Marathon’s state bid falls short
Crandon halts team’s charge to state yet again
When the day dawned on the 2019-20 season of girls basketball, expectations were relatively humble for the Marathon Red Raiders.
How could they not be? The Red Raiders had gone 4-18 the year before, and their goals for the season were simple: improve, win more games than last year, and then see what happens.
What nobody could have accounted for was how the season would end - an 18-8 record, a regional championship and a handful of points away from a ticket to the Resch Center and the state tournament in Green Bay.
“Honestly, from the beginning of the season and coming in from last year, our main goal was just to do better,” senior Brayden Free said. “It wasn’t to go to state, to be the best team in the state, it was to do better than last year, maybe have five wins instead of four.”
The Red Raiders accomplished that early in the season, but halfway through the 2019-20 campaign Marathon dropped back to back games in January to slip to 8-7 on the year.
Marathon wouldn’t lose again until March, rattling off 10 straight wins, including a regional championship and sectional semifinal on Thursday to earn a second trip to the sectional championships in three years.
They found a familiar team waiting for them on the court - the Crandon Cardinals. It was Crandon who stopped the Red Raiders at this same stage in 2018, benefiting Marathon’s nerves and a poor shooting performance to earn a first ever trip to state.
This year the game was an absolute classic as both teams understood what was on the line on Saturday.
The Red Raiders came in with poise and belief, having defeated the Pacelli Cardinals in the sectional semifinal at Adams-Friendship on Thursday, and the game went back and forth.
The Red Raiders held an early lead off a Anna Cleven triple, but Crandon took a 32-23 lead late in the first half.
Kylie Blume closed the gap, fighting and weaving her way through traffic, as she scored a team high 17 points for Marathon, followed by 12 from Cleven and 11 from Elizabeth Boehm. By the time the first half came to an end Crandon was clinging to a 34-29 advantage.
That lead was under siege in the second half as Blume and Free continued to gash the Cardinals inside.
The Red Raiders held Crandon’s star forward Tabitha Renkas to just nine points, but could not put a lid on Mara Stumper or Leah Palubicki, who each scored a game high 19 points.
Crandon rebuilt their lead, going up 41-33, but a Marathon team that had battled through so much showed their true colors, and held the ‘Cards scoreless for nearly five minutes.
“Crandon was making some big shots,” head coach Jeff Schneider said. “But we came right back. Kylie’s steals and lay-ups were huge momentum turners. We got some stops and defensive rebounds and that allowed us to get back into the game and push them to the brink.”
The Red Raiders snapped off a 12-5 run to pull within one at 46-45 with 7:09 remaining, and nearly regained the lead, but Crandon rediscovered their offense and the two teams traded shots.
Marathon was down 56-54 with three minutes to play when Crandon’s Palubicki hit the two biggest shots of the night, canning a pair of triples that defl ated Marathon’s comeback.
The Red Raiders kept fighting, but the Cardinals took the air out of the ball, forcing Marathon to foul, and Crandon sealed the deal from the charity stripe converting on its last four free throws.
“I thought we forced Crandon to make some really big shots at the end to come back,” Schneider said. “This is one of the most special teams that I’ve been around. These kids believed in themselves and worked so hard to improve throughout the season.”
Marathon stops Pacelli
The Red Raiders defeated the Pacelli Cardinals in Adams-Friendship on Thursday, stopping a late rally from Pacelli to earn a 63-54 victory.
Anna Cleven led all players with 17 points and Allison Wokatsch added 12 points. Kylie Blume, Elizabeth Boehm and Hope Krautkramer all finished with ten points apiece as Marathon won its 10th straight game.
