MEDFORD GIRLS BASKETBALL - Not much drops in Tuesday loss; Raiders solid in Chi-Hi win

MEDFORD GIRLS BASKETBALL

The Medford Raiders held Rhinelander’s star freshman Aubryn Clark about 20 points below her early-season average and handled the Hodags’ in-your-face man-to-man defense to get some good looks at the basket during Tuesday’s Great Northern Conference girls basketball opener.

Unfortunately for Medford, very few of those good looks fell and consequently the Raiders couldn’t hang with the Hodags in a 44-29 loss.

While Clark, who came in averaging 27 points per game, was held by the Raiders to just 10, Hodag senior Lily Treder picked up the slack by scoring 18 to help her team improve to 3-2 overall.

Medford, on the other hand, in a bit of a flashback to some of last year’s offensive struggles, had just five field goals in the first 32 minutes before finally doubling that in the last four minutes to turn a 28-point deficit into a more respectable 15-point defeat.

“We get our shots. It’s not that we don’t get our shots,” head coach Chad Fronk said.

The Raiders’ mini two-game winning streak was snapped. At 2-2 they began what looks to be the toughest stretch of their schedule with Tuesday’s game. Their next six games are all against highquality opponents that could make life pretty tough in the next two weeks for the young Medford team, but will also hopefully make the Raiders better for the second half of the season.

Medford was right in Tuesday’s game for the first 12 minutes. A Toryn Rau steal led to a Rylee Hraby 3 for the team’s first bucket and a 5-3 deficit. Rhinelander was up 9-4 when Taylor Klingbeil knocked down a triple that was followed by another from Aliyah Pilgrim that put Medford on top 10-9 with 7:35 left in the first half.

About 45 seconds later, Hodag Leah Jamison scored off a baseline inbound play, starting an 18-2 run to end the half that put Rhinelander firmly in control at 27-12. Rhinelander slowly but steadily built on that lead in the second half as Medford only mustered a Kayla Baumgartner hoop off a backcourt steal by Rau in almost 12 minutes of play. Down 42-14, Klingbeil finally broke the drought with two free throws with 6:18 left and Hraby added two more with 5:28 to go.

Medford’s late flurry included a long two-point shot from Bailey Eloranta, a rebound bucket by Rachel Wesle, a 3-pointer from Hraby and two inside scores from Klingbeil, who led Medford in scoring with nine points.

Hraby scored eight points, Pilgrim had five, all in the first half and Baumgartner scored three.

Medford finished 10 of 46 overall from the field (21.7%), including just six of 27 on two-point shots. Rhinelander was ice cold on 3-point shots, making just two of 23, but the Hodags made 17 of 26 twopoint shots to finish at 38.8% overall.

Klingbeil led Medford in rebounds with nine, while Wesle had seven and Hraby grabbed four. Rau and Klingbeil each had two assists. Rau had three steals and Klingbeil had two. Medford had a slight 34-33 rebounding edge. The Raiders had 19 turnovers compared to Rhinelander’s 15.

Medford’s tough stretch continues tonight, Thursday, when it hosts reigning WIAA Division 5 state champion McDonell Central at 7:15 p.m. The Macks have bumped up to Division 4 this year and are off to a 1-0 start.

On Friday, Medford meets defending WIAA Division 2 sectional champion Lakeland in Minocqua in game two of GNC play. That will be followed by a Tuesday home game against Menomonie, the team Lakeland beat last March in the sectional final.

Medford 55, Chi-Hi 48

The Raiders showed they are an improved basketball team on Nov. 21, earning their second victory in a row over a team that beat them last year with a 55-48 win over Chippewa Falls at Raider Hall.

The game turned in the first 11 minutes of the second half when the Raiders played their best stretch of basketball in the very young season. A 28-14 run out of halftime had them up 46-34 before the Cardinals cranked up their full-court pressure and made a run but never quite caught up.

“At halftime I was over the top positive,” Fronk said. “We didn’t take a bad shot in the first half. We just didn’t make them, missed some open layups. I told the girls they’re going to start dropping in the second half and we’ll be off and running.”

Medford was just six of 23 from the field and missed all nine 3s in the first half, but they shot 52% in the second half (14 of 27) from the field and knocked down five of 10 3-point shots. Hraby was three of eight from long range and led Medford with 16 points. She also had seven rebounds and four steals.

Pilgrim, a sophomore, may have had her best varsity game with 12 points, nine steals and three rebounds and Baumgartner, a freshman, had 12 points, five assists, four rebounds and two blocked shots in the win.

Not only did the offense pick up in the second half, but Fronk said he was im-pressed with the team’s defense, which forced the Cardinals into 28 turnovers, got 16 steals and held Chi-Hi to 31.9% shooting overall from the field. Medford turned those turnovers into 20 points.

Chi-Hi took a 20-18 halftime lead by scoring the last six points of the half, but Hraby’s 3-pointer answered a Sarah Chaffee 3 and sparked Medford’s offense. Baumgartner sank two free throws and Hraby knocked down a triple from the right corner to put Medford on top 26-23. The Raiders never trailed again.

Pilgrim scored six points, including four directly off Cardinal turnovers, as Medford opened up a 36-27 lead. Madison Clarkson knocked down a 3-pointer to push the lead to 12. Medford hit that 12-point margin three more times, the last coming at 46-34 on a Hraby putback, before the Cardinals made their run.

Taking advantage of turnovers and fouls, Chippewa Falls needed less than four minutes to get within 50-48 with 3:03 left. But Breanna Kraemer got a big shot from 5 feet out to roll in with 2:28 left, the Cardinals missed shots on three straight possessions and Kraemer found Pilgrim on a backdoor cut for an easy layup with 1:05 left to make it 54-48.

Rau had six points, seven rebounds and four assists in a solid effort for the Raiders. Clarkson finished with five points and Kraemer had four points and two assists. Chaffee led the Cardinals, who fell to 0-2, with 18 points, making four of 13 3-point tries. Addy Seaholm added 15.

Medford scored 28 points in the paint compared to Chi-Hi’s 12 and overcame 24 turnovers.

“We’ll get there,” Medford assistant coach Keith Wicks said. “Every time we step on the floor we are growing. So hopefully by the end of the year we are playing some of our best basketball.”