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Hayward’s late run wins it; Warriors win big on Monday

Hayward’s late run wins it;  Warriors win big on Monday Hayward’s late run wins it;  Warriors win big on Monday

In a game where points were hard to come by, one short shooting spree by senior guard Ana Johnson made all the difference for the Hayward Hurricanes in their 42-39 non-conference win over Medford Tuesday night.

Johnson knocked down three straight 3-pointers to turn Medford’s 29-24 lead in the latter stages of the second half into a 33-29 lead. The Hurricanes added three more points before Medford finally ended a lengthy scoring drought, but the Raiders ran out of time to catch up and dropped their seventh game in eight outings to fall to 4-10.

Hayward, who moves up to Division 2 in this year’s WIAA post-season tournament, improved to 3-12, taking a game it trailed most of the way.

“I loved our defensive effort,” Medford head coach Greg Klapatauskas said. “We just have to find a way to score more points.”

Medford jumped out to an 8-2 lead behind six quick points from Laurissa Klapatauskas and two from Brooke Rudolph. The Raiders extended the lead to 13-5 on a Katie Brehm score in the post off a feed from Rynn Ruesch.

But the offense went quiet against Hayward’s man-to-man defense and the Hurricanes stormed back with 10 straight points to take their first lead. The Raiders countered with a seven-point run of their own with two free throws and a three-point play from Brehm and a score from Ruesch and settled for a 20-18 halftime lead after Hayward’s Brooke Quast hit a late triple.

Brehm, who scored a game-high 16 points, and Klapatauskas, who added 13, combined for nine points to keep Medford in the lead. The Raiders had a size advantage and those two seniors exploited it when they got the ball in the paint area.

The Raiders’ 1-2-2 and 2-3 zone looks did their job until the game went into its last six minutes, when Hayward made its push starting with Johnson’s 3s, two of which came from the left corner and the third, which came from the right side.

Klapatauskas scored off pick-and-rolls with Autumn Krause and Ruesch and Rudolph hit one of two free throws following a steal to the Raiders within 39-37 late. But the Hurricanes hit three of four free throws in the last minute, Medford missed two and Rudolph’s final bucket with a second left came too late for the Raiders to get one more possession.

Ruesch and Rudolph scored five points apiece for the Raiders. Coach Klapatauskas said Rudolph’s aggressive play at the top of Medford’s zones was a highlight of the team’s defensive effort.

Johnson led Hayward with 14 points, while Quast added 12.

Medford returns to Great Northern Conference play Friday with a trip to Antigo. The Raiders will be at Lakeland Feb. 3 before hosting Tomahawk the next night.

Rice Lake 69, Medford 42

The Raiders ran into a bit of a buzz saw Monday night, falling 69-42 at home to Rice Lake.

The Warriors, who improved to 13-3, featured outstanding size and outside shooting and Medford had trouble, particularly early, penetrating the Warriors’ zone looks which focused on applying pressure primarily around the free throw and 3-point lines.

“That’s a good team,” Greg Klapataus- kas said. “They beat McDonell who’s a very good team and they just knocked off undefeated Menomonie. I was hoping we could slow it down and hang with them a little bit, but they came out on fire.”

Sophomore guard Eliana Sheplee was Medford’s biggest problem. Sheplee scored the game’s first 10 points and had 22 by halftime, getting most of those points off steals or offensive rebounds. She finished with 24 points after missing some second-half time after taking an inadvertent elbow to the nose from Laurissa Klapatauskas.

Rice Lake held a 25-10 lead after a Faith Forsberg three-point play with 9:06 left in the half when Medford made a little run to try to get back into it. Autumn Krause and Lindsey Wildberg swished back-toback 3s to make it 25-16. After a Forsberg putback and a Kendra Richter free throw, Medford got an inside score from Katie Brehm off a Sophie Brost assist to cut it to 28-18. But another of the Warriors’ top guns, 6-foot senior Brynn Olson, drained a 3, Sheplee scored off a turnover and Olson scored inside to push the lead back to 17.

The Warriors led 39-21 at halftime and steadily increased the lead in the second half despite 10 points in the half from Laurissa Klapatauskas.

“There were stretches where we figured it out a little bit,” Greg Klapatauskas said. “We have to get to where we don’t have to work out those kinks in every single game. But I really liked our inside play tonight. I thought overall we finished better than we have. I don’t know what our field goal percentage was, but Rynn was taking it inside, Rissa was taking it inside. Breanna had a couple of nice finishes. Katie had a couple of finishes.

“I thought we did a nice job of getting it inside,” he added. “If someone got it and didn’t have an opportunity to score, they found players that could. It felt like we had a lot of assists tonight.”

Klapatauskas led Medford with 12 points on six-of-eight shooting and grabbed five rebounds. Rudolph had seven points and three rebounds. Krause hit a pair of 3s to finish with six points and had four rebounds and two assists. Brehm and Ruesch had five points apiece. Ruesch had four rebounds and three assists, while Brehm had four boards. Wildberg had her first-half triple and an assist. Brost had two points and Kraemer, in her second game of extended minutes, had two points, six rebounds and a firsthalf assist that came off her offensive rebound. “She reminds me of a typical sophomore football player,” coach Klapatauskas said. “Playing against Katie, Rynn and Rissa every day in practice has made her better. She’s not as timid.”

Olson scored 14 points and Jordan Roethel added 10 for Rice Lake, which won its eighth straight game.

“This was our first time playing a 1-2-2 at times, so it was a little bit of a learning curve there,” Klapatauskas said. “I kinda like how we get out on shooters a little bit better out of that at times. They just knocked down shots. If they were open a little bit, it was down.”

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