Sports Wrap-Ups: Jan. 19

Franklin's Nick Romanowski scored 26 points Friday, but it was not enough to overcome the boys basketball team's slow start against the conference-leading Racine Park Panthers.

The visiting Sabers were outscored, 21-10, by the undefeated Panthers (13-0, 5-0) in the first quarter and never recovered in a 72-61 loss.

Park's Tre Edwards (24) and Josh Cameron (23) combined for 47 points to help deal the Sabers their second straight conference loss and fall to 6-5 overall, 4-2 conference.

Three nights earlier, Franklin outscored host Pius, 17-9, in the fourth quarter and held off the Popes, 51-38, in a nonconference game.

Romanowski led all scorers with 21 points while Josh Marino chipped in 10.

Oak Creek girls basketball

With leading scorer Angela Rodriguez sidelined with an ankle injury, Ashley Luke stepped up and helped the Knights to a split.

Luke led all scorers with 15 points as Oak Creek posted a 46-35 home win over Kenosha Tremper on Friday, a win that bumped the Knights to 8-3 overall, 3-2 conference.

Luke led the Knights with 10 points three nights earlier in a 49-36 nonconference home loss to Pius XI.

Tierra and Terri Bender of Pius combined for 23 points, including 11 free throws.

Rodriguez was injured in warm-ups just before the opening tip but was expected back this week after missing two games.

Franklin gymnastics

Franklin utilized its highest score of the season to defeat Kenosha and Racine in its final home meet Jan. 16.

The Sabers' 142.425 topped Kenosha's 138.275 and Racine's 121.075.

Franklin had three first-place winners: Jenna Renner on vault (9.2), Lauren Zurowski on floor (9.275) and Becky Schultz on balance beam (9.4).

The top-ranked Sabers' Melanie Pearson took first place in the all-around and on vault to lead her team to a win over Waukesha, 139.45-127.25, Jan.13.

Zurowski and Shannon Hein tied for first on vault with 8.8s.

Greendale girls basketball

Greendale extended its conference winning streak to five games with a 48-41 victory over visiting South Milwaukee on Friday.

The Panthers' 3-point shooting (six made 3s) and ability to get to the free throw line (12-for-23) was the difference.

Greendale's Mary Merg knocked down four 3s, led her squad with 17 points and kept the Panthers tied for second-place behind undefeated New Berlin Eisenhower.

Nine Panthers scored in a 47-30 road win over Shorewood on Jan. 12.

Greendale's strong second and third quarters closed out the game early, as the Panthers outscored the winless Greyhounds (0-12), 29-15, during that stretch.

Oak Creek swimming

After finally snapping their long Southeast Conference losing skid, the Knights could not wait to start a winning streak.

Oak Creek won six events en route to a 100-85 home win over Kenosha Tremper on Jan. 12, one week after ending a 37-meet league drought with a win over Racine Horlick.

The Knights won all three relays. Jake Wergin, Sam Vissers, Evan Koch and Aaron Sova won the 200-yard medley (1 minutes, 53.8 seconds); Zach Dlugi, Zack Kaestner, Jake Howell and Eric Fleishman claimed the 200 freestyle (1:43.1) and Wergin, Vissers, Koch and Kaestner took the 400 free (3:45.08).

Also victorious were Derrick Ziegler in diving (154.50 points), Koch in the 500 free (5:36.45) and Vissers in the 100 backstroke (1:08.00).

Franklin swimming

Josh Lefeber won four times in the Sabers' 104-82 victory over Racine Park on Jan. 12.

Lefeber won the 200 individual medley (2:10.89) and 500 free (5:12.86). He also swam the second leg of the winning medley relay (1:59.14) and anchored the victorious 200 free relay (1:39.78).

Franklin's win included five first-place finishers, five second-place efforts and four third-place times.

Franklin girls basketball

The Sabers improved their conference record to 2-3 (6-6 overall) by beating hapless Racine Park (1-11, 0-5), 60-25, at home Friday.

Good balance proved to be the winning formula as three Sabers - Nikki Dailey (13), Mariah Hill (13) and Taylor Atkinson (10) - scored 10 or more points.

Franklin's second half sealed the victory; the Sabers outscored Park, 36-10.

Greendale co-op hockey

The Greendale Ice Force rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the Whitefish Bay co-op, 4-3, at the Kern Center on Saturday.

Greendale's Brett Pokrzewinski snapped a 3-3 tie with his second goal of the game with 6:07 left in the second period. He finished with two goals and two assists.

Whitefish Bay took a 2-0 lead but a pair of goals by Marques Surita and Pokrzewinski's first tally gave Greendale the edge.

Before losing to Catholic Memorial, 9-1, in Brookfield on Jan. 14, the Ice Force (7-9) beat Oconomowoc, 3-2, behind one goal each from Surita, Cory Chapp and Michael Yablong at the Nagawaukee Ice Arena on Jan. 12.

Franklin wrestling

The Sabers had no trouble with host Racine Park, posting a 56-9 win Jan. 14.

Among Franklin's winners were Sam Kortes at 125, Chris Clapper at 140, Adam Stelloh at 145 and Adam Langowski at 160.

Thanks to a postponement of a match with Kenosha Tremper on Jan. 7, the dual with Park was the Sabers' first Southeast Conference match in nearly a month.

Greendale boys basketball

Greendale's nearly month-long losing streak reached six games with two more losses.

Isaiah Rodriguez scored a game-high 25 points and two other Rockets reached double digits as host South Milwaukee posted a 66-47 win Friday.

David Jordan and Cordney Wren had nine points each for Greendale, which fell to 4-10 overall (2-8 conference) and has not won since beating St. Thomas More, 39-38, Dec. 22.

Greendale almost ended its streak but fell short, 57-51, to visiting Shorewood on Jan. 12.

Free-throw shooting was significant. Shorewood managed to shoot 24-for-34 from the line while Greendale went just 7-for-21.

Oak Creek wrestling

Brian Steinbrink's technical fall over Oak Creek's Bryce Agg at 215 pounds snapped a 31-31 tie and gave host Kenosha Tremper a 36-31 win in the final match of the night Jan. 14.

Oak Creek rallied by winning the four previous matches, including pins by Mitch Dolan (171) and Kyle Wey (189) that tied the score at 31-31.

Oak Creek's Matt Blower earned a major decision at 125 and Seth LaBodda (112, overtime), Nick Nommensen (152) and Josh Regazzi (160) won decisions. Jeremiah Butler lost a double overtime match to Tremper's Bryan Fuhr at 140.

Whitnall wrestling

The Falcons won three of the first five matches but could not hold their 16-6 advantage and lost, 30-27, to the Wauwatosa co-op at Wauwatosa West on Jan. 13.

Whitnall (3-4 conference) took a 10-0 lead with a pin by Demetrius Wall at 112 in the first match of the night and a 13-2 major decision by Ruban Garcia over Patrick Campbell at 119.

But the Falcons managed only a forfeit at 140, a pin by Nathan Barnhart at 189 and a tech fall by Kameron Borgeois at 103 the rest of the way as Wauwatosa won eight of the remaining 11 matches.

Whitnall girls basketball

The injuries, and now the losses, continue to pile up for the Falcons.

With Rachel Serio already sidelined with cracked ribs, Kalina Al-Mohareb injured her ankle in practice the day before Whitnall's 58-27 home loss to undefeated New Berlin Eisenhower on Friday.

Al-Mohareb had tallied a game-high 14 points in her team's 48-33 loss at Cudahy two days before the injury. She missed seven weeks earlier in the season with a hip injury.

So far, five different players have missed at least one week of the season due to injury or illness for the Falcons, who have lost four straight games to drop to 4-8 overall, 4-6 conference.

Greendale/St. Thomas More wrestling

AJ Sciano went 2-2 with a pair of pins to take fourth at the Racine Case Invite on Saturday.

Sciano, Greendale/St. Thomas More's 215-pounder, opened the tournament with a pin of Nicolet's Jon McKay in 1:44. Following a loss, Sciano rebounded to pin West Allis Hale's Jeremy Shimetz in 3:05. Sciano, who began this week 16-8, was then pinned in the third-place match by Union Grove's Evan Schattner.

The co-op's Chandler Gayan (145) was fifth and Devyn Glad (130), Tim Davis (140) and Nick Savaglia (189) were sixth.

In a 72-8 loss at New Berlin on Jan. 13, Greendale's Sam Walton (125) and Davis tallied major decisions.

Oak Creek boys basketball

Oak Creek's losing streak reached eight games with a 51-42 loss at Kenosha Tremper on Friday.

Tyler Magyar (11) and Danny Rajchel (10) combined for 21 points for the Knights, who dropped to 2-9 overall, 0-5 conference as of Monday.

Wild hockey

The Wild (0-12) got two goals from Ryan Regeth and one from Stephen Dahl, but it was not enough to snap a season-long losing streak that reached 12 games with a 4-3 loss to Manitowoc on Friday at the Pettit Ice Center.

- David Cotey and Dan Deutschendorf