February 2013

This certainly isn’t the way Middleton boys basketball team wanted to enter the postseason.

But in a week mired by a pair of excruciating losses, all was not lost for the Cardinals.

Middleton fell at Big Eight Conference champion Sun Prairie, 72-70, last Tuesday. But the host Cardinals needed a 27-foot three-pointer at the buzzer from Nebraska recruit Nick Fuller just to force overtime.

Middleton then lost at Madison La Follette, 68-63, last Friday in a game that was nip-and-tuck the entire way.

While Middleton enters the postseason on a two-game losing streak, it did go 8-4 down the stretch. The Cardinals also finished the regular season 12-10 overall and tied for third place in the Big Eight at 10-8.

SUN PRAIRIE — If there was any doubt, Middleton’s girls basketball team erased it last Thursday.

Middleton went to Sun Prairie to face its greatest challenger for the No. 3 seed in the postseason. But Middleton made sure there was little debate and cruised to a 51-40 win.

Middleton junior forward Liz McMahon led the way with 19 points and 14 rebounds. McMahon also played stifling defense on Sun Prairie’s McKayla Yentz, limiting the Marquette recruit to just 15 points on 6-of-16 shooting.

“I’m really happy,” McMahon said afterwards. “This game was really big for seeding and it was a game we really needed.”

Sun Prairie was Middleton’s greatest challenger for the No. 3 seed in the sectional. But when Middleton defeated Sun Prairie for a second time this year, there was little debate over which team should be the higher seed.

The Middleton Education Association (MEA) teachers’ union on Valentine’s Day ratified a new contract proposal for the 2013-2014 year. Despite the romantic date on which the vote occurred, emails obtained by the Times-Tribune show there was no love lost between the two parties while they hashed out the deal.

The contract will go before the Middleton-Cross Plains Area Board of Education for a vote on Monday night.

Under the new deal, salary increases would be determined at the school board’s discretion. Teachers who took part in a Health Risk Assessment would maintain their current 12 percent contribution toward health insurance. (Those not completing the assessment would contribute 15 percent toward the annual insurance premium.)

Jeff Kind felt terrible.

Being late isn’t like him. And in one of the rare instances Kind was tardy, it was costly.

Kind, Middleton’s girls basketball coach, thought his postseason seeding meeting Sunday was at 1 p.m. Instead, it was at noon.

So when Kind arrived at 12:50 p.m., the meeting was already wrapping up.

Because Kind was not present when the postseason seeds were being voted on, Middleton is not allowed to host any games at the regional level.

“I feel terrible about it,” Kind said afterwards. “It’s nobody’s fault but my own.”

The good news is Kind’s Cardinals received the No. 3 seed, which is what Middleton expected. The bad news is the Cardinals’ first game — a regional semifinal against sixth-seeded Madison West — will now be at West on March 1 at 7 p.m.