Southern Lakes Newspapers All-Area players rank among state’s best
By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
Southern Lakes Newspapers released this year’s All-Area Basketball Team, which features two conference players of the year, including Kacie Carollo.
Carollo, a senior at Whitewater, earned Rock Valley Conference Player of the Year en route to a similar honor from SLN.
Additionally, the All-Area team consists of two Associated Press Honorable Mention All-State honorees, Angela Slattery from Union Grove as well Wilmot’s McKenna Johnson.
Listed below are capsule profiles of the Southern Lakes Newspapers 2021 All-Area Girls Basketball Team. Southern Lakes Newspapers’ coverage area consists of 15 schools in Kenosha, Racine, Walworth and Waukesha counties.
Staff at SLN also picked a second team and honorable mention squad, which are listed beneath the first team capsules.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Kacie Carollo, senior, Whitewater
Carollo, a senior, finished her Whippets career with multiple Division 2 and 3 offers from coaches seeking her talent.
But the Whitewater senior plans to remain at home and attend the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where she will play under her coaching parents, Keri and Joe.
Carollo, named Rock Valley Conference Player of the Year, completed her senior season with 22 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.5 assists per game for the Whippets.
Check out this week’s editions of Southern Lakes Newspapers publications for a full feature on the 2020-21 Player of the Year.
FIRST TEAM
Angela Slattery, senior, Union Grove
Slattery received consideration for Player of the Year honors. The senior guard/forward earned the Southern Lakes Conference’s Most Valuable Player honors this past season. Slattery also earned Division 2 Honorable Mention All-State honors from the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association as well as Associated Press Honorable Mention All-State, and was voted by her teammates to be the Broncos’ MVP.
Slattery averaged 16.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 2.1 assists per game for the Broncos. Union Grove finished 20-4 overall and 13-1 in SLC play to claim a share of the conference title with Lake Geneva Badger.
Slattery helped the Broncos win at least a share of the SLC title in three of her four years at Union Grove. Slattery also departs the program as the Broncos’ second-leading career scorer, with a total of 1,173 points.
“Angela was the only senior on our team,” Union Grove coach Rob Domagalski said. “She was our true leader, and only captain.”
Slattery will attend Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota, where she will study computer science and play on the basketball team.
McKenna Johnson, freshman, Wilmot
Johnson, a freshman, makes the first of what might be a few more appearances on the Southern Lakes Newspapers All-Area team.
The 5-foot-8 guard averaged 18.6 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.5 steals and 2.6 assists per game. Wilmot finished 12-11 overall this past season. The Panthers went 6-8 in SLC play and finished fifth.
Johnson led the Panthers in scoring in all but five of the games in which she played. Johnson broke her own school record with 40 points Feb. 12 in a 71-51 Division 2 regional semifinal win against Delavan-Darien. Her 40-point performance supplanted her previous record of 39 established in a Dec. 28 61-48 Dec. 28 non-conference win against Watertown.
“I was spoiled this year to be able to coach McKenna,” Wilmot coach Jerrod Boyd said. “She is one of the smoothest players I have ever coached or seen.”
Macie Todd, senior, Badger
Like Slattery, Todd also received consideration for Player of the Year honors. Todd earned First Team All-Southern Lakes Conference honors after averaging 15.2 points. 11.1 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game during the winter season.
Todd leaves Badger as the school’s second-leading all-time rebounder with 638. As a junior she set Badger’s single-season rebound record (285).
“I think her best attribute as a player is her versatility and her ability to impact the game in so many ways,” Badger coach David Jooss said. “Macie’s combination of skill, athleticism, and relentless effort rebounding the ball was exactly what we needed from her to win back-to-back conference championships.”
Badger, which finished 15-4 overall this past season, went 13-1 in SLC play to share the conference title with Union Grove.
Todd plans to attend the University of Wisconsin La-Crosse this fall and will compete in track and field.
Dillyn Ivey, senior, Elkhorn
Ivey, a senior, earned First Team All-SLC honors for the Elks this past season. Elkhorn finished 9-13 overall and 5-9 in the SLC, good for sixth place.
Ivey averaged a double-double of 15 points and 13.3 rebounds per game this past season, and earned the Elks’ Co-Most Valuable Player honors. Ivey posted a double-double in all but one conference contest.
Ivey finished with 28 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks Feb. 9 in a 54-40 WIAA Division 1 regional semifinal victory at Badger, which is one of her more dominant efforts of the season.
“Dillyn’s best attribute as a player is her size,” Elks coach Jeff Brown said of the 6-foot-4 Ivey. “She could always use that to her advantage.
“There were times when other teams were in the correct spots to stop her, but they couldn’t, because of her height.
Julia Klein, junior, Catholic Central
Klein opened the season with 16 points and 27 rebounds Dec. 12 in a 47-30 loss at Metro Classic Conference foe St. Thomas More in Milwaukee, but finished her junior campaign by averaging a double-double of 12.7 points and 12.3 rebounds per game in conference play.
Klein finished 13th among Wisconsin basketball players in rebounds this season and finished second in the Greater Metro in blocked shots. Klein also set the Lady Hilltoppers single-game scoring record of 36 points in the team’s first playoff game – a 75-41 win at Burlington over Juda in a WIAA Division 5 regional contest.
Catholic Central finished 5-19 overall and went 3-13 in the Metro Classic Conference. Klein, a junior, earned Second Team all-conference honors.
SECOND TEAM
Emma Scurek, senior, East Troy
Sophia Rampulla, sophomore, Union Grove
McKenna Williams, junior, Delavan-Darien
Torie Loppnow, senior, Waterford
Ellie Reynolds, junior, Westosha Central
Honorable mention
Big Foot: Lydia Larson, junior
Burlington: Anika Preusker, junior; Ella Clapp, sophomore
Catholic Central: Kayla Loos, sophomore; Madeline von Rabenau, junior
Delavan-Darien: Rylee Crull, sophomore; Jennifer Ruesch, senior
East Troy: Morgan Golabowski, senior; Riley Pluess, junior
Elkhorn: Anastasia Grochowski, senior; Skylar Harlan, senior
Lake Geneva: Ashlyn Welch, senior; Ava Schulz, senior
Mukwonago: Taylor Rogosienski, junior; Mara McAdams, senior
Palmyra-Eagle: Ally Czeshinski, senior; Ally Frederick, senior
Union Grove: Sydney Ludvigsen, sophomore; Emmy Pettit, junior
Whitewater: Catherine Skindingsrude, senior; Kindyl Kilar, sophomore
Waterford: Meghan Schmidt, senior; Emma Henningfeld, junior
Westosha Central: Reese Rynberg, sophomore; Ki Anderson, junior
Williams Bay: Braiya Nolan, senior; Margaret Higgins, sophomore
Wilmot: Sophia Parisi, senior; Kyleigh Pittman, senior
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