Red Raiders bounce back against Cards

The Marathon Red Raiders were faced with a 22 point deficit in a non-conference road match with the Colby Hornets on Jan. 12. They had two choices - give up and concede defeat, or keep on fighting.

They chose the latter, and came storming back in the second half, closing a 47-25 gap to pull within ten at 68-58 with eight minutes to play.

“We just gotta build on that,” Red Raiders head coach Jeff Schneider said about his players comeback. “I’m really, really proud of the effort of the kids. We got down and they clawed back, and that’s all you can ask, just give a good effort.”

Hope Krautkramer, Allison Wokatsch and Ashley Phakitthong led the charge, with all three finishing in double digits.

Krautkramer scored a team high 18 points and Wokatsch added 17 and Phakitthong tallied ten points.

The Red Raiders would take a 75-63 loss with them back to Marathon, but the lessons learned from that game stuck with them as the girls team took down the Newman Catholic Cardinals at home on Thursday, Jan. 14.

It was a close contest through much of the first half. Anna Cleven worked her magic, scoring 10 points in the first frame, including going a perfect four out of four from the charity stripe.

Wokatsch added five points and the Red Raiders took a slim 23-20 advantage into the break with them. Their offensive output continued into the second half, and they matched it with lock down defense, holding the ‘Cards to just 15 points in the second frame for a 46-35 victory.

Cleven finished with a team high 12 points and Wokatsch dropped in another 10 points. Marathon got excellent production from Kali Prihoda, who added another nine points in the winning effort.

“I am super proud of our effort tonight in getting a nice win,” Schneider said later. “The girls really raised the intensity on defense when they picked up full court and applied good ball pressure. We will definitely build on the many good plays the girls made.”

The Red Raiders have a knack for peaking at the right time, and playoffs are just weeks away. Marathon hopes to recapture the form from last season that saw them nearly make the state tournament. If they play as they do, a little postseason hardware might be waiting.