Altoona girls playing with confidence

Every week in our Inside Hoops package, both Joe Ziemer and I offer our top 10 rankings for boys and girls basketball, respectively. You can find my rankings here by scrolling down a bit.

Neillsville has held the top girls spot for quite a while, mainly because they have the best defensive team in the area and haven't come close to losing all season. Flambeau is behind them for similar reasons.

But while those two have been the area's best team all season, the area's best team over the past few weeks is a different story.

I'd have to go with Altoona. The Railroaders have won 10 straight games, including a 50-47 victory over Osseo-Fairchild which will probably give them a share of the Western Cloverbelt title. I've seen them play four times this season, and they just get better and better every night out.

I thought they were done when 6-foot-3 sophomore center Kate Hansen broke her collarbone, pretty much ending her season. And while the Rails may miss her inside presence, especially defensively, they've become a different team. They run. They aren't afraid to take shots, and more often than not they make them. They are aggressive on defense and take the fight to the other team.

I like their balance. They have the star power in Tiffany and Brittany Gregorich. The gritty play from senior Aimee Reyzer. Players that know their role like Brooke Richardson, Rachel Larson and Katie Hanson. And a deep bench. Freshman Bethany Reyzer, who was called up to the varsity midway through the season, isn't playing like a freshman at all. Monica Rasmussen gives them some spunk as well. She may be the smallest player on the court, but in every game I've seen she is not afraid whatsoever to sneak in on the boards and come away with a few.

They are definitely a team I'd keep my eye on in the postseason. True, they have a loaded regional. The key will be for coach Scott Harmon to make his case that his team deserves the No. 1 seed. He'll probably have the best record of any team in the regional, but will need to convince others they've had a better season than Rice Lake (13-4) and Durand (13-3). The one thing working against them is a 42-38 loss to Rice Lake in December, but Harmon could make the case that his team has improved since while the Warriors have regressed to a point, including a head-scratching 34-23 loss to Northwestern on Tuesday.

If they get the No. 1 seed, that means they'll only have to play Rice Lake or Durand in a regional final rather than both in order to win the regional.

No matter what happens, I'd look for Altoona to make a deep tournament run.

- John Casper Jr.