Sports Wrapups: March 2

Franklin boys basketball

One day before wrapping up the regular season with a 68-61 victory against visiting Racine Horlick, Franklin picked up a pair of wins against Racine Park.

The Sabers were awarded two forfeit victories when the Racine Unified School District completed its investigation into the truancy of some members of the Panthers and found that ineligible players participated in 10 of the team's 21 victories, including seven in conference play.

With those additional wins and the one over Horlick, Franklin finished 9-5 in the Southeast Conference.

In the regular-season finale, Nick Romanowski (17), Matt Krueger (15) and Paul Lincoln (10) all reached double digits in points for the Sabers. Romanowski went over the 500-point mark for the season - he entered the postseason with 501 - and finished as the NOW coverage area's leading regular-season scorer at 22.8 points per game, edging Whitnall's Will Pelkofer's 22.3 average.

Whitnall boys basketball

The Falcons boys basketball team closed out the regular season with a three-game winning streak, including a 52-24 blowout win at Greendale on Feb. 24.

Will Pelkofer scored a game-high 24 points and Stephen Pelkofer added 15 for the victors, who outscored the Panthers, 36-12, in the second and third quarters combined.

It was the 15th time this season Will Pelkofer scored 20 or more points this season.

Whitnall finished 11-6 in conference.

Whitnall wrestling

The Falcons were surprisingly shut out at the WIAA Individual State Tournament Feb. 25 and 26.

Senior Zach Noel (44-7), making his third state-tournament appearance, lost his only match, 6-4, in overtime to D.C. Everest's Josh Dupuis at 130 pounds. Noel's tournament run was ended when Dupuis lost his next match.

Whitnall junior Kameron Bourgeois (41-9) went 0-2 at the tournament at 103. Bourgeois first suffered a 17-1 technical fall to Hartford Union's Bobby Nachreiner and then was edged, 7-4, by Brookfield East's Casey Dentino in a consolation wrestleback match.

Oak Creek girls basketball

A fast start at Racine Park on Friday paved the way to Oak Creek's fourth win in five games.

The Knights led their hosts, 30-7, at halftime and never let up in a 64-20 victory that bumped Oak Creek to 14-7 overall, 7-6 conference.

Ashley Luke outscored Park herself with 21 points and Cydney Weisflog added 10.

The Knights also routed Milwaukee Pulaski, 62-8, in a nonconference home game Feb. 23.

Maggie Wilke had 13 points and Adrianna Gomez and Meghan Koscieza had eight apiece for Oak Creek, which led, 39-0, at halftime.

The Knights finished the regular season at Kenosha Tremper on Wednesday and will begin the WIAA Division 1 postseason as the fifth seed in the Whitefish Bay Sectional. Oak Creek hosts 12th-seeded Wauwatosa East at 7 p.m. Tuesday in a regional semifinal.

Franklin girls basketball

The Sabers made more 3-pointers than 2s in a 62-40 win at Racine Horlick on Friday.

Taylor Atkinson scored a game-high 16 points and Mariah Hill added 15, including four of her team's eight 3s.

The Sabers made just seven 2-pointers and in addition to their display from the 3-point arc, they did a lot of damage from the free-throw line (24-of-39).

Franklin led, 37-11, at halftime.

The Sabers wrap up the regular season at 7:30 p.m. today at Racine Park and then hosts 10th-seeded Whitnall at 7 p.m. Tuesday in a regional semifinal. Franklin is seeded seventh.

Greendale girls basketball

A nonconference showdown that featured two of the top scorers in the NOW area - Greendale's Mary Merg and Germantown's Eliza Wortman - went in favor of both Wortman and her Warhawks on Feb. 26.

Wortman scored a game-high 29 points in her team's 69-56 victory. Merg scored 26, including six of the Panthers' nine 3-pointers.

Wortman began this week second in the NOW area with 16.7 points per game; Merg was tied for fourth with 15.8.

On Friday, Merg had her eight-game string of double-digit points snapped - she finished with nine - but it did not matter as the Panthers (13-7, 11-5) rebounded to beat host Whitnall, 44-27.

Lauren Piotrowski had a game-high 15 and Kelsey Pohlmann also scored nine for Greendale, which outscored its host, 17-0, in the third quarter after the two teams entered halftime tied at 20-20.

The sixth-seeded Panthers begin the WIAA postseason with a home game with 11th-seeded Racine Park at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Oak Creek boys basketball

The Knights closed the regular season without a win in the Southeast Conference and 18 losses in their final 19 regular season games after suffering a 67-48 loss to visiting Racine Park on Feb. 25.

Nick Stout had 14 points and Danny Rajchel had 12 for the Knights, who were outscored, 33-13, in the second and third quarters combined.

Oak Creek finished 0-14 in the SEC.

Greendale boys basketball

The Panthers closed out the regular season with their 13th loss in 14 games, this one a 52-24 defeat to visiting Whitnall on Feb. 24.

David Jordan and Jacob Merk scored eight points each for Greendale, which finished 3-14 in the Woodland Conference Black Division.

Whitnall girls basketball

After playing host Greendale for a half Friday, Whitnall was outscored, 17-0, in the third quarter and lost, 44-27, the Falcons sixth straight loss.

No player had more than four points for Whitnall (5-14, 5-11).

The teams were tied at 20-20 at halftime.

Whitnall finished the regular season at Greenfield on Wednesday and takes on host Franklin in a regional semifinal at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

- David Cote

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this story.