Young team continues to learn in loss

RIB LAKE GIRLS BASKETBALL

The Rib Lake girls basketball team made one nice run Monday to close an early deficit to six, but visiting Pittsville quickly responded to go up by 18 at the half and cruised from there to a 71-33 non-conference win.

Three key areas separated the teams. First, Pittsville hit seven 3-point shots, with several answering buckets by Rib Lake in the early going. Secondly, Pittsville dominated Rib Lake in rebounding, holding a 50-34 overall advantage. Thirdly, Pittsville turned 26 Rib Lake turnovers into 29 points, while Rib Lake was only able to turn 24 Pittsville miscues into 11 points.

Rib Lake head coach Joe Treffinger said after the loss, his team’s youth continues to show against solid competition, like the 7-2 Panthers, but it also continues to make strides, as shown by its solid play late in the first half.

“From day one to where we are now, we’ve improved a lot,” Treffinger said. “Everyone continues to improve individually and I can tell we have become much more of a team.”

Pittsville got out to a quick 12-0 lead and Rib Lake didn’t get its first field goal until Josie Scheithauer sank a 3-pointer to make it 17-5 with 9:40 left in the first half. That 3 was quickly answered by one from Pittsville’s Haylee Zawislan. Scheithauer, who scored all 10 of her points in the first half, hit a pull-up jumper that was answered by a Zawislan score, but then the Redmen chipped away.

Scheithauer hit a free throw at the 6:37 mark, then her offensive rebound led to a mid-range jumper by Tahlia Scheithauer. Josie Scheithauer again hit one of two free throws at the 5:21 mark to pull Rib Lake within 22-11.

Addison Gumz hit a long two-point shot and Kamryn Annala sank a 3 for her only points of the night. Josie Scheithauer then picked up a loose ball on the defensive end and took it all the way, splitting two Panther defenders in the lane and scoring to suddenly pull the Redmen within 24-18, forcing a Pittsville timeout with 3:59 to go.

Out of the timeout, Pittsville cranked up a little more defensive pressure and got into its running game, which carried into the second half. Zawislan scored again, Emma Bowden’s steal led to her bucket off a Reese Grimm assist, Grimm hit Bowden with a long outlet pass and Zawislan capped off her 15-point half with a corner 3 that made it 33-18. Kiana Dallmann scored inside for Rib Lake, but Bowden hit a 3 off an offensive rebound by Pittsville and she scored on a baseline move late to open up a 38-20 halftime lead.

Brooke Grossman and Bowden hit 3s to open the second half to push the lead to 24. By getting out in transition, mainly off defensive rebounds, Pittsville put the game away with an 18-0 run that made it 64-25. Rib Lake did get a late offensive spark from freshman Emma Tlusty, who scored six points with some aggressive work in the paint, and freshman Isabelle Gumz, who drove to the rack and converted a three-point play with 3:14 to go. She finished with four points.

Josie Scheithauer’s 10 points led the Lady Redmen. She had four rebounds and an assist. Annala had eight rebounds and two steals. Tahlia Scheithauer finished with three points, three rebounds, an assist and a steal. Dallmann had three points. Treffinger applauded the work of Avery Niemi, who scored two points and pulled down six rebounds. She added two steals. Addison Gumz had two points and four rebounds.

Bowden had 19 points, including 13 in the first half, to lead all scorers. Zawislan finished with 17 points and Grimm added 12 for Pittsville.

Rib Lake’s Marawood North game with Prentice Tuesday was postponed due to the icy weather. The game has been rescheduled as part of a varsity doubleheader on Monday with the girls game tipping at 5:30 p.m., followed by the boys at about 7:15 p.m. in Rib Lake.

That will be the second doubleheader in four days for Rib Lake’s teams. They’ll also host a Marawood crossover twinbill with Wisconsin Rapids Assumption on Friday with the girls again getting things started at 5:30 p.m. Rib Lake will start round two of Marawood North play Jan. 12 by hosting Phillips at 7:15 p.m.