Marathon grabs a regional crown

Red Raiders get back to winning regional titles

By Casey Krautkramer

The Marathon girl’s basketball team easily downed Westfield, 65-49, to capture its Division 4 home regional championship on Saturday. The Red Raiders, which improve their record to 17-7 this season, jumped out to a 36-25 halftime advantage against the Pioneers, 16-7. Marathon bounced back to win a regional title after suffering an opening road regional quarterfinal playoff loss to Phillips last season. Before last year, the Red Raiders had won regional championships in the 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 seasons. Marathon qualified for state in back-to-back seasons in 2015 and 2016, led by current Division 1 women’s college player Morgan Rachu, under the guidance of head coach Jeff Schneider.

Senior guard Elizabeth Boehm led four Marathon players in double-digit scoring with 22 points against Westfi eld. Sophomore guard Allison Wokatsch contributed 17 points, junior forward Anna Cleven 11, and senior center Bradyn Free 10.

Marathon’s team played sluggish basketball to begin the regional playoffs at home on Friday. No. 2 seed Marathon was only beating No. 7 seed Princeton/Green Lake, 22-20, at halftime during their Division 4 regional quarterfinals game.

The Red Raiders caught fire shooting the fall in the second half to defeat the Tigersharks, 50-41. Wokatsch scored a game-high 19 points, while Boehm added 10. Senior guard Kyli Blume and Cleven added eight points apiece.

Marathon will now play No. 5 seed Stevens Point Pacelli, 16-8, in a Division 4 sectional semifinal game at 7 p.m. this Thursday, March 5, at Adams-Friendship High School. Pacelli won regional playoff road games against Colby and Auburndale to advance into the sectional semifinals.

Whichever team wins between Mara- thon and Pacelli would play either Bonduel or Crivitz in the sectional championship game at 1 p.m. this Saturday, March 7, at D.C. Everest High School.

Tigers’ season ends

Stratford’s girls’ basketball suffered a 47-30 road loss to Auburndale in a Division 4 regional semifinal game on Friday. The Apaches built a 27-18 halftime lead.

Senior guard Tanaya Schillinger led Stratford with 14 points in the defeat to Auburndale. Stratford concludes this season with a 10-14 record.