Prep Chatter: Appleton North stays in FVA title contention with big win over Kimberly; plus high school basketball rankings and more

APPLETON − The Fox Valley Association boys basketball title chase got a bit more interesting Friday.

Appleton North's 71-59 victory over Kimberly, coupled with Oshkosh North's 78-68 loss to Neenah, left the Lightning within striking distance of the league crown. The win also snapped a short two-game losing skid for Appleton North.

"I think it was mostly that we stuck together a lot," North junior Abraham Tomori said of the win. "We didn’t beat down on each other when things were going wrong. In the beginning, we had a really big stretch where everybody was hitting shots. Then we hit a little lull and we stuck together through it.”

Appleton North (15-3 overall, 10-3 FVA) split with Oshkosh North (14-5, 11-2) during the regular season. Kimberly and surging Neenah are tied for third in the conference with 9-5 records.

Oshkosh North has league games against Kimberly (Friday), Hortonville (Feb. 13), Fond du Lac (Feb. 16, 19) and Appleton West (Feb. 22). Appleton North finishes with conference games against Appleton East on Tuesday and Fond du Lac on Friday as well as games against Kaukauna (Feb. 13), Appleton East (Feb. 16) and Neenah (Feb. 22).

Tomori led a balanced attack with 22 points against Kimberly. Will Sweeney added 14 points and six rebounds, with Grant Hardy chipping in 13 points and six rebounds. Nathan Ramus also had 10 rebounds for the Lightning.

North coach Chris Kellett said an FVA title would be nice, but he's more concerned about his team raising its level of play with the postseason in the near future.

"Our goal is just to keep fighting," Kellett said. "I'm not one who has goals when it comes to a conference championship. I honestly want us to play our best toward the end of the season. To me, the playoff run is just the most fun thing about the basketball season. We're so young. We're going to have lulls and teams get physical with us and sometimes we don't handle it that well mentally. And tonight we were able to keep our composure and leave the officials alone and focus on ourselves."

WIAA approves fifth division for girls volleyball, extra tournament day

The WIAA's Board of Control has approved a fifth division for girls volleyball as well as an extension of the boys and girls volleyball tournament from three to four days.

According to a news release, four recommendations put forth by the Volleyball Coaches Advisory Committees were approved. The Board of Control supported the plan that would put the largest 116 enrollments of schools with girls volleyball in Division 1 with the other four divisions splitting the remaining schools equally.

With the addition of four teams and three matches, the state tournament will expand to Wednesday afternoon with the boys volleyball quarterfinals. The boys semifinals will be played Thursday afternoon with the boys title match Friday evening.

The girls Division 5 and Division 4 semifinals are Thursday at 9 and 11:30 a.m. with the girls D1 quarterfinals on Thursday at 5 and 7:30 p.m. The D1 semifinals are Friday at 1 p.m. with the girls D3 and D2 semifinals at 8 and 10:30 a.m., respectively. The girls championship matches Saturday begin with D5 at 9 a.m. with D4 at 11:30 a.m., D3 at 2 p.m., D2 at 5 p.m. and D1 at 7:30 p.m.

Basketball livestream of the week: Neenah at Hortonville girls

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin will livestream one of the biggest Fox Valley Association matchups of the season when Neenah travels to Hortonville for a league showdown Friday. Hortonville leads the FVA by a game over second-place Neenah and Kimberly.

The livestream begins at 7:15 p.m. and can be seen on postcrescent.com, the Post-Crescent's Facebook page and on YouTube on the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin channel.

Green Bay Notre Dame girls basketball on Roundtable

Gracie Grzesk, Trista Fayta and Sydney Whitehouse of the three-time defending WIAA Division 2 state champion Notre Dame girls basketball team will be the featured guests on Varsity Roundtable this week.

The show can be seen Wednesday on postcrescent.com, the Post-Crescent's Facebook page or on the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin YouTube channel. Showtime is 7 p.m.

WIAA winter state tournament dates

Boys swimming and diving: Feb. 16-17, Waukesha South High School.

Boys and girls individual wrestling: Feb. 22-24, Kohl Center, Madison.

Boys and girls hockey: Feb. 29, March 1-2, Bob Suter's Capitol Ice Arena, Middleton.

Girls gymnastics: March 1-2, Wisconsin Rapids High School.

Team wrestling: March 1-2, UW Field House, Madison.

Girls basketball: March 7-9, Resch Center, Ashwaubenon.

Boys basketball: March 14-16, Kohl Center, Madison.

Area basketball rankings

*Teams are ranked "pound-for-pound" based on success against similar enrollments. Monday's results not included.

GIRLS

1, St. Mary Catholic (19-1): Zephyrs in command of Big East-North and are riding eight-game win streak. Team will play final three games at home over the next week. Next: Tuesday vs. Seymour.

2, Hortonville (16-4): Polar Bears stay firm at No. 2 and are atop the Fox Valley Association with a 14-1 record, 1½ games ahead of second-place Kimberly and Neenah. Next: Tuesday at Oshkosh North.

3, Kimberly (16-3): Papermakers bounce back from loss to Hortonville on Jan. 23 with wins over Appleton West (71-36), Oshkosh West (61-50) and Appleton North (58-54). Next: Tuesday at Fond du Lac.

4, Neenah (17-3): Rockets can't look past Appleton North on Monday or Appleton West on Tuesday with FVA showdown with Hortonville looming Friday. Next: Monday vs. Appleton North.

5, Xavier (14-6): Carsyn Stempa (12.4) leads the team in points. Hawks are half-game behind West De Pere in Bay Conference. Team averages nearly 14 steals a game. Next: Tuesday vs. Menasha.

Also: Freedom (15-5), Menasha (13-7), New London (15-5), Chilton (13-8), Appleton East (11-8), Wrightstown (11-8).

Butch gets jersey retired: 'A great night for Appleton West': Former Terrors basketball standout Brian Butch has his jersey retired

BOYS

1, Xavier (15-1): Hawks strengthen their lead in Bay Conference with 54-47 victory over second-place West De Pere on Thursday. Hawks have three league games this week: vs. Green Bay East on Monday, at Green Bay West on Tuesday and at home against New London on Friday. Next: Monday vs. Green Bay East.

2, Fox Valley Lutheran (16-1): Foxes move up two spots and have two-game lead in North Eastern Conference over Freedom. Team's lone loss was 63-60 defeat against Xavier on Jan. 6. Next: Tuesday vs. Denmark.

3, Appleton North (15-3): Lightning snap two-game losing streak with key 71-59 victory over Kimberly on Friday. Team has important three-game stretch over the next seven days: vs. Appleton East on Tuesday, at Fond du Lac on Friday and back at home against Kaukauna on Feb. 13. Next: Tuesday vs. Appleton East.

4, Brillion (17-2): Lions drop in rankings after 63-59 loss to Freedom on Thursday but rebound with 65-33 victory over Chilton on Friday. Next: Thursday at New Holstein.

5, Freedom (14-3): Irish notch impressive 63-59 road victory at Brillion. Standout freshman Donovan Davis having tremendous season and leads the team in scoring (17.1), rebounds (10.2) and assists (4.4). Next: Tuesday vs. Valders.

Others: Neenah (13-7), Kimberly (13-6), Kaukauna (13-6), New London (11-6), St. Mary Catholic (14-6), Clintonville (13-5), Manawa (11-8), Hortonville (10-8), Little Chute (11-8), Weyauwega-Fremont (10-9), Seymour (9-8).

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Appleton North firmly in FVA title contention with win over Kimberly