Eagles’ girls earn No. 5 seed

The seeding was no surprise, really. Now, Sauk Prairie’s girls basketball team hopes to pull off a few surprises. The Eagles — who have enjoyed another quality season — earned the No. 5 seed in their WIAA Division 2 sectional. Sauk Prairie will travel to fourth-seeded Reedsburg for a regional semifinal on Feb. 23. Sauk Prairie (12-9) dropped both of its games against Reedsburg (14-7) this season. Those two defeats were by an average of 12.0 points. The winner of that game advances to a regional final on Feb. 24. If the seeds hold, that game would be against top-seeded West Salem. “We are a 5 (seed), which is about what I had expected,” Eagles’ coach Jacob Breunig said. “I did not really see Reedsburg on the 4-line before it was announced.   “I think they have had a good year and should’ve been higher. It’ll be a battle for sure as all our games with them are. We will need to play incredible defense and rebound missed shots to limit them. On the offensive end hitting shots will be vital for us.” The Eagles found out their seed after a busy week in which they dropped two of three games. Sauk Prairie dropped a 63-42 decision to Wisconsin Dells on Feb. 6. The Eagles then defeated Baraboo, 56-35, on Feb. 8 before losing to Stoughton, 40-37, last Saturday. Here’s a recap of the Eagles’ week: • Wisconsin Dells 63, Sauk Prairie 42 — Alexis Atkinson led the Eagles with 14 points and Ava Brings added nine, but it wasn’t nearly enough. “This was the most frustrating game of the year,” Breunig said. “We came out with zero energy and dug ourselves in a deep hole early.   “The girls know this is not the product we expect to see on the court each night and I hope it will make us better for the stretch run. I give the Dells a ton of credit for turning us over, hitting shots, and playing solid all night long.” • Sauk Prairie 56, Baraboo 35 — Erelyn Apel had 16 points, Mallory Hartwig added 14 and Alexis Atkinson had eight to power the Eagles. Sauk Prairie assured itself of at least a .500 conference finish with the win. “We had moments of playing great here and moments we need to get better in,” Breunig said. “We did a nice job of creating shots for ourselves by running our offense.   “Our defense was pretty solid holding them to 35 points. A win in the conference is never easy, so getting one to at least assure a .500 record was important.” • Stoughton 40, Sauk Prairie 37 — The Eagles dropped a heartbreaker at Stoughton last Saturday. “This game was symbolic of the season so far,” Breunig said. “We do some great stuff and build a lead and then struggle to score. Any time we hold a team under 40 we should be able to win, but that was not the case here.   “The frustrating part was we pounded the ball inside early and got buckets or free throws and kind of went away from it as the game progressed. We would score on back-to-back possessions running our stuff, then we would dictate off our offense and try to go 1-on-1, which is not our style or strength.”