Girls Basketball Division 5 Preseason Top 10

Pacelli won 21 games a season ago, won the CWC-South conference title, and a regional championship. The Cardinals eventually fell to Assumption, a team they’ll have to get by in their own half sectional this season. Head coach Allison Smaglik returns four double-digit scorers including WBCA All-State selection Jaedyn Zdroik, who averaged 14.4 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 8.1 assists per game as a sophomore. Madelyn Pionek, Ella Van Order, and Haylee Cisewski are all proven scorers and are proof of the balanced scoring attack the Cardinals will field this season.

Argyle/Pecatonica has won 48 games over the past two seasons under the helm of head coach Jen Wellnitz. Nearly the entire roster returns from a group that has done battle with Albany/Monticello in the Six Rivers-East the past few seasons, though Albany/Monticello has moved up to Division 4. Senior Kylie Butler is a Milwaukee commit and one of three double-digit scorers back for the co-op. Juniors Brooke Wellnitz and Avari Steiner are both playmakers with the ball in their hands. Wellnitz’s group has plenty of experience and know what it takes to get to the state tournament, having made it there in 2023-24.

Assumption is one of the powerhouse programs in girls basketball in our state. The Royals have been to seven state tournaments in the past 13 seasons, including winning the Division 5 title a season ago. Despite losing four starters to graduation, WBCA All-State selection and Augustana commit Jordyn Jaglinski is back to lead head coach Ryan Klein’s group. The Royals program has been built to replace production and has done a great job developing players within the system. That fact, paired with a small group of returning contributors, and Assumption will continue to be a tough out in Division 5.

Barneveld competes in one of the toughest small school conferences in the state, the Six Rivers-East, a conference which has had a team compete at state every year 16 of the last 20 seasons, including two each of the past two seasons. Barneveld fell in the Division 5 state championship game and figure to be a contender to get back to the Resch in 2026. Jim Myers is the winningest coach in girls basketball in the state with 721 wins and counting and in his second stint back with the Golden Eagles, he’ll rely on WBCA All-State selection Izabel Durst to lead a Barneveld group that lost just three players to graduation.

The Crusaders have been an annual contender to make a deep run in the playoffs, but surprisingly the program is still looking for its first trip to the state tournament. Head coach Tyler Thomas will need to replace his top two scorers from a season ago, but the entirety of the roster returns beyond those two. Samantha Gilchrist and Megan Walz are the lone returning starters, but both averaged over nine points per game. The experience of the remaining roster is a big reason why Lutheran is considered a top team in the state coming into the season.

Springs went undefeated in the Northern Lights conference, won three games overall, and made it to a sectional a season ago. One player graduated from that group. The top four scorers were all freshmen last season for head coach Ashley Nelson which is promising not just for this season, but the next two. Claire Beerntsen, Halle Johnson, Alyssa Fossum, and Mazzy Johnson make up that quartet and with a year of added strength and skill development, make the Eagles a team to watch in the northern part of the state.

The Cardinals fell to state runner-up Barneveld in the sectional final a season ago but are locked and loaded for another deep run this year. The Dairyland has a handful of solid teams back this season including Blair-Taylor, Eau Claire Immanuel, and CFC. The battles of those teams each week this season is going to be a fun few conference races to watch. Head coach Dave Hazuga will have junior and WBCA All-State selection Avery Glenz to lean on as she averaged 18.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game as a sophomore. Aliza Kulig, Maddea Brown, and Avaya Zwiefelhofer are three more starters back for a Cardinals team that will have a tough sectional to get through if they want to make it to the Resch.

We just mentioned how stacked the Dairyland conference will be this upcoming season, and back-to-back ranked teams is a testament to that. Jesse Lien leads a group into 2025-26 that returns all but one contributor. The Wildcats lost by three points in a sectional to Dairyland foe Eleva-Strum a season ago, but avoid the Cardinals this season as the two are in different sectionals. Andrewa Waldera, Andi Beck, and Samantha Aguilar were all double-digit scorers a season ago and complement each other on the hardwood.

Fall River fell in a regional final a season ago and return nearly every contributor from that 19-win squad here in 2025-26. Emma Sampson and Natalie Fietz are a pair of 5-11 seniors that can dominate the game with their scoring ability, rebounding, and versatility on the defensive side. Head coach Jim Doolittle has amassed over 450 wins in his career as a high school basketball coach in our state and knows how to put together a winning team.

Webster won 23 games a season ago and will have to compete with a very talented Shell Lake team for Lakeland-West supremacy in 2025-26. Over 90% of the production is back this season for head coach Max Anderson. Juniors Reese Grindell and Avery Hetfeld were the top two scorers as sophomores and are part of a group that returns seven players that scored in double figures at least once last season. The Tigers are in a half sectional with Solon Springs and the bottom half has contenders from the Dairyland conference as well as a few others.

Colton Wilson serves a contributor and member of Bound Wisconsin. Wilson has worked in high school sports for 10 years, covering the state of Wisconsin in various sports. He has had roles in content creation, boys basketball coverage, director of events, and data management. Wilson is a graduate of Richland Center High School where he will currently serves as the Varsity Reserve boys basketball coach, entering his eleventh year coaching at the high school level. Wilson also has officiated basketball and organized youth tournaments for multiple years. You can follow him on Twitter at @ColtonWilson23 or reach him at [email protected].