Hartford takes home team of the week honors in our girls basketball rankings
AREA RANKINGS
Team (W-L), last week
Pewaukee (14-1), 1
Arrowhead (11-1), 2
Brookfield East (13-2), 3
Catholic Memorial (11-1), 4
Living Word Lutheran (13-0), 5
Muskego (12-2), 6
Homestead (9-4), 8
Hartford (13-2), 9
The Prairie School (11-3), 7
Kettle Moraine Lutheran (11-2), 10
Others considered: Dominican (11-4), Elkhorn (12-2), Germantown (11-4), Grafton (9-4), Kettle Moraine (10-4), Salam (12-2), Saint Thomas More (10-2), Wauwatosa East (12-2), Whitnall (8-4) and Whitefish Bay (11-3).
TEAM OF THE WEEK
Hartford
The Orioles were one of the few programs to play multiple games last week due to the snow storm that blew through the state and the North Shore Conference title contenders easily blew past both of their opponents in Slinger (72-45) and Nicolet (66-28). With the wins, Hartford moved to 13-2 on the season and 8-1 in conference play. They've won seven of their last eight games with the lone loss coming in an 85-78 shootout at the DeForest Holiday Classic with Iowa recruit Teagan Mallegni and 2022 Division 2 state qualifier McFarland.
Hartford has their own Division-I recruit in Makena Christian, who averaged 24 points per game last week and hit eight three-pointers. She's averaging 25.3 points on 48.6 percent shooting from the field this season with 9.4 rebounds. Christian and the Orioles have matchups against Oak Creek, Whitefish Bay and at West Bend West before their rematch with conference leader and defending NSC champion Homestead on Jan. 30 at home in what could potentially decide who wins the conference.
COMING UP
Oak Creek at Kenosha Tremper, 7 p.m. Thursday: Oak Creek (5-1) needs a win here against the Trojans to keep pace with Franklin, which is a perfect 6-0 in Southeast Conference play. Tremper tripped up against Kenosha Bradford last week and fell to 4-2, so a win here is also vital for them to keep pace in the title race.
Whitefish Bay at Hartford, 7 p.m. Thursday: Before Hartford can start thinking about its rematch at the end of the month with Homestead, it first must dispatch a good Whitefish Bay squad that's won 11 of its first 14 games and has an outside shot at the North Shore title itself sitting at 5-2 in NSC play.
Menomonee Falls at Germantown, 7 p.m. Friday: Germantown (6-2) is one of three teams with two losses or less in the Greater Metro (Wauwatosa East, 7-2; Brookfield East, 8-0) and needs a victory against Menomonee Falls (4-3) to keep up with the Spartans and Red Raiders in the chase for the conference crown.
Kettle Moraine Lutheran at Waupun, 7:15 p.m. Friday: Kettle Moraine Lutheran's first shot at Waupun didn't go so well in a 61-48 defeat on Dec. 1. The Broncos get another crack at the 2021 Division 3 state champions on Friday on the road to keep their East Central Conference championship chances alive. For KML, they'll have to take better care of the basketball this time around and not turn the ball over 24 times again while shooting 7-for-27 from long range.
Dominican at The Prairie School, 4 p.m. Saturday: The two best teams in the Metro Classic will square off for the second time this season after The Prairie School knocked off Dominican, 60-38, in the first matchup on Dec. 1. Jasonya "JJ" Barnes was sensational in the first matchup, flirting with a triple-double for the Hawks with 26 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. She missed some time this season, but returned this past weekend to score 33 points in a tight 82-80 loss to Grafton.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Hartford highlights this past week's action in area girls basketball
