DeForest girls basketball season concludes in regional finals

The 2025-26 DeForest Norskies girls’ basketball season has come to a close.

DeForest, seeded No. 3 in Sectional No. 2 of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) State Tournament, fell to No. 2-seeded Milton, 74-38, on Saturday, Feb. 28 in the regional finals at Milton High School.

Milton has been on a torrid pace since the beginning of the New Year, going 13-1 since Dec. 30. The Red Hawks, who beat DeForest twice in the regular season, showed no signs of slowing down on Saturday en route to the 36-point victory over the Norskies.

Despite DeForest’s loss on Saturday, the Norskies secured a postseason victory, cruising past the No. 6-seeded McFarland Spartans one day prior in a 69-47 victory on Friday, Feb. 27.

Fueling DeForest’s winning effort Friday evening was junior forward Alexis Accuardi, who broke the program’s single-game scoring record with 37 points, 25 of which came in the second half — which also included 11 second-half trips to the charity stripe.

DeForest junior Alexis Accuardi broke a new single-game scoring record with 37 points during the Norskies 69-47 win over McFarland in the WIAA Regional Semifinals on Friday, Feb. 27.

“It came down to her recognizing where the advantage was,” DeForest head coach Jerry Schwenn said. “She turned things on in the second half, and sometimes just seeing the ball go down a couple of times at the free-throw line really helps, too.”

Accuardi was a staple of consistency for the Norskies this season. She led DeForest in scoring and rebounds, averaging a near double-double with 14.5 PPG and 9.4 RPG. She finished her junior campaign with 10 consecutive double-digit scoring outings.

But for DeForest, Friday’s victory was also headlined by a myriad of crucial runs.

With both sides tied at 21 apiece with under four minutes to go in the first half, DeForest closed the half on a 15-4 run to take a 36-25 lead at the break.

That run would continue in the second half, as they opened the second stanza on a 7-0 run, growing their lead to 20 points with roughly 11 minutes to go thanks to triples from Alexis Accuardi and junior guard Addy Heuer.

“I think we just kind of settled into a playoff game,” Schwenn said, noting McFarland’s zone coverage caused DeForest to start out flat. “I thought we rebounded, we took care of the ball, but just kind of needed to settle into the game a little bit. Just be yourself and let’s do the things that we’ve been good at recently.”

Alexis Accuardi — who found plenty of different avenues to land in the scoring column Friday evening — scored on a layup at the basket, giving the Norskies their biggest lead of the game, 66-41, with 3:51 to go before DeForest closed out McFarland for a 22-point victory.

In addition to Accuardi’s game-high 37 points, junior guards Brinley Goninen and Addy Heuer also reached double figures with 11 and 10 points apiece.

The Norskies, who finished the 2025-26 season with a 14-12 overall record, will graduate two seniors this spring: Emma Hermansen and E’Mony Hardiman.

The foundation built by this year’s group will look to carry over next winter, with DeForest expecting to return a key core of the 2025-26 group, including the likes of Alexis Accuardi, Brinley Goninen, Addy Heuer, Ava Schwenn, Anabelle Stravinski, Allie Nordness, McKenzie Brandl, Megan Gavinski, Atley Rauber, Sierra Davenport, Kyia Williams and Alana Hardiman.