I wanted to just take a second and tip my hat to the New Berlin West boys and girls basketball teams.
The boys - coached by Jeff Lewiston - are 13-4 in the Woodland Conference Blue Division - and 16-5 overall with a bye this week before the seeding meetings on Saturday. The Vikings play Brown Deer at home in the finale on Wednesday next week.
They trailed St. Thomas More (13-3, 15-5) and Pewaukee (12-3, 14-5) in the race. Either STM or the Pirates will get another loss, since they meet in the finale.
Lewiston has one all-conference-type player in Dan Sidesky (20.6 PPG), but his guys have stepped up. Darin Sowinski has given him a good secondary scorer and Matt Rink and Jordan McKeon have played well. Austin Fritz, Mitch Haag and Kevin Marx have also had their moments. Sophomore Andrew Knoll scored six points in a romp over Shorewood Tuesday and played some important minutes.
Corey Scheel's girls are 13-3 in second place (14-5 overall) behind Pewaukee (12-2, 14-4) and ahead of Cudahy (12-3, 15-3). Beth Ver Haag, a 5-11 junior forward, leads the Vikes now that 6-2 Stephanie Turner is done for the year.
The Vikings have seven players averaging between 3.6 and 6.9 points behind Ver Haag and they have taken turns stepping up down the stretch.
After a bye on Friday, West girls play a non-conference game against Catholic Memorial on Tuesday, at Brown Deer (5-10) and STM (2-13) at home to close out the year.
Both Lewiston and Scheel should get some kudos for the job they have done.