Crickets’ quickness a problem in crossover loss; regional gets postponed
GILMAN GIRLS BASKETBALL
The Gilman Pirates got few open shots and ran into a quick team that executed well offensively in a 67-26 loss to Fall Creek in the third-place game of the Cloverbelt Conference girls basketball crossovers.
The host Crickets, who finished the regular season at 16-8, put three players in double figures in scoring and raced out to a 34-9 halftime lead in a game they led wire to wire. Gianna Vollrath, a 6-foot senior, led the Crickets with 18 points, Katie Kent, a 5-3 senior guard, added 14 and Tori Martin added 11.
The Pirates, who suffered just their second loss in their last seven games, also finished the regular season with a 16-8 record.
“Fall Creek is a strong team, and we just couldn’t find our game on Thursday,” Gilman head coach Tammy Weir said. “They were very tough and aggressive on defense and fast on offense. Our shots didn’t want to fall. We were seven of 26 from the field.”
The Pirates also hit just one of nine 3-point tries.
The Crickets scored the first seven points of the game before Aubrey Syryczuk scored off a back cut and an assist from Emma Grunseth. A free throw by Hannah Vick and a Tatum Weir hoop cut the lead to 11-5, but the Pirates then went scoreless for the next 12 minutes and Fall Creek put the game away with an 18-0 run. It started with a nice spin move in the lane by Martin. Marissa Dunham and Kent hit 3-pointers and Vollrath had eight points in the run that finally ended on two Grunseth free throws with 2:27 left in the half.
Fall Creek scored the first eight points of the second half to go up 42-9 and eventually reached the 40-point threshold to put the game into a running clock when McKenna Klawitter threaded a nice pass to Martin for a layup that made it 57-16 with 7:30 left.
Grunseth led Gilman with seven points and Weir added six to lead the Pirates. Weir had 11 rebounds and five blocked shots. Grunseth had four boards as Gilman hung in there in the rebounding department. Fall Creek had a 24-20 edge.
Kya Dietzler had four points and four rebounds. Madisyn James hit Gilman’s only 3-pointer and had two steals. Syryczuk, Ava Warner and Hannah Vick scored two points apiece. Syryczuk had three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Kayleigh James had two late as- sists.
The Western Cloverbelt Conference won every crossover game but one. Neillsville knocked off Osseo-Fairchild 56-40 in Saturday’s championship game in Osseo.
Gilman’s WIAA Division 5 regional game with Rib Lake scheduled for Tuesday was postponed a day to Wednesday, after this week’s deadline for The Star News. The winner advanced to a regional semifinal Friday against either 14thseeded Thorp (3-20) or third-seeded Flambeau (16-6) with the higher seed hosting.
The regional final is Saturday at 7 p.m. The regional champion will play in a March 3 sectional semifinal.
