Neillsville Girls Basketball Wins 2nd State Title

Saturday, March 14th, 2026 -- 4:25 PM

The Neillsville Warrior Girls Basketball Team was victorious over the Albany/Monticello Space Stallions 43 to 40 Saturday at the Resch Center in Green Bay to win the Division 4 state title.

After a non scoring, back and forth opening 2 and a half minutes, the Neillsville Warriors got on the board first with an offensive rebound and putback by Eden Marg. The Warriors increased their lead to 7 points with just under 5 minutes to go in the 1st half. Both teams then went cold from the floor exchanging missed shots and turnovers. With under 2 minutes to go in the half, Albany/Monticello's Annie Olson hit a 3 pointer to cut the lead to 4 but the Warriors fought back and take a 7 point lead to the locker room at 20 to 13.

The opening of the 2nd half saw Albany/Monticello go on a 10-0 run in the first 6 and a half minutes of the half. Again, it was Eden Marg making the layup for the Warriors to get back within 1. Warriors took the lead back with 10:52 to go on a pair of Maddy Davel freethrows. The Space Stallions took the lead back at 26-24 with 10:02 remaining in the game with a an Annie Olson 3 pointer. Albany/Monticello tied the score two more times at 31 and 34 points with 3 pointers. The Warriors then went on a 7-0 run to lead 41-34 with 61 seconds remaining. Albany/Monticello was not ready to give up. The Space Stallions quickly went down the floor and Heidi Olson hit a 3 pointer with 52 seconds to go, forced a Warrior turnover and Annie Olson hit a second 3 pointer to make the score 41-40 in Neillsville's favor with 31 seconds on the clock. An Albany/Monticello defensive foul with 17 seconds to go put Davel at the line to shoot single bonus freethrows. Davel missed the front end shot and the Space Stallions got the rebound. The Warriors defense stiffened and Maddy Davel was able to force a turnover with 3 seconds and then was fouled with 8 tenths of a second on the clock. Davel sank both freethrows of the bonus situation to make the lead 3. After a Neillsville timeout, the Warriors Layla Walk was able to steal the Space Stallions inbound pass away as the clock expired to seal the championship for the Warriors

The Warriors were lead by Eden Marg with 16, Braelyn Anding added 10, and Tessa Warren added 6. The Warriors scored 19 of their points off Space Stallions turnovers. Warren was the leading rebounder for the Warriors with 14. 

The Warriors win their second girls basketball gold ball in school history in 7 appearances at state. Their 1st was back in 2012. They finish their season with a 29-1 record.   

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