There were some big changes late last week at the top of some high school basketball conferences around the region and let's take a look at some of them.

 

On the boys side River Falls surrendered it's first place lead in the Big Rivers Conference by virtue of it's loss to Rice Lake and now it finds itself further down the standings thanks to their 64-57 loss to Chippewa Falls on Tuesday. Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire North are now tied at the top of the conference with 4-1 records. Eau Claire Memorial got it's first conference win of the season with a victory over Chippewa Falls last Friday so from top to bottom the Big Rivers Conference is as strong as it has been in years. 2-8 Menomonie gave undefeated New Richmond all they could handle last Saturday in their 59-54 loss.

 

In the Big Rivers Conference girls title chase the Rice Lake Warriors pulled into a first place tie by defeating River Falls on the road last Friday. The Warriors and Wildcats sit on top with 1 loss and Memorial and North sit one game behind with 2 losses so things look to be very interesting as we head into the 2nd half of the season.

 

Also on the girls side in the Middle Border Conference late last week the Amery Warriors pulled into a first place tie by beating Somerset 61-49 and those two teams are tied for the conference lead with 5-1 records. The Lady Warriors are only giving up 40 points a game and could be a Division 2 dark horse this year come playoff time with the likes of Altoona, Rice Lake, Barron and Northwestern.

 

We should find out a lot about the Luck Cardinals boys basketball team this weekend. They play Webster on Friday night with first place on the line in the West Lakeland Conference and then play at Eau Claire Regis on Saturday night. Dare I say no high school team in Wisconsin has a more brutal weekend schedule coming up. Both of those games are part of our top 5 games of the week on our website.

 

Congratulations to Ryan Reidt of Alma for scoring his 1,000th point in the Rivermen's 53-41 win over Whitehall on Tuesday night.

 

Congratulations to Rice Lake's Casey Weber for becoming Rice Lake's all-time leading scorer in the Warriors win over River Falls.

 

The UW-Eau Claire Women's basketball team stands alone in first place in the WIAC conference with their 63-60 win over previously undefeated UW-Whitewater last week. The Blugolds rank # 1 in defense by only allowing 55.5 points per game as of this writing. The Blugolds are ranked # 25 in the latest NCAA Division 3 WBCA/ESPN poll.

 

The Green Bay Packers host the New York Giants this Sunday at Lambeau Field for the NFC championship. Last week the Packers beat Seattle in a game that is being dubbed as the Snow Bowl. This weekend will perhaps be dubbed as Ice Bowl II with temperatures expected to be in the single digits. Look for the Packers to win 24-10 and to play San Diego in the Super Bowl. 25mph winds expected in Foxboro, MA on Sunday so I expect that to hamper the New England Patriots potent passing game.