Sonja Henning voted most-impactful Wisconsin high school girls basketball player

On May 14, we debuted the third in a series of reader polls asking who you consider the best high school girls basketball players in Wisconsin history, with 10 primary suggestions. We received nearly 1,800 votes, and here’s how people voted:

Sonja Henning voted as most impactful player in Wisconsin high school girls basketball history

Former Racine Horlick standout Sonja Henning was the reader’s choice for the best girls basketball player in state history after receiving 608 votes.

The lightning-quick Henning, a Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee in 2010, scored 2,236 points as a four-year starter at Horlick. When her high school career ended in 1987, 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-America honors as a senior. 

After leaving Stanford, she played in several professional leagues before joining the WNBA and helping the Houston Comets win the league title in 1999. She spent most of the next three seasons with the Seattle Storm before ending her WNBA career in 2003 with the Indiana Fever.

While Henning was the top choice, she wasn’t the only popular one.

Here’s how you voted.

Our top 10:

1. Sonja Henning, Racine Horlick: 608

2. Heidi Bunek, Milwaukee Pius XI: 390

3. Anna DeForge, Niagara: 337

4. Arike Ogunbowale, Divine Savior Holy Angels: 143

5. Mistie Bass, Janesville Parker: 56

BEST BOYS BASKETBALL PLAYER: How you voted for the most-impactful Wisconsin high school boys basketball player

6. Jolene Anderson, South Shore: 52

7. Megan Gustafson, South Shore: 47

8. Janel McCarville, Stevens Point: 38

9. Angie Halbleib, Middleton: 15

10. Nicole Griffin, Milwaukee Vincent: 5

Here are the other names suggested as the most impactful in Wisconsin history

With the option to select someone other than our group of 10, we received 57 submissions, including many who received more than one vote.

Others with 2 or more votes:

LaTonya Sims, Racine Park: 15

Allie Ziebell, Neenah: 12

Jennah Burkholder, Janesville Parker: 4

Jenni Kraft, Milwaukee Pius XI: 4

Natalie Kussow, Hartland Arrowhead: 4

Ann Klapperich, Fond du Lac: 3

BEST FOOTBALL PLAYER: How you voted for most-impactful high school football player in Wisconsin

Katie Voigt, Lakeland: 3

Jorey Buwalda, Randolph: 2

Ann Kattreh, Kohler: 2

Natisha Hiedeman, Green Bay Southwest: 2

Tiffany Mor, Fox Valley Lutheran: 2

Kamy Peppler, Hortonville: 2

Nicole Polka, Greendale: 2