Wisconsin High School Sports | Wisconsin Sports Network | WisSports.net

Below are the nominees for the Army National Guard Athlete of the Week for the week of February 26th through the 19th.  Voting is below and will be open until Thursday at 4:00pm with the winner announced Friday morning.

Sam Dekker, Sheboygan Area Lutheran boy’s basketball – The 8th-ranked Crusaders of Division 5 went undefeated last week to close out the regular season 18-4 (15-1, Central Lakeshore), and solidified a #1 seed in the WIAA playoffs.  The Wisconsin commit dropped nearly 100 points through wins against Random Lake and Ozaukee, including a career-high 58 points against the Rams.  According to boys' writer Mark Miller, the 6-foot-8 forward was 19 of 24 on his two-point attempts, 5-of-10 from three-point range and 15-of-17 from the foul line en route to his 58 points, the most by a Wisconsin prep athlete in five years.

Matt Fosdick, Brookfield boy’s hockey – The Stars, who entered the playoffs as a fourth seed in Sectional #8, took the improbable route to the state tournament this upcoming week in Madison.  Fosdick and Co. ousted top-seeded Homestead 7-2 in Tuesday's match up to advance to the sectional finals against Fond du Lac, a seventh seed.  The all-state defenseman scored two goals and had two assists in the Homestead game, both coming off of power plays.  He kept the hot hand later that week against the Cardinals, tying up the game 1-1 with over 12 minutes left in the second period.  His lone goal of the game led to Mason Kollakowsky's go-ahead score about a minute later.

Nick Fuller, Sun Prairie boy’s basketball – The 15th-ranked Cardinals ended the 2011-12 regular season with a 16-6 (13-5) record, good for second in the Madison Memorial-dominated Big Eight.  They overtook Middleton in the last week of the season to place behind the Spartans and nab a #3 seed in the playoffs this week.  Fuller, who has scholarship offers from Marquette, Butler, Milwaukee, and Green Bay amongst others, was phenomenal the last three games of the season, averaging over 35 points per game in that stretch.  He saved his best performance for last though, going for 40 points, including three 3-pointers, in a 67-54 victory over Madison West on Thursday.  The junior forward outscored West 15-9 in the first quarter.

Kelly Knetter, Central Wisconsin girl’s hockey – The D.C. Everest Co-op has only allowed one goal through its three playoff games in Sectional #2 against 15 of its own scores.  This past week the Storm shut down the Marshfield Co-op 4-1 before shutting out Northland Pines 2-0 in the sectional finals.  Those two wins solidified a fifth-straight state tournament appearance for the team, dating back to their state title in 2008.  Knetter was the first to score in the Marshield game, getting an assist from Alex Guenther and Rachel Babiarz.  The freshman accounted for both the scores in the Northland Pines game, assisting on Guenther's goal in the first and getting her own score from an unguarded shot late in the final period.

Kim Lecheler, Abbotsford girl's basketball – The Falcon's are just 11-10 on the season, though they have posted an 8-2 record in Marawood-North conference play.  They are currently one game behind first-place Prentice, with both teams playing March 3 games in the “Crossover” conference playoffs.  Lecheler, a 5-foot-7 guard, has been the leading scorer for Abbotsford all season and also the past two years.  The junior  scored a game- and career-high 34 points this past Tuesday to lead her team against visiting Athens, 49-44.  Lecheler, who accounted for almost 70% of the Falcons' offense, was 13 of 22 from the field and 8 of 12 from the free throw line.