Pirates beaten late at the line and late on a 3 by Rockets and Dons

A three-game stretch of frustration for the Gilman girls basketball team started with two gut-wrenching three-point losses. It ended Tuesday with a simple lack of offense.

The Wittenberg-Birnamwood Chargers, coached by Gilman alum Nick Mechelke and a schedule replacement for the Owen-Withee Blackhawks who had to pull out of the night’s originallyscheduled matchup, came to town and shut down Gilman’s attack in a 58-21 decision.

The Chargers led 30-12 at halftime and outscored Gilman 28-9 in the second half to improve to 11-2. They are a two-seed in the upcoming WIAA Division post-season tournament.

Gilman fell to 5-8 with its third straight defeat. Statistics were not available at press time.

The Pirates are scheduled to wrap up their regular season Friday with a 5:45 p.m. game at Loyal. The contest will be game one in a girls/boys doubleheader between the schools.

From there it’s on to the WIAA Division 5 post-season. Gilman drew the fourseed in its seven-team regional bracket and will host fifth-seeded New Auburn (6-10) at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the first round. The winner heads to top-seeded Mc-Donell Central (8-3) for a regional semifinal on Friday, Feb. 12.

Spencer 51, Gilman 48

The week’s frustration reached a high point Saturday afternoon when a game Gilman was on the cusp of controlling several times got away late at the free throw line in a 51-48 defeat at Spencer.

The Rockets overcame a 47-43 deficit with a game-closing 8-1 run with all of those points coming at the free throw line. Spencer didn’t have a huge scoring advantage at the line. The Rockets were 16 of 29, while Gilman was 12 of 26. The timing of Spencer’s makes and Gilman’s misses, however, was crucial.

“It was an aggressive game,” head coach Tammy Weir said. “We had 15 turnovers. We were able to force 17 turnovers on Spencer. We played excellent man-to-man defense, but we couldn’t catch a break on the calls. We missed too many free throws again. That and the turnovers was the game right there.”

Gilman switched from its zone defense to man-to-man early in the game after Spencer got a couple of easy baskets. That move paid off as the Pirates went on a 12-3 surge to go ahead 16-9. Spencer fought back to tie it at 17-17, but Gilman’s relentless offensive rebounding led to free throws for Emma Grunseth and Tatum Weir. Weir’s bucket with 10 seconds left put the Pirates up 21-17 at the break.

Gilman’s lead hit 25-20 on a Madisyn James 3-pointer, but Spencer’s Heavyn Kind answered with one of her own. The Rockets tightened up their rebounding issues and the game went back and forth over the final 16 minutes. A Grunseth hoop and Weir free throw opened up a 30-24 lead with 14:20 to go, but Spencer came back with six straight points. Grunseth’s free throws and a Kya Dietzler hoop off a Grunseth assist gave the Pirates a 34-30 lead, but baskets by Amber Becker and Kind tied it again.

Gilman led by three on three occasions, but Spencer tied it at 41-41 on a Madison Knecht 3-pointer with about 4:30 to go. James assisted on a basket by Weir and then she scored a transition basket on an assist by Katelynn Schmitt to give Gilman a 45-41 lead. Kind scored for Spencer, then Grunseth buried a long two-point shot from the corner with 2:34 left to give Gilman its 47-43 lead.

Zalexis Mannigel hit two free throws with 2:17 left, then Becker hit one of two with 1:47 to go to leave Gilman with a one-point lead. A tough call on Schmitt on a sideline collision with Kind resulted in her fifth foul with 1:36 left and Kind’s tying free throw.

Grunseth broke the tie by making one of two free throws with 1:19 to go, but Kind hit two 10 seconds later to put the Rockets up 49-48. The Pirates turned it over twice and Mannigel and Becker each hit a free throw, keeping it a onepossession game, but a Weir miss inside and then a desperation 3-point heave by James at the buzzer came up short.

Gilman outrebounded Spencer 46-30 with 21 of those boards coming on the offensive end. Weir had 18 points and 12 rebounds, while Grunseth had 14 points and 18 boards. Grunseth and James had four assists each. James finished with nine points. Dietzler added four points, Hannah Vick had two and Schmitt had one point to go with three steals and an assist. Vick had eight rebounds. Six of them were offensive.

Kind had a game-high 22 points to lead Spencer. Gilman and Spencer are currently tied with 4-7 records in the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference.

Columbus 33, Gilman 30

Hailey Zimmeran’s 3-pointer from the left corner with three seconds left capped a last-minute comeback by Columbus Catholic, who escaped Gilman with a 33-30 victory in another defensive struggle between the teams.

Maggie Callahan tied the game at 30-30 with 33 seconds with a 3-pointer for Columbus. The Lady Dons forced a Gilman turnover with 21 seconds left, setting up Zimmerman’s winning shot off an open look against the Pirates’ zone defense.

Gilman held Columbus Catholic scoreless over the first 9:56 of the second half as its aggressive 3-2 zone with occasional traps gave the Dons plenty of offensive trouble. But the Dons, using a man-to-man plan that sagged in the middle, limited Gilman’s inside game and, despite 14 points and four 3-pointers from James, the Pirates weren’t quite able to score enough.

“It was another good one, a very defensive game,” coach Weir said. “They were tall and we had a tough time getting our passes through them. We took care of the ball with only 10 turnovers, but were unable to capitalize on their turnovers and they beat us on the boards with some nice putbacks that we should’ve had on the defensive end.”

Down 18-14 to start the second half, Gilman got an early baseline jumper from Schmitt and a triple from James to take its first lead at 19-18. James pushed the lead to three with a steal and score. But the Pirates couldn’t extend the lead any farther and Zimmerman finally ended the Columbus drought with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. She followed with a mid-range jumper that put the visitors back on top 23-21.

James sank her last long ball at the 7:12 mark to put Gilman back on top, but the Dons got offensive putbacks from Emmalee Jicinsky and Raella Schueller to go up 27-24. Schmitt scored for the Pirates, then Dietzler got her only basket of the night off a baseline inbound play to give Gilman a 28-27 lead with 4:20 to go.

Grunseth’s offensive rebound produced a three-point opportunity with 2:42. The free throw missed but Gilman still led by three.

Zimmerman missed a couple of 3s and Columbus Catholic had to foul four times to get Gilman into the bonus, but it paid off when the Pirates missed two front ends.

Columbus Catholic got out to an 8-2 lead, which Gilman cut to 8-7 on a James 3 and later to 16-14 on two Weir free throws with 37 seconds left in the half.

Weir was held to eight points, Schmitt scored four and Grunseth was held to just two. Weir had 11 rebounds, while Schmitt and Grunseth had five apiece. Weir blocked five shots. Columbus outrebounded the Pirates 29-27. Gilman forced 18 turnovers. Grunseth and James each had three steals. Schmitt had two assists.

Zimmerman scored 14 and hit four 3s to lead Columbus Catholic, who also beat Gilman 36-29 on Jan. 18.

Gilman’s Isaac Wininger gets between Colby defenders Tucker Meyer (l.) and Caden Healy and puts up a floater in the lane during the first half of Monday’s 63-51 loss.DONALD WATSON/THE STAR NEWS