State girls’ teams carry fond memories of Reedsville

January 19, 2017

By David Nordby The Brillion News

REEDSVILLE – The games have blended together. The details are a little bit fuzzy. But one memory sticks for the 1993 and 1995 Reedsville girls’ basketball teams that went to State.

“It was so fun,” Jessica Lorrigan, Sadie Geiger and Angie Geiger all concurred on Friday night at a reunion held for the two teams during halftime of the Reedsville girls hosting Hilbert.

Jim Foytik led the Panthers on their first trip to the State Championship in 1993 in his fourth year as head coach.

“You do think about how excited they were, how excited the parents were and how excited the community was,” Foytik said.

Current girl’s co-head coach Paul Ourada was on Foytik’s staff and Al Peters was the school’s athletic director.

Foytik, who spent 25 total years coaching in Reedsville, said that his proudest takeaway was being able to coach in the place he was born and raised in.

The sentiment of Reedsville pride trickled down to his players, who carry stronger memories of their community than they do their individual accolades.

“It’s just the pride of being from a smaller town,” Lorrigan said. “It’s just amazing to live in a community like this. It’s something to not be taken for granted.”

Lorrigan was a sophomore on the 1993 team and a captain on the 1995 team that returned to State. In 1993, the team wasn’t expected to accomplish such feats but finished the season with an overall record of 18-6 and was the first team in school history to go to State.

Angie Geiger was named Conference Player of the Year after leading the team in scoring and rebounds. Paula Karls led the team in assists.

Angie went on to play college basketball at Carroll in Waukesha. She surpassed 1,000 career points, including 506 in that season, but after more than two decades she still isn’t bragging.

“A person doesn’t do that without the support of their team,” Angie said. “That wasn’t about me, that was about my team.”

Please see the complete story in the January 19, 2017 edition of The Brillion News.