Raiders get to .500, then get humbled in a pair of losses

MEDFORD GIRLS BASKETBALL

Tuesday was a struggle all the way around for the Medford girls basketball team, who couldn’t get into any kind of offensive flow against Mosinee’s pressure and couldn’t keep the Indians off the offensive glass in a 54-22 Great Northern Conference loss.

Mosinee set the tone by grabbing three offensive rebounds on its second possession and two more on its third to eventually score on both and that relentless approach carried over to its defense. The Indians forced 34 Medford turnovers, including 19 in the first half and grabbed 20 offensive rebounds when all was said and done while winning in their first game under the direction of interim head coach Jeremy Jirschele.

After climbing back to .500 with a four-game winning streak, the Raiders dropped to 4-6 overall with their second straight loss and to 2-3 in GNC play. Mosinee held on to second place in the conference at 5-1 and improved to 7-7 overall.

Neither team shot the ball well, but Mosinee gave itself many more cracks at the basket with the turnovers and rebounds. The Indians were 20 of 68 from the field (29.4%), while Medford shot just 23.1%, making only nine of 39 shots. The Raiders also made only three of 12 free throws, while Mosinee was 11 of 18.

Mosinee got out to an 11-0 lead before Toryn Rau finally got Medford on the board with two free throws six minutes in. The Raiders made their first field goal just over nine minutes in when Breanna Kraemer scored off a baseline inbound play to make it 14-4. Rau followed with a coast-to-coast layup to seemingly give the Raiders a little momentum, but the Indians went on a 13-2 run from there to go up 27-8. Bryn Fronk cut to the basket and scored off a Rau assist to make it 2710 at the half.

The Raiders got an early 3-pointer from Brooke Rudolph in the second half and baskets from Kraemer and Fronk to make it 36-17, but Mosinee freshman Taelyn Jirschele capped off a 13-point half with her third 3 and two more inside scores and Mean Wayerski scored four points for the Indians to blow it wide open at 51-19.

Kraemer scored six points to lead Medford, Rudolph scored five and Fronk and Rau added four each. Aliyah Pilgrim had a second-half basket off an Ella Daniels assist and Daniels added a free throw. Rau had eight of Medford’s 38 rebounds, while Fronk had seven and Rudolph had four. Masaeda Krug had three assists.

Jirschele scored 20 points to lead Mosinee.

Medford has a tough non-conference test at 12-0 Crandon on Monday, then hosts Ashland (3-7) the next night at 7:15 p.m. Round two of GNC play starts Jan. 20 with Medford hosting the league’s top team, Lakeland.

Bulldogs 65, Raiders 25

A still relatively-young but much improved New London squad improved to 10-1 for the season on Saturday by taking control early and running away from Medford 65-25 at Raider Hall in the makeup date of a Dec. 22 postponement.

With many of the same players who were part of a 13-11 squad last year that edged Medford 46-39 on Dec. 7, 2021, New London used precise screening, cutting and passing to carve up Medford’s manto- man defense and race out to a 31-4 lead in the game’s first 13 minutes and a 40-12 bulge at halftime.

Lizzie Steingraber was the quarterback of the Bulldogs’ relentless attack, scoring 10 points in the first half while doing most of the ball handling. The 5-10 senior finished with a game-high 15 points. Macy Reybrock played the role of finisher in the first half, scoring 11 of her 14 points in the first 18 minutes, while Shelby Glodowski hit a couple of 3s and finished with 12 points, including nine in the first half.

Medford got six points from Rudolph, who hit 3-point shots late in the first half and early in the second half. Fronk scored five as did Rau, who scored off a Rachel Wesle assist and then off her own aggressive drive to the rack to make it 53-19 with just over 12 minutes to play. Pilgrim hit a second-half 3-pointer and Kraemer scored three points from the free throw line.

Medford’s last three points came in the final seconds when Laney Hraby made her first bonus free throw and missed the second, but Daniels got the rebound and the putback just before the buzzer sounded.

Medford 45, Pines 30

A dry spell late in the first half kept the game close for awhile, but Medford put together a solid second-half effort to pull away from Northland Pines 45-30 Friday at Raider Hall.

At the time, the win was Medford’s fourth straight and evened the team’s record at 4-4 after an 0-4 start.

On Senior Night, the Raiders got a big night from Fronk, who was a presence on both ends of the floor. She led all scorers with 18 points, pulled down seven rebounds and had seven steals and two assists.

Another senior, Rudolph, also put in a solid effort with a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double that included five steals and two assists.

Medford’s man-to-man defense helped force Northland Pines into 30 turnovers, which led to 21 Raider points. The Raiders had 17 steals and held the Eagles to just 12 field goals on 40 attempts (30%).

The Raiders’ biggest struggles in head coach Chad Fronk’s eyes, came at the free throw line. Medford made just 11 of 27 free throws, including three of 13 in the first half. That allowed the Eagles to hang around and cut an early 17-6 deficit to 20-17 at halftime.

Medford put an abrupt end to Pines’ upset hopes with a 15-2 run at the start of the second half. Rau scored off an offensive rebound and Fronk cut through the lane to score off a Rudolph assist.

Execution on baseline inbound plays was big during the run. Rudolph scored off two of them, sandwiched around a basket by Eagle Emily Rottier-Douangmala to open up a 28-19 lead. Madison Clarkson got free and scored off a sideline inbound play. Free throws by Rudolph and Fronk made it 33-19 and Fronk grabbed a defensive rebound, pushed the ball into the front court and fed Rylee Hraby for a layup to cap the big run and make it 3519. The Eagles got no closer than 12 the rest of the way and made just five of 21 shots from the field in the second half.

Rau had five points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal. Krug had three points, three rebounds, an assist and a steal in the win. Clarkson and Hraby finished with two points each. Kraemer had a point, three rebounds and an assist. Stacy Stolp scored her first varsity point with 22.4 seconds left.

Emma Weber led the Eagles with nine points, while Rottier-Douangmala added six.