2012 WIRSA State Basketball Tournament

The 2^nd Annual WIRSA Basketball Tournament was held February 24-25, 2012 at University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Fourteen men’s teams and six women’s team represented ten institutions from Wisconsin and Illinois.  Eighteen officials were hosted from eight institutions; all but two were from schools in Wisconsin.  Teams participated in pools of three and played two games to seed all teams into a single elimination tournament, pool play ended at noon on Saturday with some very exciting overtime games.  During the tournament draw, a trick shot contest was held.  Participants were given 30 seconds to attempt their shot as many times as they wanted, each round was cut in half until there was one winner declared.  Joe Vanden Avond, a student from UW-Madison, won and was awarded a $30 online gift certificate to Sconnie Nation. 

 Tournament games began at 12:45pm on Saturday with some very close games, championship games brought us to Marquette Gold against Eagles from UW-La Crosse, with Marquette Gold edging out the Eagles by a score of 46-34 in the women’s division.  The Marquette Gold will advance to represent the state at the Ohio State NCCS Regional Tournament on March 9-11, 2012.  The Women’s All-Tournament Team was made up of Katie Hanson from Marquette Blue, Emily Gerber from UW- Whitewater, Kaitlynn Eversoll from UW-La Crosse, Chantal Newman from Marquette Gold and tournament MVP Erica Hartke from Marquette Gold.   The men’s division was a closely fought game between Northwestern University and Afternoon Dwiight from UW-Stout.  Afternoon Dwiight beat Northwestern University by a score of 70-68 in a very close game.  Afternoon Dwiight will also advance to the Ohio State Regional.  The Men’s All-Tournament team was comprised of Zachary Manthe from WI Fearless, Adam Rubatt from Mid Cut Socks No Look Passes, Jordan Nelson and Daniel Pengra from Afternoon Dwiight, and tournament MVP Austin Nichols from Northwestern University.

 The eighteen officials that participated received instruction from a strong officials committee and met with Dave Kelliher on Friday afternoon.  They continued to be evaluated by the officials committee and volunteers from the Southern Wisconsin Officials Association throughout the tournament.  The women’s championship game was officiated by Peter Kissinger and Matt Olson from UW-Madison and Tim Windler from UW-Whitewater and the men’s championship game was officiated by Erik Aelling from UW-Whitewater, Anthony Rasmussen from UW-La Crosse, and Sayer Jackson from University of Illinois.  Scholarships to attend the Southern Wisconsin Officials Association Officiating Camp were awarded to Erik Aelling, Peter Kissinger, and Tim Windler.