To celebrate the 50th anniversary of girls’ basketball in River Falls, six of the players from the inaugural teams in program history returned to the high school and were honored before tip-off against Eau Claire North on Saturday night.

The six returnees from those groundbreaking teams in the early 1970s included Sue Bass, Diane Wiese and Ruth Kramer from the class of ‘76, Holly Mueller and Kathy Delaplain from the class of ‘77 and Heidi Mueller from the class of ‘78.

For River Falls senior guard Ella Peters, Saturday night’s celebration of 50 years of girls’ basketball at River Falls High School was a chance to meet and honor some of the most outstanding women in program history who paved the way for future generations of Lady Wildcats.

“It was so cool,” Peters said. “It was so nice to see their faces in person and to know who they are. They were the ones who started all of this, so it was really fun to see. I’m happy that we could come and win for them, it’s crazy that we’re a part of this.”

The girls’ basketball program honored each returning legend with a bouquet presented by a pair of current Lady Wildcat players. While receiving their flowers, each returnee had their name announced as those in attendance gave a continuous standing ovation for the women who served as the pillars of what is now a proud and distinguished program.

Although River Falls fell behind by more than a dozen points midway through the first half against Eau Claire North, the Wildcats remained resilient. River Falls chipped away at the lead and eventually cut it to a single- digit deficit, 32-23, going into the halftime intermission.

The six returning players stayed for the entirety of the game and even appeared in a live interview on the River Falls Sports YouTube page at halftime, which is the volunteer- based broadcasting team that live streams Wildcat sports for those who can’t attend in person.

During the interview, the former players spoke highly of the team’s resilience and response to adversity in the first half against Eau Claire North. They also provided anecdotes from long ago about the inception of girls’ basketball in River Falls.

“I started playing as a freshman in high school,” Kramer said. “I remember in fifth grade watching my older brother play middle school ball and wishing I could play, but I knew I didn’t have an opportunity. When that opportunity came up our freshman year, I jumped at it.”

While Kramer and the rest of the women from those early teams eventually became program icons for their contributions to equality and girls’ athletics, at the time, they had no idea how significant their impact would become.

“We didn’t have any idea what the significance of what title IX meant at the time,” Kramer said. “We just went out to have fun playing. Tonight for example with announcing the girls, we didn’t have an announcer and we didn’t have warmup uniforms. So much has changed.”

Those six women, in addition to the rest of their teammates that couldn’t be there in person on Saturday night, served as the first generation of females that ultimately broke the mold of what was standard in high school sports in western Wisconsin.

For many of them, such as Holly Mueller, seeing how the game has evolved and grown exponentially since their time at River Falls has been nothing short of phenomenal. She spoke about how the game has evolved, even to a professional level.

“We were out there to have fun and it wasn’t a big deal to us back then,” Holly Mueller said. “Now we see how it has evolved. With the professional women’s teams, women in sports are keeping up with the men – it’s phenomenal.”

Although many of the women on those early teams will get well-deserved credit for their historic decisions, Wiese believes that women in sports-related positions such as physical education teachers deserve just as much credit as the girls who played on those early teams.

Those female teachers involved with sports helped inspire the younger girls, Wiese included, and showed them that making it in athletics-related fields as a woman was possible. She spoke about those role models deserving more credit than they’ve gotten historically. “I want to recognize those early women physical education teachers,” Wiese said. “I want to give props to them. Those early female physical education teachers were so significant to me that it became my profession. I could see those women do what I wanted to do for a career and it inspired me. It was the first time I had seen women in those positions of coaching.”

The 2022-23 River Falls Wildcats have one female on the varsity coaching staff, assistant coach Carlie Melstrom, and multiple women on the junior varsity staff. Their coaching helped River Falls overcome its 14-point second-half deficit against Eau Claire North on Saturday night.

The Wildcats’ comefrom- behind win included an astonishing 21-0 run that spanned six minutes in the middle of the second half and eventually culminated in a 58-52 win over the Huskies. For River Falls head coach Ian Sticht, the night was more significant than just a win or loss. He spoke about the 50-year celebration of girls’ basketball at River Falls.

“Win or lose tonight, that doesn’t matter, it’s about the significance of having women from 50 years ago who have played here being able to take it in and watch a really good game,” Sticht said. “We talked about it in the locker room, about the bigger meaning of the game. It’s pretty amazing that it all started 50 years ago.”

While names and faces in and around the girls’ basketball program will continue to change, the impact of the original women who pioneered a new age of girls’ athletics will always be remembered. Their contributions to equality in athletics will resonate through the halls of River Falls High School forever.

River Falls senior guard Ella Peters creates space while looking for an open teammate during the Wildcats’ home game against Eau Claire North on Saturday night.Photo by Reagan Hoverman

River Falls junior Jordan Schwantz makes a layup in transition during the Wildcats’ big second-half run against Eau Claire North. Photo by Reagan Hoverman