Raiders get one tense win, another gets away at Chi-Hi

MEDFORD GIRLS BASKETBALL

The Medford Raiders found themselves in their second straight down-tothe- wire battle on Tuesday, but this time they didn’t come up with the plays they needed in a 47-44 non-conference loss at Chippewa Falls.

The Raiders fell victim to a 9-1 gameending run by the Cardinals, who won just their second game of the season and broke a 20-game losing streak.

The Raiders led 43-38 after a Brooke Rudolph basket with 5:15 to play and had four possessions where they could have extended that lead but couldn’t convert on their opportunities.

The Cardinals turned a Medford turnover into a Sarah Chaffee 3-pointer with just over two minutes left to cut the Raiders’ lead to 43-41. Rudolph nearly got an and-one opportunity with 1:53, but her layup attempt rolled off the rim. She did make one of two free throws to give Medford a three-point cushion.

But Olivia Sanborn came right back with a shot in the lane with 1:32 to go and then, with 1:11 left Sanborn scored off a Raider turnover to put Chi-Hi in the lead at 45-44.

Medford couldn’t convert after a steal with 45 seconds left, but they got a steal from Bryn Fronk with 26 seconds left to get one more shot at it. But out of a timeout with 5.2 seconds left, the Cardinals got a steal from Brooklyn Sandvig and her clinching free throws with 1.2 seconds left.

The game was close throughout with Medford holding the game’s largest lead at six. The Raiders trailed 15-10 early before figuring some things out against Chi-Hi’s full-court and half-court 1-3-1 looks. Fronk passed over the zone to find a wide-open Rudolph for a layup, Rudolph scored off a steal to make it 15-14. Rylee Hraby sank a right-corner 3-pointer and Fronk followed with a 3 from the top of the key off an Aliyah Pilgrim inbound pass to put Medford up 20-17 with 4:15 left in the half. Breanna Kraemer’s bucket pushed the lead to five. After a Riley Terhawk floater with 10 seconds left put Chi-Hi up by one, Fronk sank a shot from half-court at the buzzer to give Medford a 28-26 lead.

That lead grew to 32-26 on baskets by Kraemer and Rudolph. The teams tied four times before Rudolph sank a 3 with 7:08 left and she hit a short turnaround for the 43-38 lead.

Rudolph led all scorers with 22 points and she had 11 rebounds, while Fronk added 13 points, nine rebounds, five assists and five steals for the Raiders. Kraemer scored four points and grabbed five rebounds. Hraby finished with three points and four rebounds and Toryn Rau added two first-half free throws and three assists.

Sandvig scored Chi-Hi’s first 10 points and finished with 16. Sanborn scored 15.

The Raiders made 14 of 29 two-point shots, but a few point-blank misses came back to bite them. They outrebounded the Cardinals 39-29 and forced 17 turnovers, but their 29 turnovers led to 30 Chi-Hi points.

Medford (6-16) finishes its regular season with a pair of tough matchups on back-to-back nights. Tonight, Thursday, the Raiders will make up a non-conference game at 20-1 Crandon, then they’ll host Mosinee to wrap up Great Northern Conference play on Friday at 7:15 p.m. The Indians handily won the first matchup 54-22.

Medford drew the ninth seed in its half of the WIAA Division 2 sectional bracket and will travel to GNC rival Rhinelander, the eighth seed, for the regional opener at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

Medford 46, Pines 41

On Friday, the Raiders had the opposite experience in a tight game, outscoring host Northland Pines 10-0 down to stretch to steal a 46-41 GNC win and improve to 4-7 in league play.

After trailing through much of the second half, the Raiders got within 37-36 on a 6-0 run that included a Rachel Wesle score off a Kraemer assist, a baseline score from Rau and a Fronk score off a Wesle assist with 5:50 left. Pines got scores from Emily Rottier-Douangmala and Emma Weber to go up 41-36 with 4:05 to play, but the Raiders shut the Eagles out from there. Rau hit a long two-point shot and Rudolph sank two clutch bonus free throws with 1:59 left to pull Medford back within 41-40. The Raiders got a defensive stop and then got the go-ahead basket with 1:11 left when Rudolph found a wide-open Fronk cutting through the lane.

The teams traded empty possessions, then Hraby made four crucial bonus free throws to ice the win. The first two came with 21.7 seconds to go and the next two came with 11.1 seconds left, making it a two-possession game.

The teams combined for 48 turnovers and just three made 3-pointers in 29 attempts, but it was always close.

Fronk made Medford’s only 3 and Wesle followed that with a score to get Medford out of an early 8-3 hole. Madison Clarkson’s steal led to Rau’s go-ahead score, but Pines answered that with a Vienna Klemett 3. Medford went up by four twice, the Eagles came back to lead by two late in the half and Fronk tied it at 23-23 going into the break with two free throws with 16.8 seconds left.

Fronk led the Raiders with a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double. She had four steals. Rau scored eight points and had six rebounds, two assists and two steals. Rudolph had eight points as well with three rebounds. She made six of nine free throws. The team was 15 of 22, which was key.

Wesle had six points and four rebounds. Kraemer contributed four points, eight rebounds and two assists. Hraby had four steals to go with her four points and Pilgrim had three points.

Rottier-Douangmala led Pines (2-9, 2-18) with 16 points.

Edgar 69, Medford 27

Leah Davis hit four first-half 3s and the Edgar Wildcats were relentless on the offensive glass Thursday while building a 17-point halftime lead that ballooned in the second half in a 69-27 blowout win over Medford.

Edgar, who improved to 17-5 for the year with the win, got a game-high 19 points from 5-10 senior forward Reagan Borchardt, who passed the 1,000-point mark for her career when she hit a baseline jumper from the right side with 4:43 left in the first half. That bucket put her at eight points for the game, gave Edgar a 20-8 lead and was in the middle of a huge 22-3 run that turned a brief 7-5 Medford lead into a 27-10 Edgar advantage and the Raiders never got close to making it a tight game again.

Medford had two brief leads with the first coming on an Aliyah Pilgrim layup as she got open for an easy one on a press break to make it 4-3, then Masaeda Krug answered a Borchardt basket by drilling a 3-pointer from the left wing for a 7-5 edge.

Davis immediately answered Krug’s bucket with a 3, Makayla Wirkus scored twice and Davis knocked down her second 3 to make it 15-7 with 10:37 left in the half. It was 22-8 when Rachel Wesle scored for Medford, but another 3 from Davis and an Olysta Baumann basket pushed the lead to 17 before Brooke Rudolph put back her own miss.

Toryn Rau scored twice before the end of the half to try to keep Medford close at 33-16. But Edgar started the second half with a 10-2 spurt to go up 43-18 and the Wildcats steadily increased their lead from there.

It was a tough night for Medford’s seniors as Rudolph was held to six points before fouling out and Fronk did not score. Rau and Wesle scored five points apiece, Pilgrim scored four and Krug finished with three. Rylee Hraby and Ella Daniels each recorded a second-half basket. Rudolph led Medford with six rebounds. Fronk had four assists and thrree steals.

Davis scored all 12 of her points in the first half for Edgar, who had just two players in double figures, but 11 Wildcats found the scoring column.