Stratford’s next game would be ….
Stratford’s next game would be a very different match from their one with Abbotsford. Against Abby, the Tigers were able to crash the boards and get second chance points against the shorter team.
Stratford’s match against the newly minted Eagles in Auburndale three days later was a different affair, with each team’s bigs going at it in the paint.
It was a low-scoring contest for both teams, with neither side cracking 40 points. The Tigers were held to just 13 points in the first frame. Not that Aburndale was much better, with the Eagles going into halftime only up 16-13.
The Tigers defense continued to hold the Eagles in check, and Annamarie Aue was the only Eagle to score in double figures, finishing with 12.
Ackley paced the Tigers with 11 points and eight boards, but the Eagles did their best to hold Stratford’s offense down, and Emily Hughes and Makenna Leonhardt were limited to five points.
Stratford scored 18 points in that second half, but could not get the better of the Eagles, giving up 19 to drop a 35-31 decision to their conference rivals as their title hopes took a big hit.
But the Tigers are nothing if not resilient, and even though Stratford lost a tough road game to Bonduel a day later, their offense was much better in that Jan. 12 non-conference meeting.
Their defense on the other hand harda time stopping Allaina Robaidek and Kara Troxel who scored all but ten of Bonduel’s 54 points. Troxel had 21 points and Robaidek added 23, but even so, the Tigers were up 28-24 at the break.
Bonduel came back in the second half, and not even Ackley’s 22 points and Hughes’ 16 could overcome a comeback by Bonduel, who out-scored the Tigers 30-21 in the final frame for a 54-49 victory.
It was just the second time that the Tigers have suffered back to back losses, but things were different once they were back in the comfortable confines of home, where they hosted a familiar foe in Edgar.
The two teams had seen each other once before, with Edgar picking up a 52-41 win over Stratford, but on Jan. 14 it was the Tigers who were the ones delivering the drubbing.
Each side was evenly matched in that first half, and the Tigers only had an 18-14 lead going into the second half.
But one team rose, and another team fell. The Tigers rode a balanced offense to stop Edgar in its tracks, out-scoring their rivals 33-24 in the last stanza to earn a 51-38 victory and take first in the Marawood South.
Ackley turned in 12 points, but the story of the game was Lauren Kraus, who dropped in 11 points. Bailey Linzmaier added another nine points and senior guard Tanaya Schillinger pitched in with eight more points.
Difficult non-conference games with Crandon and Phillips lie ahead, along with another crack at Assumption. If the Tigers can maintain the form that carried them to victory over Edgar, perhaps this year’s team can achieve a feat not seen in Stratford in over two decades.
