Hortonville duo to play college hoops
By Greg Seubert
What does Hortonville girls’ basketball coach Celeste Ratka have in common with two of her players?
All three suited up for the Polar Bears and will take their basketball skills to the college level.
Ratka was on hand Nov. 13 in the Hortonville High School library as seniors Macy McGlone and Morgan Draheim signed a National Letter of Intent to play at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and St. Cloud State, respectively.
UW-Milwaukee is a Division 1 program, while St. Cloud State, located in St. Cloud, Minnesota, competes in Division 2.
“It’s really hard to put into words because so much work goes into it and very few people understand the years of sacrifice that it takes to play basketball at this level,” said Ratka, who played Division 1 basketball at UW-Green Bay from 2007-11.
“It’s even more competitive today than it was,” she said. “These kids sacrifice so much to be good enough to play at the next level and these two kids have worked extremely hard to put themselves in this position. I’m so proud of them, the journey that they’ve had and the growth that they’ve both had through it. It’s a really happy day for them.”
McGlone and Draheim are two reasons why the Polar Bears have made it to state the past two seasons. McGlone led the team with 16.3 points and 9.8 rebounds a game as a junior, while Draheim added 7.1 points and three assists per contest.
“Macy is one of those really special players that sometimes you get once in a lifetime as a coach,” Ratka said. “She does things that other people can’t do. She’s extremely athletic and I think that thing that really sets her apart is how hard she competes. She’s grown so much in her IQ of the game. We were working on defense today in practice and the level that she’s gotten to is so much better and she’s really worked hard at being a student of the game.”
“It’s a great opportunity,” McGlone said. “I’m so thankful that I’m one of the girls that gets to do this. There are a lot of other girls that would like to be in my position.”
“I really wanted to be close to home because playing Division 1 basketball, you’re not going to see your family much,” she said. “I really wanted them to be able to come to my games. My parents love coming to my games. I knew that’s where I wanted to go. I visited other schools and it didn’t feel the same.”
McGlone is the latest Division 1 girls’ basketball player to come out of Hortonville, a list that also includes Ratka and Shay Frederick, now a sophomore at Valparaiso University.
Draheim said St. Cloud State turned out to be the ideal opportunity.
“Ever since I was younger, I wanted to go to a bigger school,” she said. “They’re 15,000 (students), so that’s the perfect size for me: not too big, not too small. I knew I could play at the Division 2 level. Everyone wants to play Division 1, but Division 2 is the perfect fit for me.”
“That kid battles,” Ratka said. “She’s probably the best defensive player I’ve coached here in Hortonville. She has a combination of strength, intelligence, quickness, speed and aggression. That creates problems for the opposition. She’s also worked really hard on her game offensively. She can score at every single level. She can get to the rim, has a really nice floater and her three-point shot has improved immensely from where she was as a freshman. She’s another kid that has worked and willed herself.”
Ratka has taken the Polar Bears to state three times in her four seasons as coach. The Polar Bears fell to three-time defending Division 2 state champion Beaver Dam in the semifinals in 2018 and 2019 and also came up short against Cudahy in the 2017 semifinals.
This season could be a different story, according to McGlone and Draheim.
“I think the expectations are the same as the past two seasons, maybe even higher,” McGlone said. “Our team is pretty much made up of veterans. We have one freshman who’s doing things that the rest of us weren’t doing when we were freshmen. If there is any year, this is the year.”
“We definitely expect to win conference,” Draheim said. “We don’t want to just make it to the first game at state. We want to win that and win a title.”
The Polar Bears compete in the Fox Valley Association with Appleton East, Appleton North, Appleton West, Fond du Lac, Kaukauna, Kimberly, Neenah, Oshkosh North and Oshkosh West.
“The FVA is the best conference in the state,” Ratka said. “We really push one another. Coaches in this league are really good and the players in this league are really good. There are a lot of teams that have multiple Division 1 scholarship players. It’s very competitive, which is fun. You have to be prepared every night and it creates that mentality that every possession and every game matters.”
Ratka knows all about her team’s expectations.
“We had a very young team last year and now a lot of those youngsters are now sophomores,” she said. “That year of growth is going to set them up really well. This is the deepest team that we’ve had. There’s a lot of parity in our lineup and there’s going to be some great competition for playing time. Competition’s always great and hopefully, we’ll be where we want to be at the end of the year.”