GOING ON A RUN

GILMAN GIRLS BASKETBALL

Fourth straight win puts Pirates over the .500 mark

It hasn’t always been pretty, but a win streak is a win streak, and the Gilman girls basketball team will take it.

The Pirates earned their fourth win in a row Tuesday, earning an important 52-42 non-conference win at Lake Holcombe that will certainly figure into the WIAA Division 5 seeding process next month. The Chieftains are unbeaten early in the East Lakeland Conference season, including a lopsided win over a Flambeau team that beat Gilman on Nov. 29, and came into the game 5-2 overall.

But Gilman head coach Tammy Weir said her girls were successful in taking Lake Holcombe out of its normal rhythm with solid defense and just plain all-out effort.

“We played well,” Weir said. “Holcombe is fast and likes to run the floor, but we out hustled them.”

Gilman limited Lake Holcombe’s chances to get out and run by holding down its turnovers with just 14 and grabbing 16 offensive rebounds. Lake Holcombe made just 10 of 34 two-point shots (29.4%) and only five of 18 3-pointers (27.8%). Gilman was only four of 18 from long range (22.2%) but the difference in the game came inside, where the Pirates made 17 of 41 twos (41.5%) and had assists on 16 of the team’s 21 field goals.

“We only had 14 turnovers and shot 41% from the field,” Weir said. “We need to improve our free throws (six of 14), but our assists and seeing the court is off the charts. Our anticipation of the ball and steals were great. And Tatum shut down the inside game with seven blocks.”

Tatum, of course, is Gilman’s junior post Tatum Weir who had 12 points and 12 rebounds to go with her seven blocks. Emma Grunseth added a 10-point, 13-rebound double-double and also dished out five assists. Madisyn James had 11 points, including three 3s, four steals, three assists and three rebounds. Aubrey Syryczuk had nine pionts, a teamhigh six assists, three steals and three rebounds.

Gilman led 25-19 at halftime and widened that lead by outscoring the Chieftains 27-23 in the second half. The Pirates limited 6-foot senior Brooke Lechleitner, who came in averaging 20.5 points per game, to just 11. Karly Kirkman wound up leading Lake Holcombe with 16 points behind four 3-point makes, while Emma Lechleitner added 13.

The Pirates outrebounded Lake Holcombe overall 39-33 and forced 20 turnovers. Ava Warner had a season-high eight points, including a 3. Hannah Vick added a bucket and five rebounds. Kya Dietzler had three rebounds.

The Pirates have now won five of six –– and were just two points away from winning all of those six –– to improve to 6-5 overall. They are over .500 for the first time this season and have a chance to get well over that mark in the next week.

They’re at 1-9 Cornell today, Thursday, opening a girls/boys varsity doubleheader between the schools at 5:45 p.m., they’ll host Rib Lake in an intra-county non-conference matchup Monday at 7:15 p.m., return to Eastern Cloverbelt Conference play by visiting a struggling Greenwood squad on Tuesday and they’ll go to Loyal on Jan. 14 to meet the Greyhounds, who they handily beat in the second week of the season.

Gilman 48, Thorp 42

The offensive execution wasn’t always pretty for either team Monday, but those struggles for Thorp and Gilman wound up creating a close and exciting finish, where the host Pirates used a closing 15-9 run to earn a 48-42 non-conference win over the Cardinals.

Senior guard Madisyn James sparked the late surge with a 3-pointer with 4:15 left that broke a 33-33 tie and put Gilman ahead for good. She scored again off an offensive rebound by Weir and had two key assists to Weir with under two minutes left that iced the Pirates’ third straight win.

James added two free throws with 15.2 seconds left to score seven of her 10 points in crunch time. She added five assists and three steals in the win.

“She came on strong in the last half,” Tammy Weir said.

Tatum Weir led Gilman with 19 points, nine rebounds, two assists, four blocked shots and a steal. Syryczuk also had a solid game, scoring seven points, six rebounds, two steals and an assist.

Turnover issues and the nagging inability to finish at the rim kept the game close early. Thorp did not make a field goal for the first 13:45 of the game, yet Gilman could only build an 11-3 lead in that time. Before long, a Brianna Horn 3-pointer had Thorp in the lead at 15-14, but a James steal and score with 1:33 left put Gilman back on top 16-15 at the half.

“It was a little rough on the turnovers with 20. That’s too many,” Tammy Weir said. “We need to clean it up. And our shots did not want to fall in the first half. We still shot 46%, so I guess we cleaned it up the second half. Our 3-point shots weren’t there and we missed way too many free throws.”

The game’s pace picked up about three minutes into the second half. Sydney Wicks, Abbigail Schultze and Horn all sank 3s to push Thorp to a 24-21 lead, but Gilman fought back with a Syryczuk hoop, a Weir score in the paint off a James assist and a mid-range jumper from Warner to surge ahead 27-24. The lead then changed hands twice and Wicks tied it again for Thorp at 31-31 with a long ball.

Horn’s score off a Gilman turnover tied it at 33-33, setting the stage for Gilman’s late run.

James scored her quick five points, but Elizabeth Frankewicz countered for Thorp with a steal and score with 2:58 left. Thorp couldn’t convert on two chances to draw closer with Grunseth forcing a key tie-up that ended a Cardinal possession with 2:03 left. James appeared to be trapped on Gilman’s ensuing possession, but she found a cutting Weir at the last moment. The junior post scored and was fouled with 1:41 to go. She missed the free throw, but Gilman had a 40-35 lead.

After Horn missed a 3-pointer, James pushed a pass up the court to Weir, who made a tough catch and finished to open up a 42-35 lead. Thorp got within 46-42 on long triple by Horn in the final seconds, but Addysson Hopkins clinched it by dropping in two free throws with 3.6 seconds left for her first points of the season.

The 46% coach Weir alluded to came on two-point shots (16 of 35). The Pirates were just one of nine from 3-point range and hit 13 of 26 from the free throw line. Thorp made up for making just nine of 33 two-point shots (27%) by sinking seven of 22 3-pointers. But the Cardinals were just three of 14 from the foul line and turned the ball over 20 times.

Grunseth had a tough shooting night and scored just four points for Gilman, but she had seven assists, 12 rebounds and two steals. Warner had four points, Dietzler had two points and two rebounds. Vick had three boards.

Thorp (0-9), who is coached by Medford native Keith Wicks, was led by Horn’s 11 points. Sydney Wicks, in her return from injury to Thorp’s lineup, hit three 3s to score nine points.

Gilman 45, Augusta 34

Gilman also got off to a slow start on Dec. 29, but they went on a run to start the second half and pulled away from visiting Augusta for a 45-34 win. The nonconference game was postponed a day due to snowy weather.

“We got off to a slow start, but we were able to get a lead and keep it through the entire game,” coach Weir said. “The girls played well. We took care of the ball, had a few turnovers on mistakes due to footwork, but for the most part, the girls did great. We handled Augusta’s press very well and got quite a few fast breaks.”

The game was tied 9-9 with 8:03 left in the first half when Gilman started to create some separation, getting the second 3-pointer of the half from James and some late free throws by Weir to take a 20-16 halftime lead.

Two 3s by James and one by Syryczuk broke it open as Gilman went on a 13-4 run that covered the first 10 minutes of the second half and made it 33-20. Augusta only got as close as eight at 42-34 with 1:39 left.

Weir had a 19-point, 13-rebound double- double. James hit four of 8 3-point tries and finished with 12 points, four rebounds and four assists. Syryczuk had eight points, six rebounds, five steals and two assists. Grunseth had four points, 12 rebounds and three assists. Warner had two points and two assists.

Vick had a rebound and an assist and coach Weir said she had a strong defensive night.

Gilman made 13 of 36 two-point shots (36%) and five of 15 3-pointers. The Pirates won the turnover margin 19-1. The teams were even 39-39 in rebounds. The Beavers had 17 offensive boards.

“There’s no reason Augusta should have gotten as many offensive boards as they did,” Tammy Weir said. “This is something we need to work on and improve on greatly.”

Kennedy Korger led the Beavers, who fell to 3-6 at the time, with 16 points. Brittany Bergman added 11.

Gilman’s Ava Warner backs up her dribble to avoid getting the basketball stolen by Thorp’s Brianna Horn during the first half of Monday’s 48-42 win over the Cardinals.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS