Arch-rivals
Marathon extended its lead to five points on senior Jada Prihoda’s four straight points, but Edgar battled back to almost win the game. Wildcats junior Morgan Schnelle drained a pair of free throws with 32 seconds remaining to bring the squad within a point, 54-55, of the Red Raiders.
Lipinski stole the ball from Marathon on its next possession to make things interesting at the very end. Players from both teams battled for a loose ball, which resulted in a tie-up with 1.8 seconds left. Hoesly’s long heave missed at the buzzer to give Marathon a thrilling one-point victory.
Hoeksema said this was a nice win for her team against Edgar, which it lost to in the regional championship game last season.
“It was quite the battle; this is my first year as a starter on varsity and it was really cool to experience the Marathon against Edgar rivalry,” she said.
Marathon’s players wore green wrist bands and the Red Raiders student section wore green to support the Wildcats in the loss of their assistant coach Gary Brewster, who recently died after battling COVID-19.
Both Edgar and Marathon have identical 1-1 Marawood Conference South records and they are 2-1 overall after Monday’s game. Wokatsch led Marathon with 20 points against Edgar, while Aschbrenner and junior Kali Prihoda contributed 10 points apiece. Hoeksema added nine points and Jada Prihoda six. Aschbrenner paced the Red Raiders with four steals and Wokatsch with seven rebounds. Edgar’s individual player statistics were not available.
Marathon did lose to Shiocton, 5239, on the road Tuesday. The Red Raiders fell behind, 25-14, at halftime.
Wokatsch was the lone Marathon player in double-digit scoring with 18 points. Kali Prihoda led the Red Raiders with four steals and Jada Prihoda paced the squad with 10 rebounds.
Coach Schneider said there were a few factors that led to his team’s nonconference loss against Shiocton.
“We had a few good stretches defensively but we need to keep improving our communication and fundamentals with the ball,” he said. “It was an extremely tough turnaround to travel 90 minutes each way after a tough game Monday night at Edgar. I was proud of the girls for competing as best they could and the experience will make us a better team. One of our goals is to play at our highest level of basketball at the end part of the season and we will continue to improve throughout it.”
Tigers fall to Warriors
Stratford’s girls basketball team lost, 55-21, to Neillsville on the road Tuesday. The Tigers fell behind, 25-12, at halftime.
Junior Lauren Kraus led Stratford with nine points, three blocked shots and 11 rebounds. Kraus pulled down seven of her nine defensive rebounds in the first half. The Tigers fall to 0-3 this season.
The Stratford varsity girls basketball preview story and team photo will appear in next week’s newspaper.
