Edgar back in sectional semifinals

Wildcats earn back-to-back regional titles

A slim five point lead, less than five minutes to go, an opponent that refused to quit and a season hanging by a thread.

That was the scenario in each of the last two games for the Edgar Wildcats girls basketball team. Edgar held leads in their regional semifinal and final, but each game became a stern test for an Edgar squad that has set its eyes on a berth at the state tournament.

“At the beginning of the season our team decided that our motto was going to be “unfinished business” after last year,” sophomore guard Morgan Schnelle said.

The Wildcats had advanced to the sectional semifinals the year before, but fell to a Newman Catholic program that was making a third straight trip to the Resch Center and the state tournament.

That they were standing at the end of their sectional semifinal with a victory over Marathon, and a plaque in their hands, is a testament to the hard work and grit that this year’s team has.

The team has undergone a change of head coach, lost players, welcomed new faces and faced uncertainty with threats of COVID-19 and quarantines.

“Ever since the beginning of the season we knew we were going to have a new team, and we knew we were going to have to build that chemistry up because there are a lot of younger girls,” senior standout Mckenna Guden said.

Edgar’s first challenge came on Friday night in the regional semfinal in the form of the Spencer Rockets. Spencer had overcome Abbotsford in overtime in its home regional quarterfinal, and was playing with conviction.

The Rockets came out firing, taking a 15-12 lead with 8:58 to go before the break, but Edgar dug deep and snapped off an 8-0 run to take a 20-15 lead.

The Wildcats’s defense was equal to the task, holding Spencer scoreless over a four minute frame, and Edgar went into halftime with a 33-25 lead.

That lead swelled to 39-27 with 15:30 to play before Spencer’s Heavyn Kind pulled the Rockets to within five at 43-38 with 7:37 left in regulation.

But big time players make big time plays, and none played bigger, or shot better, than senior guard Makenna Guden. Guden splashed a triple, one of her six treys, and a Spencer turnover led to an easy basket, and the ‘Cats were up 48-38.

“I came ready to shoot, and that’s the mentality,” Guden said about her clutch shooting. “You can’t think about anything else, you just play with the flow.”

Edgar applied the pressure on both ends, and carried by Guden’s game high 28 points and Regan Borchardt’s 12 points, prevailed over the Rockets for a 58-46 victory that set the stage for a showdown between the Wildcats and Red Raiders.

The Red Raiders had faced a similar hard fought battle to reach the regional championship on Saturday night. Marathon battled through adversity to oust the Cadott Hornets 38-36 in Cadott.

Allison Wokatsch carried the day for Marathon, hanging 23 points on the Hornets, and she continued to be a force for the Red Raiders, dropping double digits on Edgar on Saturday.

But Marathon got off to a terribly slow start, turning the ball over numerous times in the first five minutes, and the Wildcats pounced. Guden’s tremendous shooting display continued, and her ability to scorch the nets gave Edgar a 24-8 lead with 5:26 to go before halftime.

Marathon found a spark late in the first half, using their height to get points in the post, and they closed the first half on an 11-4 run that made it 28-19.

The Red Raiders repeated that pattern in the early minutes of the second half, going to Hope Krautkramer and Anna Cleven for offense. Suddenly it was just a 33-28 game with 15:28 to play.

“I thought after the first five minutes, we really did a good job defensively and on the boards,” Marathon head coach Jeff Schneider said. “After that first rush, the kids really settled down and executed.”

But Edgar and Guden would not be denied. Guden scored another 11 points in the final frame to finish with a game high 23, and the Wildcats rattled off an 8-0 that made it 43-32 with 4:48 left in the game.

The Red Raiders tried to get back to even footing, but shots refused to fall, and the clock and the ‘Cats were too much overcome, even with Wokatsch and Krautkramer scoring 14 and 11 points.

Edgar took the game by a final score of 50-35. Edar will travel to Fall Creek on Thursday to take on the Crickets in the sectional semifinal.

For Marathon, their season comes to an end, but Schneider says he could not be prouder of how his players, especially his seniors handled the adversity.

“No matter what our record was, they really held us to the standards that we want to have. We want to work hard, give our best effort, be really good teammates. Anna, Hope, Kaitlyn Rusch and Chen Phakitthong were outstanding with that in practice and in games.”