Pirates pull away from Rib Lake’s pesky defense after half

GILMAN 47, RIB LAKE 29

Defensive effort was on display for most of Monday’s game, especially in the first half, but the Gilman Pirates eventually got to their strengths enough to pull away from host Rib Lake 47-29 in a crosscounty, non-conference girls basketball matchup.

The Lady Redmen made Gilman standout Tatum Weir work on the low blocks, settling on their 2-3 zone look to try to double-team her every time she got the ball. Weir, though, wound up scoring 22 points to lead all scorers. Gilman’s Danielle Mann, who played her first two years of high school ball with Rib Lake, shook off some early nerves to come up with some key shots and rebounds while scoring 14 points and adding eight boards.

Rib Lake got next to nothing going offensively until Kamryn Annala hit a 3-pointer late in the first half, but the senior and junior Josie Scheithauer led a more aggressive approach in the second half with Scheithauer finishing with 13 points and Annala with nine. Avery Niemi didn’t score but she had seven rebounds, three steals and led Rib Lake’s strong defensive effort, especially in the first half that ended with Gilman holding a 15-10 lead.

“The girls played great defense,” Gilman head coach Tammy Weir said. “We wanted to work on our man-to-man to prepare for the tournament and they did well. Offensively, we did OK. Our shooting percentage was right where it needed to be on field goals. Our 3-point average could have been higher, but they were good shots. Nothing was forced, so those were great decisions.”

Gilman’s stats showed the Pirates making 16 of 46 shots from the field overall, including four of 18 3-pointers.

Rib Lake’s stats sheet showed the Redmen getting 10 steals and 16 deflections to make things tough at times for the Pirates, who had most of their 12 turnovers in the first half with some coming on forced lobs into the post.

“I told them we’re going to be a little wild tonight,” Rib Lake head coach Joe Treffinger said. “We’re going to be running a lot of presses, a lot of defenses and just confuse them and eventually figure out where we’re going to be playing.”

Rib Lake’s mix of zone presses certainly slowed Gilman’s pace early and then the Redmen settled into their 2-3 half-court look. The Pirates made just five field goals in the half, but one of those was a 3-pointer from Ava Warner that made it 8 -3 and Weir turned two scores into three-point plays as Gilman slowly got out to a 15-7 lead before Annala’s left-side 3 with 30 seconds left.

“The one thing Avery was doing a perfect job on was when the ball comes down, that’s when she went for it, not when it was at its peak or on its way up,” Treffinger said of Rib Lake’s success in breaking up the post entry feeds in the first half.

But Weir opened the second half with a 3-pointer from right corner and Mann’s push into the frontcourt led to Warner’s 3 that suddenly pushed Gilman’s lead to double digits for the first time at 21-10. Weir scored off a well-placed lob from freshman Allie Olynick and Weir got the first of several offensive putbacks in the half that made it 25-11.

Little by little, Olynick has been playing a bigger role for the Pirates in her first varsity season. She had five points, nine rebounds and three assists in Monday’s win.

“She crashes the boards and she sees the cuts,” coach Weir said after the win.

Annala gave Rib Lake’s offense another spark with an offensive rebound and from there, she and Scheithauer started making things happen by driving the lane and the Redmen got a few putbacks of their own.

Mann, though, sparked a Gilman push that got the lead too large for Rib Lake to overcome. She hit a free throw and Weir stuck back the miss to make it 2813. Mann scored off a steal and then sank a 3 to make it 33-15 with 10:50 to go. The lead fluctuated between 14 and 18 points the rest of the way.

Warner finished with six points for Gilman. Claire Drier had four rebounds and three assists. The Pirates improved to 14-8 heading into their Cloverbelt Conference third-place crossover game tonight, Thursday, against Fall Creek.

Madilyn Blomberg scored three points for the Redmen (3-18), Jennie Pichea got a fast-break bucket in the first half and grabbed four rebounds. Madison Grzanna had a second-half basket and two boards. Annala had seven rebounds and Isabelle Gumz grabbed five.

Rib Lake shot 24% from the field, making 12 of 50 shots overall. The Redmen were four of 15 from the free throw line.

“Our shots just weren’t falling and free throws were off,” Treffinger said.

Tammy Weir had the same observation about her team’s free throw shooting (11 of 21).

“Our free throws definitely need improvement,” she said.

After a 29-25 loss at Tomahawk Tuesday, Rib Lake will finish its regular season at Prentice tonight, Thursday. Both teams start WIAA Division 5 tournament play on Tuesday. Rib Lake is at Marawood North rival Athens, while Gilman hosts nearby Lake Holcombe.