Fans cheer on local teams at the state basketball tournament in Madison
MADISON, Wis. (WKBT) — Four local high schools punched their ticket to the Wisconsin State High School Basketball tournament and three of them were in Madison Thursday playing for their shot at a state title.
Plenty of fans from each of the schools made the trip too to cheer on their teams.
The line at the front door to the Kohl Center couldn’t open up fast enough Thursday for basketball fans from Prairie du Chien.
They’ve waited three decades to watch their Hawks play in the team’s 8th state tournament.
“It’s an incredible feeling for everybody, parents, community, the players and the school,” said fan Carrie Weber.
On St Patrick’s day, one Hawks fan was hoping for some luck wearing her husband’s 1979 PDC jersey. That year the team won its semifinal match-up and moved on for a shot at the state title.
“They’ve been waiting all this time to come back, so his jersey had to be here since he couldn’t be here today,” said Christine Panka.
After the PDC Hawks, GET’s Red Hawk nation filled the stands of the Kohl Center, hopeful to see their team’s perfect season stay in tact.
“Yeah we got school cancelled just to be here today because we’ve got a lot of fans obviously following us,” said G-E-T junior Alex Sacia.
“I’d say a good 80-90% of the kids are here today. We have a huge following and have all year, basketball means everything to our district right now,” said G-E-T senior Reed Holliday.
Once the Division 3 schools cleared out, Division 4 Aquinas fans filled the stands.
Blugold faithful were happy to be back in the tourney for the 8th time after a two year absence.
“Having your own classmates, your seniors come in here and have a great season and end up going to state, it’s an awesome feeling for everyone,” said Aquinas senior Tyler Young.
Unfortunately, none of the three teams are moving on to the title game Saturday. Here were the final scores:
PDC 43 Waupun 55
G-E-T 75 Xavier 82
Aquinas 46 Dominican 54
