MUCH-NEEDED MOMENTUM

MEDFORD GIRLS BASKETBALL

Best execution of early season leads to rout of Robins

While taking care of business was important for the Medford girls basketball team in back-to-back wins this past week, seeing progress and building some momentum before the January grind hits may have been even more important.

On Monday, the Raiders certainly saw progress.

After a bit of a slow start, the Raiders pummeled the Antigo Red Robins 58-27 driven by a 10-minute stretch of offensive and defensive execution that could certainly be viewed as the team’s best of the early season. Medford punched the Red Robins with a 28-3 run in those 10 minutes that turned a tight 8-4 game into a 36-7 halftime blowout.

While Antigo played a better second half, the Red Robins didn’t come close to threatening Medford, who improved to 2-1 in the Great Northern Conference and 3-3 overall heading into the holidays.

“Just the way we moved the ball was good to see,” head coach Greg Klapatauskas said after Monday’s win. “Actually a lot of our run came from pushing the ball which we’ve been trying to do. We were trying to anticipate a little bit and trying to get a few steals. When we had to run offense, we were patient and just waited for the good shot. We had some shots fall, so that helps.”

“That was how we should play all the time,” junior guard Bryn Fronk said after scoring a game-high 13 points. “We had the energy, the intensity. Everything was just there.”

“The teamwork was incredible, getting to work with each other,” senior Autumn Krause said. “We’ve been playing with each other for years now.”

The big run started when Antigo, which was having some success with its 1-3-1 zone in half-court sets, tried some full-court pressing. The Raiders broke Antigo’s first attempt easily and got a Katie Brehm layup. After buckets by Brooke Rudolph and Brehm and a Laurissa Klapatauskas free throw, Fronk got a steal that led to a fast-break basket for Rynn Ruesch, then Fronk drained a 3-pointer off a Rudolph kickout pass to open up a 20-4 lead.

After Anna Lucht scored for Antigo, the Raiders broke down Antigo’s zone with Klapatauskas scoring twice in a row by diving to the rim and getting passes from the short corner from fellow senior Sophie Brost. Krause’s steal and score and another by Fronk were followed by Lydia Pernsteiner’s right-corner 3-pointer that, seemingly in the blink of an eye, put the Raiders up by 25 at 31-6.

Along with the press, Antigo tried a couple of different zones and played some man-to-man defense in the first half, but nothing fazed the Raiders in those first 18 minutes. Medford, meanwhile, started playing man-to-man for the second straight game, and did well with it Greg Klapatauskas said, but got out of it with some early foul trouble.

“I thought we passed really well tonight,” Greg Klapatauskas said. “I know we missed a few open players. You’ll have that. I’m actually glad they saw them and didn’t pass rather than seeing them and passing it late when it wasn’t open. Some of those passes on the inside with the posts were really good. Sophie and Rissa connected a couple of times, Katie and Rynn did.”

Antigo went back to its 1-3-1 to start the second half and, with some better intensity, got some stops and crept within 41-19 when Medford hit the Robins with a knockout run. Krause started it with a 3-pointer. Rudolph scored off an inbound play, Ruesch scored twice with the second coming off a back cut and an assist from Brehm and Fronk got a putback to made it 52-21. Pernsteiner assisted on hoops by Rudolph and Krause as the lead got as high as 35.

“This was definitely needed with putting in new offenses and running them against someone other than your own team,” Krause said.

“We had that week off and it was nice to run through everything in practice,” Fronk said.

Ruesch hit double figures with 10 points. Rudolph scored eight, Laurissa Klapatauskas finished with seven points and Krause and Pernsteiner added five apiece. Brost and Brehm each scored four and sophomore Breanna Kraemer added a late bucket for her first varsity points.

The Raiders had 15 assists on 24 made field goals. Brost, Pernsteiner and Klapatauskas had three apiece. Fronk and Krause had two. Fronk had seven of Medford’s 11 steals.

Medford outrebounded the Robins 48-38, led by Rudolph, Ruesch, Krause and Klapatauskas, who all grabbed five. Fronk, Brost, Brehm and Kraemer all had four.

Antigo (1-2, 1-8) got seven points apiece from Lucht and Sophie Schlieve.

Medford now gets another little break in the schedule before a Dec. 30 home matchup with McDonell Central. The Macks were the state’s top-ranked team in Division 5 in last week’s WisSports. net coaches poll before losing last Thursday to Osseo-Fairchild, who was ranked seventh in Division 4. The varsity game tips at 5 p.m.

A tough 10-game slate in January starts Jan. 4 at home against Rhinelander.

“I’m looking forward to the break, getting the good work in and coming back even better,” Fronk said.

Medford 60, Tomahawk 18

After a nine-day break due to the Dec. 10 postponement of the original date they were supposed to play Antigo, the Raiders jumped out to a 17-1 lead and rolled to a 60-18 win Friday at GNC cellar-dweller Tomahawk.

The Raiders turned 28 Hatchet turnovers into 26 points, outscored the Hatchets 19-2 in transition and made 50% of their two-point shots (24 of 48) while securing the easy conference win.

Rudolph scored eight of her gamehigh 12 points in the first half and Brehm scored six of her 10 points in the half, which ended with Medford leading 34-7.

Lindsey Wildberg and Pernsteiner were given chances to start and scored six and five points, respectively. Pernsteiner’s 3-pointer capped a game-opening 9-0 run and Wildberg’s late 3 closed the scoring for the Raiders and gave them their biggest lead at 45 points. Brost also started and scored five points in the win.

Ruesch, Klapatauskas and Fronk finished with six points apiece and Krause chipped in with four.

Medford had a 44-23 edge in rebounds. Brost and Brehm had eight apiece to lead the Raiders, Ruesch had six and Klapatauskas and Krause had five each. Krause led the Raiders with four assists, while Klapatauskas had three. Ruesch had four steals while Klapatauskas had three.

Haley Liebelt led the Hatchets (0-4, 2-4) with six points.

Medford’s Katie Brehm drives the baseline against Antigo’s Lily Weix Monday.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS