Late rally falls just short in Antigo

MEDFORD GIRLS BASKETBALL

The Medford Raiders cut a 14-point second-half deficit to two with plenty of time remaining Friday, but they couldn’t quite come all the way back in a 55-49 Great Northern Conference loss at Antigo.

Offensive rebounding and free throws were the big differences that pushed Antigo to victory, evening the Red Robins’ overall record at 3-3 and improving their GNC record to 2-1.

The Raiders and new head coach Chad Fronk remained winless early on, falling to 0-2 in the GNC and 0-4 overall.

Nearly two years to the day after the Raiders stole a game at Antigo with a late rally while under Fronk’s direction with then head coach Greg Klapatauskas out due to illness, Medford nearly pulled off a similar stunner Friday.

The Raiders played well early, getting five quick points from Brooke Rudolph, a 3-pointer from Bryn Fronk and free throws from Breanna Kraemer to take a 10-7 lead. The lead changed hands nine times after that with Medford grabbing its last advantage at 21-17 following a Rudolph 3-pointer and a Fronk layup off a lob pass from Rudolph. Another Rudolph triple made it 25-21 when the game turned dramatically on Antigo’s 17-1 run to close the half.

Antigo established control of the paint on its offensive end of the floor behind senior forward Sophie Schlieve, who scored 21 of her 23 points in the first half. She scored 13 of those points in that crucial run for the Red Robins. Antigo’s switch to a 1-3-1 zone slowed down the Raiders on the other end of the court. Toryn Rau’s free throw with 10.1 seconds left was Medford’s only point in the last six minutes of the half.

The Red Robins led 38-26 at the break. Kraemer, who got into foul trouble in the first half, limiting Medford’s options to stop Schlieve, got two quick buckets and Rudolph got one to pull the Raiders within 40-32 early in the second half, but then the offense went cold again. Lily Weix hit a long triple for Antigo to make it 45-32, then neither team scored until a free throw by Antigo’s Jenna Czerneski with 8:35 left.

Medford’s comeback started with an Aliyah Pilgrim 3-pointer with 6:26 to go. Rau scored off an Antigo turnover, Rylee Hraby sandwiched two 3-pointers around two free throws by Robin Nevaeh Malone to cut the lead to 48-43 with three minutes to go.

The teams traded free throws and Medford’s late full-court pressure started to give the Red Robins troubles. Pilgrim’s 3-pointer from the right corner after an Antigo turnover made it 51-49 with 1:59 left. Antigo’s Keelyn Zwirschitz made one free throw with 1:44 left, but Czerneski rebounded the miss, got fouled and made both free throws in a key moment to push the Robins’ lead back to five at 54-49. The Raiders weren’t able to score again.

Fronk had her most impactful outing of the young season with 13 points, five assists, five steals and six rebounds. She had 10 defensive deflections. Rudolph scored 13 points for Medford, including three 3-pointers, and added four assists and two rebounds. Rau scored five points to go along with six rebounds and a blocked shot.

Kraemer, Hraby and Pilgrim had six points each. Hraby had four rebounds, while Kraemer had two assists. Masaeda Krug, Rachel Wesle and Madison Clarkson each grabbed three rebounds. Clarkson had two assists.

Weix had 12 points and five rebounds for Antigo, who got its first win over Medford since Feb. 9, 2017, breaking a 10-game losing streak to the Raiders. Schlieve had 14 rebounds, eight of which came on the offensive end.

Antigo had 20 offensive rebounds which led to 18 second-chance points and 30 points in the paint. Antigo was 19 of 36 at the free throw line, while Medford was just seven of 16. The Raiders hit eight of 30 3-point attempts, compared to Antigo’s two of 10. Overall, Antigo outrebounded Medford 46-33.

Medford is scheduled to host Hayward tonight, Thursday, in the make-up date of an opening night postponement back on Nov. 17. The Raiders will try to break into the GNC win column Friday when they host Tomahawk. Both of those games tip at 7:15 p.m.

The Raiders will host New London in non-conference play on Dec. 22.