Raiders get a win at Pines, fall short late in two losses
MEDFORD GIRLS BASKETBALL
The Medford Raiders never trailed, but the Northland Pines Eagles didn’t make it easy on them Monday in a 44-33 Great Northern Conference victory.
The much-needed win ended Medford’s five-game losing streak and put the Raiders at 3-3 at the mid-season turn in GNC play. The Raiders are 4-8 overall. The Eagles slipped to 1-4 in league play at 3-9 overall.
In their third game since losing point guard Bryn Fronk to a left knee injury, the Raiders dominated early by breaking down the Eagles’ zone defense and dominating from the high post and short corners. They built a 20-8 lead in the first 12 minutes behind their senior trio of Katie Brehm, Rynn Ruesch and Laurissa Klapatauskas who had nine, five and four points respectively in the early going.
The patient approach that worked in the early going is something Medford head coach Greg Klapatauskas is hoping to see more of from the team going forward as its adjusts to playing without their primary ball handler.
“We need to run our half-court offense and look for people,” he said. “We did a nice job breaking down their zone and we hit a couple of jumps shots. We played well at times.”
While the Eagles only shot 19.2% from the field in the game (10 for 52), they hung in with scrappiness and made things happen in the last six minutes of the half. Pines pulled within 23-19 after an offensive putback by Aubrey Beyer, a left-corner 3-pointer by Sarah Nagel and then a backcourt steal and score by Samantha Huelskamp. An Emma Weber bucket got them even closer before Raider Hope Faude scored her first varsity points of the year by sinking two bonus free throws with 56.5 seconds left to give Medford a 25-21 halftime lead.
“We had some turnovers and then they hit a couple of shots to get back in it,” Klapatauskas said. “We have to eliminate some of those turnovers and slow the game down.”
Faude later made a key play to help the Raiders finally create some breathing room midway through the second half when she drilled a 3-point shot from the right wing to put Medford up 34-27. Brooke Rudolph scored off a Brehm assist and Klapatauskas converted a big three-point play, scoring during a collision in the lane with just over five minutes left and putting the Raiders up 39-29.
Sophomore Breanna Kraemer, seeing her most extended varsity action of the year, got a clinching offensive putback with 3:25 to go to give Medford a 42-31 cushion that Pines didn’t dent the rest of the way.
Brehm capped a nice three-game stretch with a team-high 11 points, all but two of which came in the first half. Ruesch had 10 points, eight rebounds and three assists, while Klapatauskas finished with seven points, six rebounds and six steals.
Faude and Kraemer both finished with five points. In 16 minutes, Kraemer pulled down eight rebounds, four on each end of the court and added two assists. Rudolph, Autumn Krause and Lydia Pernsteiner added a hoop apiece. Krause had four steals and four rebounds. Pernsteiner had a pair of steals and an assist. Rudolph had four rebounds and an assist.
“Breanna worked her way into some playing time,” Klapatauskas said. “She can finish inside and we certainly didn’t lose rebounding with her in there. Hope played much better. Katie, Rynn and Laurissa continued to be our leaders.”
Huelskamp led the Eagles with nine points, eight rebounds and four steals.
It wasn’t the best of shooting nights for Medford, who made 16 of 49 shots overall from the field (32.7%) and were just one of 13 from 3-point range. They were just 50% from the free throw line as well, making 11 of 22. Pines stayed in the game by making 12 of 17 free throws and hanging right with Medford in the rebounding department, holding a 41-40 edge. The Eagles had 20 offensive rebounds. Turnovers were virtually even as well. Pines gave up the ball 18 times, while Medford turned it over 17 times.
Medford will play four games in five days starting with a tough GNC assignment at Lakeland Friday night. The TBirds won the first matchup between the teams 63-51 back on Dec. 3 and are tied with Rhinelander for second place in the GNC standings at 5-2.
From there, Medford makes the long trip to Hammond for a 1 p.m. tip against St. Croix Central on Saturday, hosts Rice Lake in a tough non-conference matchup Monday at 7:15 p.m. and then makes another long road trip to Hayward on Tuesday.
Central 47, Medford 32
The Raiders went point for point with host La Crosse Central halfway into the second half Saturday afternoon, but the Riverhawks finished the game with a 22-7 run to put away the Raiders 47-32.
Medford went cold offensively at an inopportune time, as Central slowed the flow of Medford’s offense by switching into a man-to-man defense in the second half after zoning up the Raiders in the first half. While they outscored the Riverhawks from the free throw line 8-6, the Raiders hurt themselves by missing 10. They were just four of 11 in the second half. Central was six for nine in the game.
The game was similar to a loss to D.C. Everest the previous night.
“We were right in both games,” Klapatauskas said. “It just seemed like we found a way to lose instead of finding ways to win. We were right there in both games, within a possession or a couple of possessions, but we lacked some scoring and ran out of gas in the second halves.”
The Raiders trailed for the majority of the first half, but always stayed within arm’s length of the Riverhawks, who improved to 10-5 at the time.
A Pernsteiner 3-pointer and free throws by Sophie Brost gave Medford a brief 5-4 lead. After Central opened up a 19-11 lead, the Raiders answered, getting bonus free throws by Laurissa Klapatauskas, another triple by Pernsteiner and an inside hoop from Brehm to cut the deficit to 19-18. Lindsey Wildberg’s late banked-in jumper off a kickout from Faude pulled the Raiders within one again at the half 21-20.
Central’s 5-10 senior post Cora Hansen was ejected early in the second half for kicking Klapatauskas after a tie-up, but the only one of the ensuing four free throws was made. Autumn Krause did give Medford a 23-21 lead with a steal and score. Rudolph countered a little fourpoint run by the Riverhawks by scoring off a Ruesch assist to tie it at 25-25.
Central came back with a seven-point spurt that gave it the lead for good as Brittany Mislivecek scored twice and Macy Cagle banked in a 3-pointer. Ruesch got a three-point play for Medford out of a timeout to make it 32-28, but Mislivecek canned a trey and Gracee Hartung leaked out following a defensive rebound and got an easy transition layup to put Central up by nine. The Riverhawks outscored Medford 10-2 from there.
Klapatauskas had seven points and four rebounds for Medford. Brehm had six points and three boards. Pernsteiner had six points, two assists and two steals. Ruesch scored five and had five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Rudolph, Brost, Krause and Wildberg finished with two points apiece. Rudolph had four rebounds. Krause had five boards, two assists, a steal and a blocked shot. Brost had three boards.
Mislivecek led Central with 21 points, five rebounds and three assists. The Riverhawks shot 45.2% from the field (19 of 42), while Medford was 11 for 37 (29.7%). Medford had a 28-23 rebounding edge, while Central turned the ball over 12 times to Medford’s 18.
DCE 66, Medford 50
In what was arguably Medford’s most complete performance in a month, the Raiders gave up a few too many points off turnovers and fell victim to 11 made 3-pointers, including eight in the second half, in a 66-50 home loss to D.C. Everest on Friday.
The Raiders took a big hit early when Fronk injured her knee in an awkward collision while she defended Everest’s Kiara Hammond just 3:46 into the game. Without her, the Raiders pulled together and battled to a 25-25 halftime tie with the Evergreens.
Krause’s 3-pointer put Medford up 12-8 and Brehm hit a triple from the left corner for an 18-15 lead. Brehm and Laurissa Klapatauskas found driving lanes inside Everest’s 1-3-1 zone and got to the rim with each scoring 11 points in the half.
Both wound up with season-highs of 16 points to lead Medford.
Ruesch sank a left-side 3-pointer to open the second half to give the Raiders what wound up being their last lead at 28-25. Braelyn Beiler answered with a 3-pointer to tie it and Hammond put the Evergreens ahead with a steal and score and those went on to torment the Raiders the rest of the way.
Beiler hit five 3s in the second half and six for the game to finish with 18 points. Hammond added three triples and scored 16 second-half points on her way to a game-high 28 points.
Both hit long balls in a key stretch that broke the game open in the latter stages of the half. Klapatauskas hit two free throws and Krause drained a 3 to pull the Raiders within 48-43 with 7:21 to go, but Hammond’s trey pushed the lead back to eight. After Pernsteiner knocked down a 3 for Medford, Beiler answered right back to make it 54-46. Beiler hit another one moments later to push the lead to 57-47. Hammond’s 3 with 2:10 left put it away at 62-47.
Everest actually shot better from behind the 3-point line, hitting 40.7% of its long-range attempts (11 of 27). The Evergreens were 13 of 34 from two-point range to shoot 39.3% overall.
Medford hung in there by getting a season-high seven 3s to fall, by making 11 of 16 free throws and by outrebounding Everest 34-31. Klapatauskas made eight of 10 free throws. Brehm led Medford with eight rebounds and Klapatauskas added six. Klapatauskas and Rudolph had three assists each.
Krause finished with nine points on three 3-pointers, Pernsteiner had six points on two triples and Ruesch’s lone points came on her 3 to open the second half.
D.C. Everest scored 25 points following Medford turnovers. The Raiders had 19 of them, 12 in the second half, while the Evergreens took great care of the basketball, turning it over just seven times.
