Raiders survive in OT

29 lead with just under nine minutes to play. During the stretch, Medford’s halfcourt defense and rebounding were rock solid.

“We knew that Marissa was down,” junior Rynn Ruesch said. “She’s a main part of our team so we knew we had to all step up a little bit.”

A Lawrence steal led to a free throw with 8:16 left and it signaled the start of the big momentum shift. Rhinelander’s pressure got to the Raiders and the Hodags used turnovers to creep within 45-36. But Lawrence, who had scored 22 points, fouled out with 4:11, which should have been to Medford’s advantage.

Instead, five missed free throws in a span of 1:50 and five points from Ava Lamers had the Hodags within two. Ruesch’s free throws with 1:16 left made it 47-43, but Megan Brown scored off a backcourt steal with 58 seconds left, again cutting Medford’s lead to two.

“We had that stretch where we just kept throwing at nobody,” Fronk said. “Turnover after turnover.”

“I think we got into our heads a little bit, got flustered,”Ruesch said. “I think we needed to just take a breath.”

Lamers missed a 3-point attempt with 12 seconds left, Brehm grabbed the rebound and got the ball to Bryn Fronk, who was fouled with 8.5 seconds left. The game took another twist when she missed both free throws, but got the rebound and had an open layup to seal it. Somehow the ball rolled off the rim and Fronk was called for her fifth foul on the rebound, ending her night and sending Brzycki to the free throw line with 4.9 seconds left. She hit both to tie the game at 47-47. Marissa Fronk missed a tough driving shot from the left side at the buzzer, sending the game to the four-minute overtime.

“I prefer just winning right away,” Fronk said. “But It’s nice when you have overtime because you have that extra minute. It helps you say, ‘OK, it’s not like a it’s a last-second shot that we have to have. We can start running our offense again. We have more time to work the ball now.’” Medford got the ball first and Autumn Krause hit a huge 3-pointer from the right wing to put the Raiders right back in the lead.

“That was huge,” Ruesch said. “That really got us going right away.”

The Raiders held leads of 52-47 and 54-49, but an Audrey Schiek 3-pointer with 1:20 made it a one-possession game again. But Brehm, Ruesch and Marissa Fronk hit free throws that widened the lead to 59-52 and, with three starters fouled out, the Hodags became the team that turned the ball over constantly in the last minute. Lamers hit a 30-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to create the final margin.

Offensively, Medford had strong balance, led by Marissa Fronk’s 13 points. Brehm stepped up in the second half and overtime with 10. Bryn Fronk and Ruesch scored eight points apiece and Miller had seven points, including a first-half 3-pointer and her back-to-back second-half scores.

Laurissa Klapatauskas was six of eight from the free throw line and Krause had seven points, including that clutch 3. Pernsteiner and Sophie Brost gave Medford some key minutes as well. Klapatauskas had 12 rebounds, and Bryn Fronk had six. Ruesch had a team-high five assists, while Brehm had three.

After Lawrence, Lamers was the only Hodag in double digits with 10 points.

“I think our defense makes our offense work,” Marissa Fronk said. “If you’re lazy on defense, then your offense is going to be lazy and you’re going to have more turnovers. It’s just about getting after it and getting aggressive.”

Aggression is what Medford will see from Mosinee Friday.

“That’s going to be a whole another battle,” Greg Klapatauskas said. “They’re going to overplay, I’m sure they’re going to try to trap us like that. We didn’t have as many problems with their press as we did with Rhinelander’s for some reason. But we’ll have to deal with their physicality and them being up in our face.”