December 2012

FRANKLIN — The final score made some of the numbers easier to digest.

But just slightly.

Middleton’s girls basketball team notched a 59-36 win over Racine Case in the opening round of the Christine Rathke Memorial Tournament held at Franklin High School last Thursday.

While the Cardinals were thrilled with the win, they weren’t so happy with their 31 turnovers and 14-of-30 night at the free throw line.

“You won’t win many like that,” Middleton coach Jeff Kind said. “This is such a young bunch. It’s really just a matter of us being focused.

“We’re in such a big hurry. It just led to a lot of unforced turnovers.”

There was a lot of good for a Middleton team that improved to 4-3.

Offense has been a problem for Middleton’s girls basketball team at times this season.

And that was the case once again last Saturday.

Host Verona slowed the pace and slowed the Cardinals in a 37-22 Wildcats victory.

Middleton fell to 3-3 overall and 3-2 in the Big Eight Conference. Verona improved to 5-3, 4-1.

Janesville Parker leads the league with a 5-0 mark, while Verona, Sun Prairie and Madison La Follette all have one loss.

Middleton played without standout forward Liz McMahon and never could get rolling.

The Wildcats used a 7-0 run between the first and second quarters to go ahead, 14-4. Verona then held a 16-6 lead at halftime.

Things didn’t improve much in the second half, as Verona stretched its lead to 27-11 through three quarters.

The Wildcats then maintained a comfortable advantage throughout the fourth quarter.

It was a rough week for Middleton's hockey team.

The host Cardinals dropped a 3-1 decision to league-leading Verona Saturday. Middleton also fell, 5-1, to Madison West on Dec. 18.

Middleton, which is 6-3 overall, has now slipped to third place in the Big Eight at 4-2. Verona (7-1, 6-0) leads the league.

Middleton took a 1-0 lead against Verona when senior defenseman Jake Bunz had an unassisted goal less than nine minutes into the game.

But the Cardinals never did score again. And Verona scored one goal in every period to eventually prevail.

Against West, Middleton trailed, 1-0, midway through the first period. Then Bunz got the equalizer with assists from Nico Campbell and Ethan McLeod.

But the Regents took a 2-1 lead after the first period, tacked on two second period goals and another in the third.

Middleton is now off until Jan. 4 when it hosts Onalaska.

Most wine collectors die with stockpiles of vintages held safely in storage. But not Finn Berge, wine enthusiast and owner of Barriques Market cafés. When Berge is gone he wants people to remember him and think, “At least he drank well.”

He buys bottles of wine to be used. In Berge’s opinion, wine is meant for drinking, ideally with great food and friendly company. And 22 years of tasting and buying wine has only cemented this belief.

Today Berge is a successful businessman - he owns six Barriques throughout the Madison area including one in Middleton’s Cayuga Court - but this wasn’t always the case. His success is more than two decades in the making, with ups and downs and turns unforeseen.