MEDFORD GIRLS BASKETBALL - Late rally almost catches Rice Lake; Mosinee wins by 10

MEDFORD GIRLS BASKETBALL

The Rice Lake Warriors seemingly went into cruise control after extending to a 22point lead in the second half of Tuesday’s non-conference girls basketball game with Medford and the Raiders nearly made them pay.

The now 7-0 Warriors, ranked eighth in Tuesday’s WisSports.net Division 2 state coaches poll, had nine second-half turnovers and started missing the inside shots that had been dropping most of the way. Suddenly, they had to hold on after Medford quickly cut into their big lead in last five minutes and got the deficit down to a manageable five points with more than a minute still to play.

Unfortunately for visiting Medford, that’s where the comeback and its hopes of a major early-season upset stalled. Despite falling to 2-6 overall, it was an encouraging effort for the Raiders, who continue to grind through a difficult, roadheavy early-season schedule. Head coach Chad Fronk said Wednesday he felt this was Medford’s best effort of the season so far.

Taylor Klingbeil had a huge first half for the Raiders, scoring 17 of her 21 points in those first 18 minutes to keep Medford in it. Rice Lake’s stars, Adaline Sheplee and Addison Schmidt, keyed a 15-4 secondhalf surge that made it 59-37 with 10 minutes to go, but Raider Kayla Baumgartner then led the charge that made it a game again, scoring 14 of her team-high 24 points down the stretch.

Sheplee, a 6-3 junior garnering NCAA Division I interest, struggled from long range, making just one of 10 3-point attempts and she had 10 turnovers. But Sheplee was a force when she got into the paint, scoring a game-high 29 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. She dished out four assists and had three steals. Schmidt, a physical 6-2 sophomore, was more of a problem for Medford for much of the game, scoring 22 points on 10-of-19 shooting and grabbing 17 rebounds. She had five assists too.

Rice Lake doubled Medford on the boards, outrebounding Medford 54-27 overall with 25 of the Warriors’ rebounds coming on the offensive end. Rice Lake scored 56 of its points in the paint.

Klingbeil scored Medford’s first eight points, including picking Sheplee’s pocket for a steal and score that made it 14-8. Rice Lake led 20-8 when Medford clawed its way back to 25-21 with a run that included 3s from Rylee Hraby, Baumgartner and Aliyah Pilgrim and four points from Klingbeil on a nice post move and another steal. Sheplee took over from there with 12 points to make it 42-28 before Baumgartner closed the half with a 3pointer off a Klingbeil kickout with three seconds left.

Baumgartner’s basket started Medford’s 25-8 second-half rally. Pilgrim hit a 3 and two free throws. While Rice Lake continued to sputter, Klingbeil sandwiched four free throws around a Baumgartner 3 to make it 65-52 with 4:24 to go.

Baumgartner got an offensive putback a minute later and she answered a Sydney Schradle basket with another 3-ball to get the deficit to 10. Her reverse layup made it 67-59 with 2:10 left. Rice Lake turned the ball over, but Hraby’s 3 missed the mark. Hraby, however, forced a tie up. Medford had the possession arrow and got Baumgartner’s fifth 3-pointer to make it 67-62 with 1:13 to play. Rice Lake turned it over again, but Pilgrim’s 3-point try missed. Schmidt’s assist to Schradle off an offensive rebound with 27 seconds left put it back to a three-possession game and allowed the Warriors to exhale.

Pilgrim had eight points for Medford, Hraby scored five and Toryn Rau and Laney Hraby added two points each. Baumgartner had eight rebounds and Klingbeil had seven. Klingbeil also led with four assists and three steals. Pilgrim had three assists and Baumgartner had three steals.

The Raiders are scheduled to head Chippewa Falls tonight, Thursday, for a non-conference matchup with McDonell Central. After a few days off, they’ll head to the Oostburg Holiday Tournament Dec. 27-28. They’ll face the host Flying Dutchmen at 8 p.m. on Friday and then either Kaukauna or Waukesha West in the consolation game (noon) or championship game (3 p.m.) on Saturday.

Mosinee 53, Medford 43

Rebounds, turnovers and foul trouble all contributed to a tough outing for Medford Friday in a 53-43 Great Northern Conference loss at Mosinee.

What was a close game deep into the first half got away from Medford a bit during a lengthy scoring drought. Medford turned the ball over 25 times, including 17 in the first half alone and was outrebounded by the Indians 58-37 overall, including 28 offensive boards by Mosinee.

Medford made five 3-point shots compared to Mosinee’s one, but the Indians’ ability to score inside and get a handful of transition scores off turnovers allowed them to improve to 5-1 overall and 1-1 in the GNC.

Pilgrim hit a corner 3, Baumgartner got to the rim on a nice move and Klingbeil scored for early leads of 5-2, 7-4 and 9-8 despite some pesky full-court pressure by Mosinee. Baumgartner, however, picked up her third foul with 11:50 still left in the half and missed the rest of the half. A second starter, Rau, got her third with 6:23 left. Mosinee switched defensively to a 1-3-1 zone with about eight minutes left in the half. The Raiders went without a field goal for a stretch of nearly six minutes and Mosinee took advantage, getting out to a 21-10 lead before Klingbeil finally scored on steal. Rylee Hraby’s 3pointer made it 23-15, but Mosinee got the last three points of the half for a 26-15 edge.

The Raiders got within 28-20 on a Rau 3 early in the second half, but they never got any closer the rest of the way as the Indians slowly crept out to what became a 17-point lead at one point at 46-29. Medford scored the last seven points of the game to close the gap to 10.

Hraby and Rau wound up leading Medford with 10 points each, while Baumgartner added nine and Klingbeil chipped in with eight. Baumgartner, despite missing that big stretch in the first half, pulled down 18 rebounds, 16 on the defensive end. Klingbeil had four assists and four rebounds. Hraby had four rebounds.

Pilgrim added five points, three rebounds and two assists. Laney Hraby scored a point and had three rebounds.

Freshman Paetyn Jirschele led Mosinee with 13 points and she had seven rebounds. Her first four points sparked Mosinee on its first-half run that put the Indians in front for good. Abigail Kluz had 10 points inside and grabbed 10 rebounds. All-GNC guard Taelyn Jirschele had a tough shooting night at three for 18 from the field but still scored nine points and had six rebounds.

With all of its offensive rebounds, Mosinee attempted 80 shots, making 22 (27.5%). Medford was 17 of 51 from the field (33.3%).