With the final couple of weeks of January to come, it feels like the girls basketball season is starting to hit that next gear as conference title races tighten and contenders truly start to separate themselves from the rest of the field.

We’ll take a look at the week that was around the greater Milwaukee area, including a pair of superstars who could join an exclusive group soon.

More: Here’s how the new proposed WIAA football, lacrosse alignment plan could affect Milwaukee area

Pair of area stars named to McDonald’s All-American Game nominee list

Wisconsin has three McDonald’s All-American Game nominees this year, with two from the greater Milwaukee area. Hartford forward Makena Christian (Minnesota) and Pewaukee guard Amy Terrian (Michigan State) were both named to the nominee list, along with Hortonville star Rainey Welson (Maryland).

If one or both are selected to the game, which will be played April 1 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, they would join current Connecticut guard KK Arnold (Germantown, 2023), current Women’s Chinese Basketball Association player Sidney Cooks (Kenosha St. Joseph, 2017), current Dallas Wings star Arike Ogunbowale (DSHA, 2015) and current Oregon assistant coach Samantha Logic (Racine Case, 2011) as the only girls players from the area to participate in the game.

Christian has the Orioles flying as the leaders of the North Shore Conference with a 13-1 mark this season. She’s averaging 24.8 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.9 steals this season. The Minnesota recruit also became the 40th player in state history to eclipse 2,000 career points earlier this season.

One-half of the Terrian twins also has Pewaukee where it usually is, atop the Woodland West standings at 13-2 this season. Through 14 games played this season, Amy Terrian is averaging 13.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.7 steals and is shooting 47.7% from deep. She also became the program’s all-time leading scorer earlier in the season.

Whitnall caps perfect week after not playing at home for 56 days

The last time Whitnall played a home game, the Green Bay Packers still had seven regular-season games to play.

For the first time since Nov. 19, the Falcons hosted an opponent and extended their winning streak to seven games with a 69-24 rout of Racine Horlick on Tuesday night. The win streak now sits at nine games following a victory over Shorewood on Thursday (93-70) and a 71-21 drubbing of Cudahy on Friday night to improve to 13-1 on the season. The nine-game winning streak is the longest since the 2019-20 season for the Falcons when they won eight straight from Jan. 10 to Feb. 11, 2020. It’s only the second streak of that length since the 2012-13 season in program history.

Along with the perfect week, Riley Ward had a 30-point outing earlier in the week against Shorewood and then scored her 1,000th career point during a 21-point first-half performance in the rout of Cudahy. The Falcons will likely be favored against Brown Deer and Cudahy again next week to extend the win streak before a massive showdown next Friday against Pewaukee.

Wauwatosa East stays unbeaten, only two area undefeated teams left

There’s only two Milwaukee-area teams with zeros in the loss column as the three-day weekend arrives for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday: Wauwatosa East and Bradley Tech/Arts.

The Red Raiders improved to 15-0 with dominant performances against DSHA (69-36) and Brookfield Central (84-49) this week to stay unbeaten, while the Trojans improved to 12-0 with a 59-15 victory over Carmen Northwest on Thursday. Tech raced out to an eye-popping 48-6 halftime advantage and put it in cruise control to remain undefeated.

Tuesday’s win over DSHA marked the seventh time this season the Red Raiders have held an opponent to 40 points or fewer. Emma Close scored a game-high 24 points for Tosa East, while Mikaia Litza flirted with a quadruple-double. Despite a 3-for-11 shooting performance with eight turnovers, Litza still had 8 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists and 8 steals for the home side.

Other gatherings including some tight title races and a statistical title chase

• As the regular season enters the home stretch, you can expect some title races to heat up. The Classic 8 Conference has four teams with a 5-2 mark or better in C8 play this season. Muskego still paces the field with an 8-0 mark after a 55-38 victory over Waukesha West on Friday. Kettle Moraine Lutheran remains the lone unbeaten (6-0) in the East Central Conference title chase with Winneconne on its heels at 5-1. Tosa East sits atop the Greater Metro Conference at 9-0 with Brookfield East (8-1) lurking just behind with one more meeting to go between the two.
• Salam sits perfect atop the Lake City Conference at 9-0 with Faith Christian not far behind at 8-2. The Prairie School leads the field in the Metro Classic Conference with Dominican (5-1) and Racine St. Catherine’s (4-2) in hot pursuit. The three-horse race in the Midwest Classic Conference is madness so far, as Lake Country Lutheran (7-0), Watertown Luther Prep (7-1) and Living Word Lutheran (6-1) all still have title hopes. Hartford leads the North Shore Conference, but don’t count out Whitefish Bay (8-1) and Homestead (7-2).
• The top of the Southeast Conference has a pair of unbeatens with Oak Creek (6-0) and Kenosha Bradford (5-0). Union Grove leads everyone in the Southern Lakes Conference at 7-0, but Westosha Central lurks with a 6-1 mark. Whitnall (6-0) leads the Woodland East with Greenfield (6-1) right behind, while Pewaukee (7-0) handed Pius XI (5-1) its first loss in Woodland West play this week.
• There’s another race around the area and that’s the statewide scoring title chase between Shorewood’s Serinity Metcalfe and Brown Deer’s Ameerah Grant. Both players are averaging at least 38 points per game this season with Metcalfe having a slight 0.3 average advantage (38.3) over Grant. Lakeland wing Kristina Ouimette is the only other player averaging at least 30 points per game this season across the state. Metcalfe has just one game below 30 points this season and four 40-point games, including a 52-point outing against Milwaukee Juneau on Dec. 10. Grant has been just as ridiculous with five 40-point games, including a 50-point performance this past Tuesday on 19-for-30 shooting in a win over St. Augustine Prep.

MILWAUKEE – One person was shot in Milwaukee on Friday, Jan. 17.

What we know:

The Milwaukee Police Department said it happened around 6:11 p.m. near 23rd and Center. The victim, a 28-year-old, was taken to the hospital for treatment of injuries. 

The circumstances leading up to the shooting are under investigation. Milwaukee Police continue to seek anyone involved. 

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What you can do:

Anyone with any information is asked to contact MPD at 414-935-7360 or to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 414-224-TIPS or use the P3 Tips app.

Four people have died from cold-related causes in the last three months in Milwaukee County, according to the medical examiner’s office, as homeless shelters and others brace for a weekend of brutal below-zero temperatures.

Temperatures are expected to be between 15 to 25 below zero with windchill from Sunday to Wednesday, raising concerns for advocates for people without housing and those who must find ways to stay warm.

“People go wherever they can to stay warm,” said Darlene Roots, who has lived in a tent in an encampment near King Park for roughly the last year, after being evicted from her apartment.

Roots has a homeless shelter to stay at during the upcoming cold, beginning at 7 p.m., but must be elsewhere in the afternoon, she said. During that time, she’ll find ways to stay warm back at her tent.

Roots intends to use hand warmers, blankets and potentially burn hand sanitizer to keep warm, she said.

The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office said four people have died from hypothermia or complications from hypothermia so far this winter.

An 82-year-old man was found dead in his home by police with temperatures between 26 to 50 degrees in late November. The home’s thermostat and many light switches were not working, according to medical examiner reports.

Three others, who were all homeless, died in December, including a 69-year-old found dead outdoors in a chair behind a business on Dec. 2, when temperatures ranged between 14 to 32 degrees.

Eleven days later, a 64-year-old woman was found outside on a sidewalk unresponsive and later died at the hospital. Temperatures ranged between 4 to 32 degrees that day, according to National Weather Service records.

That same day, a Milwaukee firefighter found a 56-year-old man dead in a vacant house.

“It’s a profound grief, especially under circumstances like that,” said Pat Vanderburgh, president at Milwaukee Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter. “First thought that people have is, ‘That didn’t have to happen.’”

The Milwaukee Rescue Mission operates an overflow shelter for men and another for single women or single women with children.

“If we’re at capacity, we will try to make room,” Vanderburgh said.

As the executive director of the homelessness organization Repairers of the Breach, James West has seen the daily struggles of people who experience homelessness: cold weather, limited shelter resources, among others.

Although there are resources for people experiencing homelessness, West said there should always be improvements, and community support is essential.

“It’s horrible,” he said of people dying in the cold. “The only way we can continue to do this is if the community decides to take care of the community.”

The Milwaukee Health Department advises people looking for shelter to call 211 or visit the website www.impactinc.org/impact-211/.

Where are the warming shelters in Milwaukee?

Here’s where you can find the warming centers in Milwaukee. Note that some centers are only open to certain groups, such as single men or single women.

• Guest House of Milwaukee, at 1216 N. 13th St. Open to single men.
• Unity Lutheran Church, at 1025 E. Oklahoma Ave. Open to singles and families.
• Tippecanoe Church, at 125 W. Saveland Ave. Does not accept walk-ins.
• Repairers of the Breach, at 1335 W. Vliet St. Open to singles.
• Milwaukee Rescue Mission Joy House, at 830 N. 19th St. Open to single woman and families.
• Milwaukee Rescue Mission Safe Harbor, at 830 N. 19th St. Open to single men after 10 p.m
• St. Benedict the Moor Parish, at 930 W. State St. Open to singles.

Eva Wen is a reporter at the Journal Sentinel. She can be reached at qwen@gannett.com

David Clarey is a public safety reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached at dclarey@gannett.com.