Congratulations to the Appleton North Girls Basketball team on winning their first state title last night versus an incredible De Pere team! The Lady Lightning were able to beat the Fond du Lac Redbirds 49 to 34. Paige Schabo led the way with 16 points and seven rebounds, while Kari Brekke totaled 13 points, five rebounds, and four assists. In an earlier article this year, head coach Joe Russom and junior Kari Brekke both expected a deep run in the state playoffs, and they were right. The Lady Lightning were able to exceed those expectations by going undefeated this season, and, of course, capping off an amazing season with a state title.

After the game, Brekke commented on the win stating, “It feels amazing. Winning it all this year feels pretty dang good.”  

Brekke also mentioned last year’s heartbreaking loss in the state semi-finals, “That loss really fueled us in the offseason. We knew that [as a team] we could make it back, we just had to stay healthy and play up to our potential.”

As the best Girls’ Basketball season in North’s history comes to an end, most of this season’s players are returning to the team next year as most of them are juniors and sophomores currently.  It will be exciting to see if this great group of girls will be able to repeat as state champions next year!