weyauwega-Fremont (No. 11) rounded out this past season’s regional.

St. Mary Catholic is the only team from the regional that won’t be a part of the upcoming regional pod. SMC switched to another D4 regional.

The regional pod will have 12 teams this coming season, as Amherst is also dropping down a division.

“Those are both quality programs (Witt-Birn, Amherst) that we have been looking up at during my first two years (as coach),” said Menominee Indian coach Michael Skenadore. “They are well coached and have high quality players, as well as the experience of competing up at D3 during the tournament the last several years.

“I am anticipating that our pod will be stronger top to bottom this year with some really good teams being pushed into the 5-8 seeds, which will make that opening day of tournament play really interesting.”

“The addition of Wittenberg-Birnamwood and Amherst certainly make the regional more challenging, as they are both quality programs,” said Bonduel coach Jerry Reinke. “We should be familiar with both opponents strengths and weaknesses, which would be a positive, but they also know ours as well.”

With the changes, all seven teams from the CWC-East will play in that regional.

“Our regional is loaded with the CWC-East, and it’s always tough to play a team three times, which is likely going to happen this year,” said Mechelke. “We play eight teams in our regional, so we are going to get good looks at most of these teams.”

Looking at last year’s overall records, seven of the 12 teams had over a .500 record, while nine teams had double-digit win totals.

Oconto Falls, Clintonville

The 11-team regional that Witt-Birn and Amherst played in this past season was the same one in which Oconto Falls and Clintonville participated.

The regional pod will include 12 teams this season, with Brillion, Marinette and Winneconne joining Wrightstown (No. 1), Peshtigo (No. 8), Xavier (No. 5), Tomahawk (No. 11), Little Chute (No. 7), Northland Pines (No. 10) and Freedom (No. 2).

Marinette was bumped from D2 to D3, while Brillion and Winneconne just switched D3 regionals.

Oconto Falls was the No. 4 seed in the bracket, losing to Xavier in a regional semifinal. Sixth-seeded Clintonville eased past Tomahawk before losing to Witt-Birn in a regional semifinal.

Bowler, Gillett, Lena, Suring

The D5 regional that Bowler, Gillett, Lena and Suring call home will include two new teams for the upcoming season.

Phelps and Sevastopol will help form the new 16-team regional pod, which is filled out by Oneida Nation (No. 1), Florence (No. 9), Elcho (No. 8), Wabeno/Laona (No. 5), Wausaukee (No. 4), Niagara (No. 3), White Lake (No. 14), St. Thomas Aquinas Academy (No. 11), Three Lakes (No. 6) and Gibraltar (No. 7).

Gillett was the No. 2 seed, earning a win over Gibraltar before losing to Niagara. Bowler (No. 12) lost to Wabeno/Laona; Suring (No. 10) fell short against Gibraltar, and Lena (No. 13) was topped by Wausaukee in regional quarterfinal matchups.

Gresham, Marion, Tigerton

The D5 regional that includes Gresham, Marion and Tigerton also gets a bit tougher with the addition of Stevens Point’s Pacelli High School for the upcoming season.

Pacelli played in D4 last season, winning a regional title as a No. 5 seed.

Newman Catholic (No. 1), Almond-Bancroft (No. 9), Northland Lutheran (No. 5), Rib Lake (No. 12), Port Edwards (No. 13), Prentice (No. 4), Edgar (No. 3), Tri-County (No. 14), Rosholt (No. 6), Assumption (No. 7), Athens (No. 10) and Wild Rose (No. 2) fill out the now-16-team pod.

Eighth-seeded Gresham earned a win over Almond-Bancroft before being eliminated by Newman Catholic. Tigerton (No. 11) lost to Rosholt, while Marion (No. 15) fell short against Wild Rose in regional quarterfinals.

Shawano

Shawano is the only area team to not have any changes to its regional from this past season.

The Hawks earned a No. 6 seed and knocked off 11th-seeded Antigo before falling to third-seeded New London in its D2 regional.

Hortonville (No. 1) came out of the regional pod. Ashland (No. 8), Waupaca (No. 9), Lakeland Union (No. 4), Mosinee (No. 5), Merrill (No. 7), Wausau East (No. 10) and Rhinelander (No. 2) will round out the 11-team regional.

For a full list of girls basketball tournament assignments and brackets, visit https://www.wiaawi.org/Sports/Winter/Girls-Basketball/Tournament.

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