VIDEO: Who are the best Wisconsin high school athletes of all time?
As part of a USA TODAY project looking at the greatest athletes ever, we’re identifying Wisconsin’s best in several high school sports.
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, USA TODAY Sports is celebrating the 250 greatest American sports figures of all time. Alongside that national recognition, the USA TODAY Network will spotlight the roots of the country’s sports culture: the high school athletes and sports figures who shaped communities and defined their states and regions.
What’s our rubric for determining the “defining” girls basketball players in Wisconsin history? Some players became local legends on the high school court but didn’t translate that success to college or the pros. Some blossomed late, and their high school days offered only a hint of their eventual greatness. How do we compare or measure those things?
Our aim: Identifying trailblazers and trendsetters whose influence reaches beyond championships and statistics − and whose stories reflect a lasting impact on their state.
Our process is imperfect. Let us know at the bottom who should be on this list.
Jolene Anderson, South Shore, (graduated in) 2004
Anderson was nearly unstoppable at South Shore, where she scored what was then a WIAA state-record 2,881 career points. That total still ranks fourth on the state’s all-time list.
The 2024 Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee averaged 37 points and 15 rebounds her senior year when she won the Ms. Basketball award, then headed south to Madison for a prolific career at the University of Wisconsin.
Anderson led the Badgers in scoring all four seasons and graduated as the all-time leading scorer – men’s or women’s – with 2,312 points. She was Big Ten freshman of the year in 2004 and Big Ten player of the year in 2008.
She was a second-round pick by the Connecticut Sun in the 2008 WNBA Draft and went on to 17 years of professional playing experience in Europe and other international leagues.
Mistie Bass, Janesville Parker, 2002
Known for a long time as the daughter of legendary musician Chubby Checker, Bass made a name for herself on the hardwood in high school and beyond.
She’s the only Wisconsin girls high school player to be named Ms. Basketball three times and that record will never be broken. After the third time, the WBCA decided to limit the award to seniors.
The 2022 WBCA Hall of Fame inductee scored 1,906 career points. Parker went 75-3 over her final three seasons and went to the state tournament all three years, winning back-to-back Division 1 state titles in 2000 and 2001.
Bass played in two NCAA Final Fours at Duke and then played seven seasons in the WNBA. In 2014, she helped the Phoenix Mercury win the WNBA championship.
Heidi Bunek, Milwaukee Pius XI, 1985
Bunek perhaps did as much as any player to put Wisconsin high school girls basketball in the national eye and is arguably the state’s most heavily recruited player ever.
The 6-foot-4 standout, a 2010 WBCA Hall of Fame inductee and 1985 Ms. Basketball award winner, was named to multiple All-America teams her senior year at Pius XI after leading the Popes to WISAA state championships in all four of her seasons.
She averaged 24.8 points, 10 rebounds and 3.9 blocked shots per game as a senior and earned All-America honors from Adidas, Converse, Parade, Street & Smith, Women’s Court and USA Today.
Bunek went on to a prolific but injury-plagued college career at Notre Dame. She finished in the top five in career points and rebounds playing under legendary coach Muffet McGraw before a knee injury ended her playing career during her senior season.
Anna DeForge, Niagara, 1994
DeForge, the 1994 Ms. Basketball winner and a 2014 WBCA Hall of Fame inductee, is still seventh on the state’s all-time scoring list with 2,601 points.
After leaving Niagara, DeForge went on to play four years at the University of Nebraska and cemented her place as one of the best players in Cornhuskers history. She was a two-time honorable-mention All-American and was voted to Nebraska’s All-Century Team after averaging 15.9 points over her career.
DeForge played eight seasons in the WNBA and was a two-time WNBA all-star before continuing her playing career overseas, eventually logging over 17 years as a pro.
Nicole Griffin, Milwaukee Vincent, 2010
All the 6-foot-6 Griffin did in high school was win.
She led Vincent to three consecutive WIAA Division 1 state titles in her first three seasons and a state semifinal appearance as a senior. Vincent won or shared a conference title three of the four years Griffin was on the team and compiled a 95-8 overall record in her four years.The 2010 Ms. Basketball Award winner and Gatorade Wisconsin player of the year was a top-100 national recruit and Parade All-America before eventually choosing to attend the University of Oklahoma.
Griffin was a three-year starter and four-year contributor for the Sooners. She was a two-time all-Big 12 honorable mention and finished her career with 1,088 points, 604 rebounds and 197 blocks.
Megan Gustafson, South Shore, 2015
No player in the history of Wisconsin high school girls basketball has scored more points than Gustafson, who finished her career with 3,229 points, 1,724 rebounds and 628 blocked shots.
She went on to have a highly decorated college career at the University of Iowa. Gustafson was a two-time Big Ten player of the year and was the ESPN national player of the year as a senior in 2019.
Iowa wasted no time putting Gustafson’s jersey in the rafters, retiring the No. 10 in her honor on Jan. 26, 2020.
Gustafson was drafted by the Dallas Wings in the second round of the 2019 draft and has played for multiple WNBA teams. She won a WNBA championship with the Las Vegas Aces in 2025.
Angie Halbleib, Middleton, 1993
Halbleib made a huge impact on Wisconsin high school basketball both as a player and as a coach.
She was the state’s all-time leading scorer with 2,378 points when she graduated from Middleton. She capped her prep career in 1993 by leading the Cardinals to a runner-up finish at the Division 1 state tournament.
Also an outstanding softball and volleyball player, Halbleib went on to play basketball at the University of Kansas. She scored 1,429 points, including a then school-record 237 3-pointers.
She eventually found her way to coaching and had a 323-126 career record as a head coach at Verona with five state tournament appearances, including a Division 1 state title in 2016.
She was inducted into the WBCA Hall of Fame as a player in 2013 and was inducted again in 2025 as a coach.
Sonja Henning, Racine Horlick, 1987
The lightning-quick Henning, a WBCA Hall of Fame inductee in 2010, scored 2,236 points as a four-year starter at Horlick. When her high school career ended, she was the leading girls scorer in state history.
Henning was a two-time first-team all-state pick and the state’s Ms. Basketball winner in 1987, when she also made the Parade All-America team.
She continued her basketball career at Stanford, helping the Cardinal to the 1990 national championship and earning All-American honors as a senior.
After college, she played in Sweden for one season and then joined the American Basketball League, playing with the San Jose Lasers and the Portland Power until the league folded.
Henning jumped to the WNBA, helping the Houston Comets to the league title. She spent most of the next three seasons with the Seattle Storm before ending her WNBA career in 2003 with the Indiana Fever.
Janel McCarville, Stevens Point, 2001
McCarville led SPASH to a 59-11 record in her final three seasons, including a runner-up finish in the 2001 Division 1 state tournament when her Panthers lost to Mistie Bass and Janesville Parker. McCarville scored 25 points and had 17 rebounds in the title game.
She went on to have a record-breaking career at the University of Minnesota. McCarville was Big Ten freshman of the year in 2002 and a four-year starter for the Golden Gophers. She’s in the all-time top five in almost every statistical category at Minnesota.
McCarville was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 WNBA Draft by the Charlotte Sting. She was named WNBA Most Improved Player in 2007 and won a WNBA championship in 2013 with the Minnesota Lynx.
The 2021 WBCA Hall of Fame inductee played nine seasons in the WNBA with three teams as well as several seasons playing international ball.
She’s back in her hometown as head coach of the SPASH girls basketball team and has been the Wisconsin Valley Conference coach of the year the past three seasons.
Arike Ogunbowale, Divine Savior Holy Angels, 2015
Ogunbowale has been a star on the hardwood in high school, in college at Notre Dame and in the WNBA with the Dallas Wings.
The 2015 Ms. Basketball winner and McDonald’s All-American scored 2,240 career points at DSHA and led the Dashers to the Division 1 state title in 2015, including scoring 55 points in an overtime state semifinal win over Middleton.
As a junior at Notre Dame, she led the Fighting Irish to the 2018 NCAA Division I championship, hitting the game-winning basket in the semifinals against Connecticut and in the title game against Mississippi State.
Ogunbowale was the fifth overall pick in the 2019 WNBA Draft by Dallas, where she is now in her eighth season. She’s a four-time WNBA all-star.
Who else should be on this list? Some suggestions:
KK Arnold, Germantown, 2023
Sidney Cooks, Kenosha St. Joseph, 2017
Krystal Ellis, Racine St. Catherine’s, 2005
Natisha Hiedeman, Green Bay Southwest, 2015
Ann Klapperich, Fond du Lac, 1994
Jenni Kraft, Milwaukee Pius XI, 1988
Samantha Logic, Racine Case, 2011
Sarah Meyer, Lena, 1991
Dee Dee Pate, Milwaukee Washington, 1996
Martha Richards, Hudson, 1988
LaTonya Sims, Racine Park, 1997
Katie Voigt, Lakeland, 1993
Shemera Williams, Milwaukee Academy of Science, 2019
Allie Ziebell, Neenah, 2024
