 1999/2000 Game ResultsLast Updated: December 17, 1999 |
December 5, 1999
Chippewa Falls Girls
- Coach: Jeff Olson, 3rd year (9-32). Overall: 7th year (91-63).
- 1998-99 record: 5-9 Big Rivers, 8-13 overall.
- Returning starters (5): SENIORS--Tina Balsiger, 5-7, G; Jo Burdick, 6-0, F; Becca Spaeth, 6-1, C. JUNIORS--Danni Borneman, 5-1, G; Angie Ott, 6-0, G.
- Other letterwinners (1): SENIORS--Stephanie Hayes, 5-6, G.
- Newcomers (5): JUNIORS--Andrea Olson, 5-5, G; Amy Reit, 5-10, F. SOPHOMORES--Tara Johnson, 5-9, F; Natalie Licht, 5-9, F; Sally Welbourn, 5-7, G.
- Strengths: Height and experience among starters … team unity.
- Weaknesses: Lack of height and experience among reserves.
- Coach's comment: "We hope to crack that top four -- with the Eau Claire schools, Menomonie and Hudson. The Big Rivers has to be one of the strongest conferences in the state."
-- Jeff Olson
Spaeth, Ott stay in sync
Pair ready to help Cardinals make noise in BRC
By Steve Beaudry
CHIPPEWA FALLS -- Some twins have it. Dionne Warwick and her psychic friends on cable TV claim to have it.
It might not be ESP, but Becca Spaeth and Angie Ott have a chemistry between them that some would claim to be supernatural.
"It's like I can read her mind," the 6-foot Ott said of the 6-foot-1 Spaeth, a fellow starter on the Chippewa Falls girls basketball team for the past two seasons. "A lot of times, I know what she's going to do before she does it.
"Sometimes I won't throw a pass to her ... I'll throw it where I know she's going to be."
Unlike twins, the bond between Ott and Spaeth hasn't come naturally. They've had to nurture and develop it. They've played basketball together since they were in the sixth grade. They provided the Chippewa Falls volleyball team with one of the Big Rivers Conference's most fearsome 1-2 punches over the past two seasons.
And, last summer, they were two of nine area players who formed a team to play in a basketball tournament in Oregon City, Ore.
"It seems like we're with each other all the time," Spaeth said.
To Cardinals basketball opponents over the past two seasons, Ott and Spaeth have been partners in crime -- arsonists who light up scoreboards and fill up scorebooks. Now, according to Spaeth, they've got a team capable of filling up the win column.
"This is our year to shine," said Spaeth, an All-BRC pick last season who averaged 12.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game.
Spaeth, Ott and senior guard Tina Balsiger are the lone returning members of Chippewa Falls' 1997-98 team which staggered to a 1-20 record. The Cardinals spent last season caulking holes in their lineup and improved their record to 8-13.
Most notable in the fixup job was the emergence of Danni Borneman, a 5-1 fireplug of a point guard called up from the junior varsity team at midseason. Her arrival enabled Chippewa Falls coach Jeff Olson to shift Ott from point guard to a wing position and make better use of her shooting skill.
With 6-foot senior forward Jo Burdick and 5-6 senior guard Stephanie Hayes also returning to the lineup this year, Chippewa Falls is overflowing with experience. And confidence. And enthusiasm.
And they have a coach intent on tempering in their exuberance.
"The bottom line is we've been a lower-division team in the Big Rivers for a long, long time," said Olson, who is entering his third season as Chippewa Falls' head coach. "We've made nice strides these last couple years.
"But, in a conference as tough as this one, we've got a lot more to do before we can say we deserve to be mentioned in the same sentences with the Hudsons and the Menomonies and the Norths and the Memorials.
"I'd like to think this is our year to crack that big four. But it will take a lot of work on our part."
Spaeth says she and her teammates welcome the challenge.
"What's been so cool is that, for so long, girls basketball has been an afterthought in Chippewa Falls," she said. "It's taken a back seat to a lot of other sports. But our group is starting to get people excited about our sport.
"We feel like we've started something special. We want to follow through, go out with a bang and keep it rolling."