Rib Lake finds a lid on the basket in losses to Hatchets, Tigers

RIB LAKE GIRLS BASKETBALL

To say shots weren’t falling for Rib Lake’s girls basketball team Tuesday night might be putting it mildly. In a non-conference game that was certainly there for the taking, Rib Lake got just eight of 69 shots from the field to drop and couldn’t take full advantage of 34 Tomahawk turnovers in a 29-25 loss to the host Hatchets.

The Lady Redmen managed just seven first-half points and trailed 17-7 at the half. They fell behind by 12 at 25-13 with under 11 minutes to go in the game, but slowly fought their way back and gave themselves chances to tie or take the lead late.

Jennie Pichea sparked the late rally with two free throws at the 8:45 mark and a 3-pointer with 7:08 left that cut Tomahawk’s lead to 25-18. Josie Scheithauer’s steal and outlet pass got Isabelle Gumz a shot at the rim that she made to cut the deficit to five. Gumz later hit one of two free throws with 2:53 left that made it 25-21.

But Hatchet guard Khianna Vacho hit a clutch shot for her team, sinking a baseline jumper from the right side to stretch the lead back to six. That was answered by Josie Scheithauer’s floater in the lane that made it 27-23 with 2:24 left. Gumz got a tough shot in the lane to fall with 1:42 left to make it a two-point game and the Redmen got two shots within 5 feet in the next minute that didn’t drop. After Scheithauer’s jumper was just long, Tomahawk was able to break out Vacho for a fastbreak chance. She was fouled with 16.4 seconds left and made both free throws to seal the deal for Tomahawk, who improved to 6-17 overall. The Hatchets went 0-12 in the Great Northern Conference.

Rib Lake (3-19) eight points from Scheithauer and seven from Isabelle Gumz. Scheithauer added five rebounds and two assists, while Gumz had six boards. Pichea had five points and three rebounds. Emma Tlusty had three points and Avery Niemi and Addison Gumz each had a point for the Redmen, who played without senior Kamryn Annala. Niemi had nine rebounds. Addison Gumz had two assists.

Vacho had nearly half of Tomahawk’s points with 14. There were lots of rebounds to get with Tomahawk also struggling at 30.3% from the field. Rib Lake won that statistical battle 42-40. The Redmen shot 17 free throws but only made eight, while Tomahawk was six for 10.

The Lady Redmen, who lost to Gilman 47-29 on Monday (see page 4) finish their regular season tonight, Thursday, with a Marawood North game at Prentice, looking to avenge a tight 48-41 home loss from Jan. 9. As the 14th seed in their half of the sectional bracket, the Redmen have a tough draw to open WIAA Division 5 tournament play Tuesday, traveling to third-seeded Athens (21-3).

Stratford 55, Rib Lake 20

Thursday was a tough night offensively and the Lady Redmen couldn’t contain Stratford forward Lauren Kraus, who scored 16 points and had 13 rebounds in the Tigers’ 55-20 Marawood crossover win over Rib Lake.

Rib Lake made just seven of 37 shots from the field (18.9%) while Stratford hit five of 13 3-pointers and 12 of 19 free throws to go with their inside strength to pull away.

The Redmen hung around for about the first 15 minutes when the Tigers started to create distance. Annala scored off an Addison Gumz assist to tie the game at 2-2 and her steal led to an Niemi jumper that made it 6-4. Isabelle Gumz scored to pull Rib Lake within 8-6, but then Stratford went on a 12-0 run to go up 20-6 before Addison Gumz and scored and Niemi sank a triple to keep Rib Lake within 20-11. But a little 6-2 spurt, including a 3-point dagger by Lexie Christopherson with three seconds left, opened up a 26-13 Stratford lead.

Rib Lake had no chance of keeping up, however, when it made just one shot from the field in 16 attempts in the second half, a drive by Scheithauer that made it 33-16. The Redmen were five of 14 from the free throw line in the half.

Niemi had seven points and five rebounds for Rib Lake. Addison Gumz had five points and four rebounds. Annala added four points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Isabelle Gumz and Scheithauer had two points each.

Bailey Linzmeier and Christopherson added 15 and 12 points respectively for Stratford, who improved to 10-11 at the time.