Girls get win at Lakeland, but stumble at home Monday

MEDFORD GIRLS BASKETBALL

An early hold on first place in the Great Northern Conference was there for the taking Monday night for Medford, but it was Mosinee who took control in the first half and survived a second half run by the Raiders in a 64-52 win that left the Indians as the lone unbeaten team in GNC play.

The Indians improved to 4-0 in the GNC and 6-1 overall with the win, which was primarily secured by a 31-5 run that turned an early 8-3 deficit into a 34-13 lead just before halftime.

The Raiders didn’t quit and cut the deficit to eight on two occasions with plenty of time remaining. But Mosinee went on another quick run, pushed the lead back to 18 and closed it out.

Medford fell to 2-1 in the GNC and 2-2 overall.

“We’re looking for more consistency,” Medford head coach Greg Klapatauskas said. “We had moments where we played really, really well and moments where it didn’t look like we knew what we were doing. We just need to be more consistent on offense and defense.”

The stretches where Medford really struggled could be partially attributed to strong, physical ball pressure by Mosinee that quickly took the Raiders out of the early offensive rhythm they were in during the game’s opening moments.

“They were way more physical and we did not deal with that very well,” Klapatauskas said. “We’ll have to learn how to deal with that.”

Rynn Ruesch scored two of Medford’s first three baskets inside and Autumn Krause cut to the basket for a layup off Ruesch’s offensive rebound to get the Raiders out to their early lead.

But an Adalyn Lehman hoop and 3-pointer by the game’s high scorer, Lexi Freiboth who finished with 20 points, quickly tied the game. Lehman got a steal, Frieboth got a steal and fed Zoe Gburek for a hoop and harm. Gburek missed the free throw, but the Indians got the rebound, which led to a Freiboth drive. Riley Sondelski added a bucket to make it 16-8.

Krause ended that 13-0 run with a 3-pointer from the left wing, but Indians kept rolling, scoring the next 14 points.

Medford got a little spark in the last 15 seconds of the half when Ruesch hit two free throws and a Krause steal led to Bryn Fronk’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer that cut the lead to 34-18.

The Raiders switched to a 2-3 zone late in the first half and started trapping out of it in the second half. That got them into a more aggressive mode that paid off on both ends of the floor.

Laurissa Klapatauskas scored on two drives to the hoop, Katie Brehm scored in the paint as well, Marissa Fronk hit a pull-up jumper, Krause hit a 3 off a Brehm kickout pass and Marissa Fronk scored in transition to get Mosinee’s lead down to 41-31 with 12:09 left. Out of a timeout, the trap forced a turnover and another Marissa Fronk basket. Ruesch scored in the post to answer a Jenna Placek hoop to make it 43-35, but that’s where the rally ran out of steam and Mosinee went on another quick run to put it out of reach.

“That’s been my motto since I’ve been back is patience and attack,” said coach Klapatauskas, who had missed some time early in the month due to illness. “Let’s work the ball, but when we have a chance we’re going to attack. I love the way we take the ball to the basket.

We need to take the ball to the basket. We need to do just a little bit better job of finding the open girl out of the double team. We had a hard time seeing that. We’ll work on that and hopefully do better the next time we see them.”

Marissa Fronk scored 10 of her 12 points after halftime and led the Raiders in scoring. Ruesch hit double figures with 10 and Krause added eight. Klapatauskas and Brehm chipped in with seven and six points respectively in the paint. Bryn Fronk finished with five points, Martha Miller hit a late 3 and Lydia Pernsteiner added a free throw.

The Raiders were right back at it Tuesday, visiting Rice Lake in a nonconference game that was played after this week’s early holiday deadline for The Star News. Medford will head right back into Big Rivers Conference country Monday with a 5 p.m. varsity start at Chippewa Falls.

Medford will make up a Dec. 8 postponement when it visits Northland Pines Wednesday, Dec. 30. That varsity game starts at 6 p.m.

Medford 57, Lakeland 44

Fresh out of a 10-day quarantine, the Raiders got the best of an old nemesis Thursday, leading virtually from start to finish in a 57-44 GNC win at Lakeland.

Medford jumped ahead 20-6 by sinking four early 3-pointers –– two each by the Fronk sisters –– and limited Lakeland’s chances for a comeback by limiting turnovers and seemingly coming up with an offensive rebound and a score off that rebound every time Lakeland thought it might be building some momentum.

“We probably played 14 good minutes in each half,” coach Klapatauskas said. “We had a few little mental lapses here and there, but we finished, we boxed out, we rebounded and we played really solid defense.”

The Raiders admittedly caught a break when Lakeland’s highly-touted sophomore Julianna Ouimette sprained an ankle in the previous day’s practice. She started the game but lasted only five minutes and made just two free throws. The T-Birds got a lift from senior Amaya White, who hit three 3-point shots and led all scorers with 17 points.

The Raiders held a huge 48-26 advantage in rebounding and grabbed an incredible 26 offensive rebounds which led to 24 second-chance points. Lakeland’s pressure has caused problems for Medford at times in recent years. But Thursday, most of Medford’s 17 turnovers were front-court miscues.

“We handled their press fine,” Klapatauskas said. “It didn’t rattle us.”

After grabbing the 20-6 lead, the advantage dipped into single digits twice.

First, Ruesch got an offensive putback and Krause hit two 3-pointers to answer a surge that got Lakeland within 22-14. Bryn Fronk’s rebound basket in the last minute put Medford up 34-24 at halftime.

Lakeland pulled within 38-32 early in the second half, but Marissa Fronk got an offensive rebound and swished a stepback jumper. Pernsteiner got a rebound bucket and Ruesch got a key putback grabbing the rebound after Laurissa Klapatauskas had a shot blocked. That made it 44-36 with 9:35 left. A left-hand drive by Klapatauskas, a Sophie Brost drive and score out of the high post and free throws by Krause opened up a 51-36 lead with five minutes left and Lakeland couldn’t recover.

Marissa Fronk and Krause scored 10 points apiece, Bryn Fronk scored nine and Klapatauskas and Ruesch added eight each. Brehm and Pernsteiner chipped in with four apiece. Brost and Miller scored two each.

Bryn Fronk grabbed eight offensive rebounds and 11 boards total. Klapatauskas had eight rebounds, including five on the offensive end. Brehm and Ruesch had six rebounds each. Pernsteiner had three assists. Marissa Fronk had four steals.

“Yeah, their star was out, which would’ve made a difference in the game,” Greg Klapatauskas said. “I mean if we lose Marissa, it would make a difference. But overall, we played really well. I was really happy especially after coming off of two days of practice and being off 10 days before that.”

Sophie Brost powers past Lakeland’s Joeli Koehler and scores during the second half of Thursday’s 57-44 win in Minocqua.BOB MAINHARDT/NORTHWOODS RIVER NEWS