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Athens’ win streak ends at 10

Athens’ win streak ends at 10 Athens’ win streak ends at 10

Prentice moves into first-place tie with Athens

The Athens varsity boys basketball team beat Stratford, 60-54, on Thursday at home to achieve its first win against the Tigers in seven years.

Athens then beat Tomahawk, 71-45, on the road Friday to win its 10th straight game. The Bluejays’ long winning streak was halted by the Prentice Buccaneers, however, in a road game on Tuesday. Prentice players converted six bonus free throws down the stretch to hand Athens a 63-56 loss.

The Bluejays now find themselves tied for first place with the Buccaneers in the Marawood North Conference, with each team having identical 4-2 conference records this season. Athens was ranked seventh in this week’s Division 5 wissports. net coaches poll before Tuesday’s loss to Prentice. The Bluejays now have an overall record of 10 wins and two losses this season.

Prentice rebounded from its bad home loss to Marathon, 75-50, on Friday. Matt Vande Boom led the Red Raiders with 17 points and he tied Jaden Koeller for the team lead in assists with five each. Mike Hahn added 14 points and he paced Marathon with nine rebounds. Nathan Hanke led the Red Raiders with three steals. Marathon, 11-1, is ranked sixth in this week’s Division 4 wissports.net coaches poll.

Bluejays sophomore center Aiden Janke scored 22 points in the team’s victory against Stratford. He didn’t sugarcoat the significance of his team’s home victory against Stratford.

“It just feels great; this is a huge win for us,” said Aiden, who is the son of Steve and Andrea Janke.

Aiden’s 30 points and 16 rebounds were both career highs for him in the team’s previous game, which was a 72-61 home win against Wabeno/Laona.

Early on against Stratford, Athens players were able to drive the baseline and score points against the Tigers’ defense that wasn’t providing weak side help. Senior forwards Dane Diethelm and Cobie Ellenbecker both drove baseline for buckets to give the Bluejays a 13-8 lead and force Tigers’ head coach Curt Schmitt into taking a 30-second timeout to regroup.

Stratford battled back to find itself only losing to Athens by two points at halftime. Tigers junior Camden Daul scored a basket right away to tie the game at the start of the second half. After Athens regained the lead, Stratford junior guard Cade Bruesewitz drained three straight treys from behind the arc to help the Tigers tie up the game again at 34 points for each team.

Athens then went on a 10-0 run to put the game away. Bluejays junior point guard Cooper Diedrich began the scoring streak with a rebound putback. Janke and Diedrich each sank three pointers, and Diethelm’s layup finished off the team’s 10-0 run to force Stratford to call a fall timeout with just over 10 minutes left in the game.

Diedrich added 15 points in the victory against the Tigers, and he led the Bluejays with nine rebounds. Junior Kody Lepak and Diedrich paced the team with six assists each.

Bruesewitz and Daul led Stratford with 17 points apiece and senior forward Jake Skroch added 12.

Athens had won 10 consecutive games since its season-opening home loss to Wausau Newman. Bluejays co-head coach Aaron Ellenbecker said his team’s win against Stratford is a good measuring stick for how well the 2020-21 season has gone so far for Athens.

“We are happy with the win because Stratford is a very talented team, and teams in the Marawood South are always tough,” he said. “Now the boys are confident they can play with and beat any of their opponents.”

The last time Athens beat Stratford was also at home on Jan. 16, 2014, when Aaron Ellenbecker’s son, Collin, was a senior playing for the Bluejays.

Athens has as good of a shot as any team in the Marawood North to win the conference title this season, which would be Athens’ first conference championship in 70 years; the Bluejay boys basketball team last won a conference title in 1950.

Janke said the team received a big momentum boost in its journey to win the Marawood Conference North when he nailed a step back three pointer at the buzzer to help Athens beat Phillips, 52-49, in a road game on Dec. 8. The Bluejays lost to the Loggers twice last season. Janke and Aaron Ellenbecker remain confident Athens has a good shot to win the conference championship this season.

“If we keep taking things one game at a time and the boys keep playing as good as they are now, sure we’ll have a chance to win the Marawood North,” Aaron Ellenbecker said. Diedrich poured in a game-high 34 points in Athens’ dominating victory against Tomahawk.

Bluejay girls easily win

Athens junior center McKennzie Schug poured in a game-high 20 points and 19 rebounds, to lead the Blueajays to a dominating 65-34 home win against the Rib Lake Lady Redmen on Monday.

Freshman guard/forward Jazelle Hartwig added 16 points and freshman center Sophia Coker had 10. Hartwig led the Bluejays with five steals, while senior guard Kaitlyn Riehle and junior guard/ forward Elizabeth Van Rixel paced the squad with five assists each.

Athens improves its record to 5-3 in the Marawood North Conference and 6-6 overall this season. Phillips leads the North with a 7-0 record.

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