The Elmwood-Plum City Wolves boys basketball team is ramping up for a season in which they hope to improve after a stretch of down years punctuated by a third-place finish in the conference in 2021.

With practices starting this Monday, Head Coach Kyle Webb sees the glass as half full.

“We have only one way to go, and that's up. I believe that having more experience and everyone knowing their role and expectations of them will help us click this season,” Webb said. “For this season, I want us to improve on our record from last year, and I want to have some of our older guys step up and be leaders, both physically and mentally. We had plenty of games last year that were fairly close, and we just could not finish. I expect that to not be the case this season.” 

Webb’s arrival coincided with the program’s one top three finish in the past decade as it was his second year as head coach. He said they expect more of that success with this group of players this year with standout players including seniors Blake Allen and Aaden Birtzer along with junior Lucas Glaus, who will be some of their go-to guys. Webb said they have a very strong class of juniors this year, and they will be looking for them to step up at times as well.

With this strong group of juniors on the team, the Wolves should be set up well for the next couple years. As for this season's expectations,

“I want us to improve on our record from last year and have some of our older guys step up and be leaders, both physically and mentally,” Webb said. “We had plenty of games last year that were fairly close and we just could not finish the games. I expect that to not be the case this season.” 

With the season opener just two weeks away, practices will begin this week. During this ramp up time, Webb hopes to work on getting their guys to find their roles within the team and to install some offensive and defensive principles.

The season begins on Tuesday, Nov. 27 when the Wolves will host the Blair-Taylor Wildcats.

EPC girls

The Elmwood-Plum City Wolves girls’ basketball season begins this week after several weeks of practices and scrimmages to start out their season.

The Wolves have had four straight competitive seasons where they have finished in the middle of the Dunn-St. Croix conference. The success is coming at a cost though, as only one varsity player is returning this season, according to first year Head Coach Paige Saniter.

“We graduated five seniors last year, so we are operating with a young team including one varsity returner,” Saniter said. “Hailey Webb is our only returning varsity player as a junior. We have a lot of potential in our younger athletes.”

With preseason at an end, Saniter’s expectations for this young team lie in the players having success with the fundamentals of the game as well as adjusting to a number of new coaching staff members.

“Our entire coaching staff is new to their positions this year. I just took over as the head coach, and we hired Adrian Hook as our JV coach as well as Savannah Dalluhn as another assistant,” Saniter said. “Our goal this year is to build our skills and confidence on the floor. We are looking forward to improving our raw talent and to building our team for our future. Our objective is to get a little bit better every day.” 

The Wolves’ season starts Tuesday when they host the Cardinals with a 7:15 p.m. tip off. Not those Dunn-St. Croix Cardinals. Nope, not those Middle Border Cardinals either. The Dairyland Large Eleva-Strum Cardinals.

Spring Valley boys

The Spring Valley Cardinals will begin practices this week as they look to reprise their success from 2021 and 2022 when they won the conference championship.

Head Coach Rob Bosshart, who is entering his 34^th season as the Cardinals skipper, is confident in the group he’s bringing back, and he hopes for a return to form after a little bit of a step back last year.

“We have a very experienced group coming back this year, with seven of the top 10 players having played significant varsity minutes last year,” Bosshart said. “We finished third in the league last year behind very talented Elk Mound and Durand, and those two teams are expected to be among the league leaders again this year with several of their key players returning.”

In a competitive conference, Bosshart notes that the drive and teamwork of this year’s group will be a strong point for them this season.

“We have a hard-working group of guys returning, and they have outstanding chemistry. We don't start practice until Monday, but I know that the kids are excited to get at it. They worked hard during the offseason to improve and are eager to compete,” Bosshart said.

A couple of the Cardinals key players this season will be junior Cade Stasiek and senior Jameson Bauer, according to Bosshart.

“Cade is a very dynamic player who either led or was among the league leaders last year in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals,” Bosshart said. “Jameson was our second leading scorer last year and is one of the best shooters we've had here. He is coming off a serious knee injury suffered in the regional final last March and we're looking forward to having him back to 100%.”

Other key returning contributors for the red birds include seniors Diego Schmitt and Kaden Robelia and juniors Masyn Wolf, Tanner Dicus and Caleb Bartko. Newcomers that the team will be counting on to step up are senior Elijah Poulin and juniors Trevor Forster and Elijah Haug. 

“I am looking forward to this season as much as ever. This is such a fun group of kids to work with, and I am fortunate to have a tremendous staff with Matt Ducklow, who is in his 22nd season with the team, Sean Borgerding, who is in his fourth season, and Tyler Anderson who will be contributing for the first time,” Bosshart said. 

The season will tip off for the Cardinals on Tuesday, Nov. 28 when they will travel to Chippewa Falls to play the McDonnell Central Macks.

Spring Valley girls

The Spring Valley Cardinals girls’ basketball team has finished their preseason practices and scrimmages and will now turn their attention to the impending season, which begins on Tuesday.

The Cardinals play in a very tough conference, and although they’ve finished in the bottom three teams for a number of years now, there’s optimism that they could take a step forward this year behind a solid group of senior and junior players. Head Coach Sean Hoolihan, who is entering his eighth season with the team, says they are as top heavy with talent as they’ve been in a long time.

“We will be looking for our seniors Mara Ducklow, Charli Vanasse and Maddie Shafer to lead us this year. They have played significant minutes on varsity and should be ready to run this team,” Hoolihan said. “Juniors Audrey Mathison, Taylor Traynor and Rae Traynor will look to increase their roles this year, as well.”

With the season nigh upon us, the Cardinals are back in full swing, and Hoolihan says they’re eager to get started. The main thing, as always, is staying healthy, building on their early experience and growing throughout the season.

“Practices have been going pretty good. Our kids have been working hard and are ready for the season,” Hoolihan said. “Competing in our non-conference play this year will be a key to how we can match up at the end of the season. The Dunn St. Croix is always a great conference and showing we can play with everyone in the conference will set us up to be at our best come tournament time.”

It’s been a bit of a competitive drought for Spring Valley, but with the high-quality athletes on this roster, they have a chance to turn that around. The season begins this Tuesday for the Cardinals when they will host the Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran Lancers at 7:15 p.m.