(Pearson Photography Photo) Front row, from left: managers Kamdan Johnson, Crystal Leffler and Bella Millan; middle row: Madison Neuens, Faith Neuens, Jordyn Springer, ball boy Jeffrey Perry, Jenna Springer, Kathleen Selden, Haley Behrmann; back row: Audrey Selden, Kiera Sullivan, Lacey Enders, head coach Brad Perry, student assistant Kendralee Milan, JV coach Troy Margoni, Paige Uren and Carolanne Schuirmann. Not Pictured: Leah Young.

FLORENCE, Wis. – The Florence varsity girls basketball team has earned team academic all-state honors in Division 5 for the 2019-2020 season. The Top 3 team GPAs are recognized as team academic all-state in each division and Florence had the third highest team GPA with a 3.97.

Mercer had a 4.09 and Kickapoo had a 4.00; the LadyCats’ 3.97 put them in fifth place out of the 15 schools awarded the honor by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association.

“I’m extremely proud of this accomplishment for our program,” head coach Brad Perry said. “As a team, we talk about working as hard off the court as we do on the court and this is validation for all the effort these girls have put forth with their studies.

“At the beginning of the year we sat down and discussed individual and team academic goals for the season and this was one goal we talked about for our team. Last year, we missed receiving this honor by five-thousandths of a point.”

Florence finished the season with an 11-12 record, Perry’s second year at the helm of the varsity program.

“Throughout the season we like to remind each girl that they have a future after basketball and they understand that their education will play an important role in that future,” Perry said. “As a coach, I’m very excited to see them reach their goals and can’t wait to see what they will accomplish next.”