Boyceville’s 8th grade girls finish 11th in Wisconsin State Invitational Championship basketball tourney
THE BOYCEVILLE 8th Grade girls’ basketball team. Pictured from Left to right are: Coach Jon Talmage, Brooklyn Talmage, Sydney Lunderville, Emma Harvey, Maddie Nelson, Lydia Day, Brielle “Breezy” Jeske, Blake Jeske, and Coach Denise Jeske. —photo submitted
The Boyceville Bulldogs 8th grade girls basketball team participated in the Wisconsin State Invitational Championship Tournament hosted by Stevens Point on April 6 and 7, 2024. This elite tournament, which is organized by The Great Northwest Basketball League, brought together 35 of the top community-based 8th grade girls basketball teams from across the State of Wisconsin to play either 6 or 7 games over the two-day weekend. State Champions were crowned in three divisions: Large Division, Medium Division and Small Division based on the enrollment of the high school into which each team feeds.
Shullsburg defeated Lancaster 49 to 26 to win the Small Division Championship. Boyceville held their own in the bracket winning two games and falling short of a couple nail-biters by only a few points. The Boyceville Bulldogs 8th grade team finished 11th in their tournament field and 12th out of 32 schools in the league overall. The All-Tournament team for the Small Division consisted of: Hadley Alderson (Aquinas), Hailey Alt (Shullsburg), Elly Gardner (Columbus Catholic), Natalie Hackbarth (Luther), Avery Ludescher (Fall Creek), Lexie Olmstead (Lancaster), McKinley Russell (Shullsburg), Brooklyn Talmage (Boyceville), Reece Weir (Gilman) and Adaline Woodworth (Shullsburg).
The Wisconsin State Invitational Championship Tournament is an annual event, held in February, March or April of each year, pitting the top community-based teams in the State of Wisconsin against each other. The tournament is organized by size of communities, much like the WIAA state high school tournaments, so that top teams can compete on a level playing field with other programs their size.
This tournament concluded the Great Northwest Basketball League career for these outstanding 8th grade athletes: #10 Brooklyn Talmage, #12 Maddie Nelson, #13 Lydia Day, #15 Emma Harvey, #21 Blake Jeske, and #33 Sydney Lunderville. Two-time, All-Tournament team recipient and sixth grader, Brielle Jeske, also supported the team of six throughout the season.
The Boyceville Bulldogs have been coached by Denise Jeske since 2017 with Jon Talmage as assistant coach for the past few years. Denise is credited for her time and commitment in developing this team for the past 7 years which undoubtedly contributed to their undefeated school ball seasons for 7th and 8th grade years.