SURVIVE AND ADVANCE

WIAA DIV. 2 GIRLS BASKETBALL

Medford gets plays it needs late to move on

For nearly 30 minutes in Tuesday’s WIAA Division 2 regional opener, the Medford Raiders were stonewalled by Rice Lake’s size and zone defense. A switch to their own zone defense in the second half, however, was key to the Raiders finally busting loose and keeping their season alive with a 50-40 win at Raider Hall.

It wasn’t easy, but the seventh-seeded Raiders improved to 17-6 and advanced to Friday’s regional semifinal at 17-5 and second-seeded Onalaska, earning the program’s first post-season win since 2016.

“It was a battle,” head coach Jessica Faude said. “I think the energy in the gym kind of hurt us a little because we got ourselves playing a little faster, a little bit not as composed with our offense. I think with their size we were a little intimidated at first. We weren’t running our zone offense. But when we ran it in the second half, we got good looks and made things happen.”

The Warriors’ brought a roster with five girls listed at 5-10 or taller and they used it to their advantage with a 2-1-2 zone look that aimed to shut down any penetration toward the lane from the middle of the court, which Medford’s main ball handlers, Marissa Fronk and Sierra Hanson, like to do. Rice Lake (6-17) got that accomplished, bringing Medford’s offense to a standstill at times.

“Usually we get our drives from passing it and then finding the gaps,” Hanson said. “In this zone, just how they were playing it, we couldn’t find the gaps very well. The first pass was the hardest to get in.”

The Raiders did make some subtle adjustments that eventually produced open shots and an occasional driving lane. The biggest spark in the second half, however, may have come from Medford’s decision to get out of its man-to-man defense and go to its 1-3-1 zone. The zone forced several turnovers and got stops during a key stretch of the second half and the offense slowly but surely finally created a lead that stuck.

“I thought we’ll just throw it in there and see if they’ll adjust if we try something different,” Faude said. “They weren’t shooting real well and I think, guard-wise, they weren’t as strong so I think we took them out of their game a little bit. They couldn’t body us up on the inside as much as they were trying to do. I feel like we do a nice job of communicating no matter what defense we’re in and it just seemed like that just worked a little bit better for us tonight.”

The Raiders trailed 14-8 with six minutes left in the first half before finally getting open 3s for Hanson and Brynn Rau, who knocked them down to tie it. Autumn Krause’s 3-pointer put Medford ahead 18-16 and two Fronk free throws made it 20-17 at the half. The Raiders led despite making just six of 22 shots from the field and five of 15 free throws in the half.

The Raiders went cold offensively again to start the second half and Rice Lake went on an 11-2 run, capped by a Brynn Olson 3-pointer that gave the Warriors a 28-22 lead with 11:10 left. But Hanson found a lane to the hoop from the left side and scored and she added two bonus free throws a minute later. Krause hit a crucial 3-pointer from the right wing to give Medford the lead back at 29-28 with 9:22 left and Hanson banked in a short shot from a tough angle on the right side for a three-point edge with 8:55 left.

From there, though it wasn’t always pretty, Medford seemed to come up with the kinds of big plays that win games. Krause scored off on a baseline cut off a Hanson assist to make it 33-30 with 7:07, but she unfortunately hurt her knee on the play and didn’t return. Rau hit a big baseline jumper at the 3:25 mark to give Medford a 38-35 lead. Katie Brehm led a run of key offensive rebounds that led to extra possessions and, after struggling all game long from the free throw line, the Raiders made six of eight to put the game away.

“They found ways to do it,” Faude said. “Like we said after the game it wasn’t our best game of basketball we’ve played. We missed shots, bunnies, free throws in the beginning of the game that would’ve extended a lead and made us feel a little more comfortable. But they did the things they needed to at the end to get it done. They got stops, got rebounds.”

Hanson led Medford in scoring with 13 points while Fronk got to 12 despite being bottled up for most of the night. Krause had eight points that included two 3-pointers. Rau scored seven, Rynn Ruesch had four while fighting foul trouble all game long and Brehm and Laurissa Klapatauskas scored three points each. Those two sophomores each hit a big bucket in the lane in the second half as Medford surged ahead 42-35.

“It took awhile to adjust to their defense,” Rau said. “We were able to get the ball into the guards a little better. We talked at halftime that we had to go at the trap at the top a little different. We worked to get ahead of their defense so we could attack the basket.”

“It was a little frustrating because we usually get a few buckets off of pushing the ball up the court because we’re usually faster than other teams,” Hanson said. “This game we just had to adjust to it and make up for it in other ways.”

Despite Rice Lake’s size advantage, Medford had a 42-31 edge in total rebounds. Brehm had seven, Klapatauskas and Krause had six each and Ruesch had five. Hanson had five assists and Rau had three. Fronk had four steals.

Olson led Rice Lake with 10 points, while Callie Karstens scored eight.

At Onalaska Friday, Medford will see a team that went 8-4 in the Mississippi Valley Conference and is fairly balanced with its top four scorers averaging between 10.6 and 7.8 points per game. It is another tall team with major contributors Kenzie Miller and Lexi Miller both being listed at 5-10 and Lauren Arenz being listed at 5-11. Olivia Gamoke, a 5-6 junior guard, is the team’s leading scorer.

Friday’s tip time is 7 p.m.

“No matter what, we’re the underdog coming in,” Faude said. “We just have to give it our all. It’ll be a good gauge to see where we’re at against some of those teams and see what we have to work on to be able to compete against that.”

Friday’s winner advances to a regional final Saturday against either sixthseeded La Crosse Logan (12-11) or thirdseeded La Crosse Central (16-6). Central actually beat Onalaska twice this season and finished a game better in the MVC at 9-3. The Red Raiders split their games with Logan.

La Crosse Central is the site for the March 5 sectional semifinal.