Butternut tops Mercer in regionals

The Butternut High School varsity girls basketball team opened Regional play with a home win against Mercer on Feb. 20. The game was a the first round of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association 2024 Girls Basketball Tournament Series in the Division 5 bracket.

The No. 4 seed Butternut topped No. 13 seed Mercer 73-52 in a competitive match between two Northern Lights Conference rivals.

“The Tigers put up a good battle, but the Midgets were able to control the game from the opening tip, slowly stretching their lead throughout,” said Butternut Coach Troy Scherwinski, noting that the Butternut lead was just 35-27 at half and but they were able to extend that lead in the second half.

Butternut senior guard Jersey Polencheck controlled the tempo on both ends of the court as she led all scorers with 30 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists. Sophomore guard Caitlynn Bebeau and Junior forward Kendra Pritzl provided a balanced punch with Pritzl scoring 18 points and grabbing 9 rebounds, and Bebeau adding 15 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Other Butternut scorers were Junior guard Izzy Przybylski with 6 points, and freshman forward Lizzie Pritzl and senior forward Ivy Popowski each scored 2.

The Mercer scorers were led by Ona Ruiz with 13 points, followed by Eiley Schoeneman with 11, Amber Eith with 10, Jenny Klopatek with 8, Rylinn Rossi with 5, Kailee Powers with 4, and Anya Brandenburg with 1.

Butternut improves to 17-8 and will host Hurley in regional semi-final action at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23. Hurley is seeded at No. 5 and defeated No. 12 seed Flambeau 49-34 on Tuesday.

Mercer ends their season with a 6-12 conference record and 6-16 overall.

Follow the WIAA tournament bracket here .