Rib Lake’s Scheithauer lands on second team; Annala, Niemi honored as well

ALL-MARAWOOD NORTH GIRLS BASKETBALL

A strong second half of the season pushed Rib Lake’s Josie Scheithauer to a second-team spot, while senior Kamryn Annala and freshman Avery Niemi hustled their way to honorable mention in the voting for the 2022-23 All-Marawood Conference North Division girls basketball team.

The awards are the first in basketball for all three Redmen in the All-North team voting. However, Annala is now a two-time member of the North’s All-Defensive team, which debuted last year. Each Marawood team has one representative on that squad.

Scheithauer, a 5-8 junior, averaged a team-high 8.5 points per game while appearing in all 24 of Rib Lake’s games this winter. She also pulled down 4.1 rebounds and averaged 1.3 assists per game.

Scheithauer is part of an all-junior, four-member second team, joining Sommer Brodhagen of Abbotsford, Jazelle Hartwig of Athens and Brooke Eckert of Phillips. Four of the six first-team picks also are juniors, while the other two are sophomores. Amazingly, there are no seniors on the first or second All-North teams this year.

In her third varsity season, Scheithauer began the season as one of Rib Lake’s most experienced players and she took off in the middle of the season, reaching double figures in scoring for a stretch of eight out of 12 games. She hit a season high of 21 points and had six rebounds and two steals in a 48-41 home loss to Prentice on Jan. 9 and scored 10 points while adding seven rebounds, two steals and an assist in an 81-28 loss to a very good Auburndale squad on Jan. 20. She had 14 points and three assists in one of Rib Lake’s top outings of the year, a 5835 loss at North co-champion Athens on Jan. 26 and had 12 points in a 63-26 loss at Marathon on Dec. 9. In non-conference play, Scheithauer had 15 points in Rib Lake’s most exciting win of the year, a 60-58 victory at Flambeau on Jan. 30. She had six rebounds, two assists, two steals and a blocked shot in that win.

Annala averaged 5.3 points per game in her third varsity season, a figure that ranked second among the team’s regulars. As shown by her defensive honor, Annala’s hard-nosed hustle and effort was a big part of her game. She averaged 4.9 rebounds per game in 21 appearances and 1.4 steals per game.

Annala did pour in a season-high 16 points in Rib Lake’s Jan. 26 loss at Athens and she had nine points in two more Marawood games, the Jan. 9 home loss to Prentice and a 60-40 home loss to Newman Catholic on Feb. 2. She had eight points and eight rebounds in Rib Lake’s lone league win, a 43-16 win at Chequamegon on Nov. 22, and she had four steals in that game. She hit her season-high of eight rebounds two other times, first in the team’s 30-14 season-opening non-conference win over Elcho and in a 71-33 loss to Pittsville on Jan. 2.

Annala had seven points and seven rebounds in a 57-32 loss to Abbotsford on Feb. 7 and seven points, seven rebounds and four steals in the Flambeau win. In what turned out to be her final game on Feb. 13, Annala had nine points, seven rebounds and a blocked shot in Rib Lake’s 47-29 non-conference loss to Gilman.

Niemi wasn’t a prolific scorer in her first season of varsity basketball, though she did pick up that pace late in the year, but she was often the leader on first-year head coach Joe Treffinger’s hustle board with her effort on the boards and on defense. She averaged 4.2 points per game, and was the team’s leading rebounder at 5.5 per game. She also averaged just under an assist and a steal per game.

Niemi had a season-high 15 points and five rebounds in the Feb. 7 loss to Abbotsford. She closed the regular season with 12 points, seven rebounds and two steals in a 58-49 loss at Prentice on Feb. 16. She hit double figures a third time, scoring 11 points and adding five rebounds against Newman Catholic. Niemi had a seasonhigh 10 rebounds to go with three points, two steals and two assists in the team’s first loss to Prentice. She had five points, eight rebounds and five steals in the win at Chequamegon and eight points and six rebounds in the win over Flambeau. She had six points and four rebounds against Marawood South champion Wisconsin Rapids Assumption in a 68-29 loss on Jan. 6.

This year’s All-North first team includes unanimous picks junior Kacy Eggebrecht of Phillips, junior Addison Lavicka of Athens, junior Sydney Falteisek of Abbotsford and sophomore Kali Heikkinen of Prentice, along with junior Sophia Coker of Athens and sophomore Mataya Eckert of Phillips. Kacy Eggebrecht was named the Player of the Year, following the three times her sister Jada won the award.

Eggebrecht, Lavicka and Falteisek are repeat first-team selections from a year ago.

Phillips and Athens both finished with two losses in Marawood Conference play to sit atop the North. Rib Lake finished 1-14 in Marawood games and 3-21 overall. Chequamegon folded midway through the season, meaning most teams did not get their full allotment of 16 conference games. Phillips made the farthest run in the post-season of any North team, reaching the WIAA Division 4 sectional semifinal round where the Loggers lost 67-56 in overtime to eventual sectional champion Colfax. Athens was in a tough Division 5 regional bracket that included Assumption and Marawood South runner-up Edgar. Edgar ousted Athens 56-47 in the regional final round.