Raiders wouldn’t be denied in semifinal win at Mosinee

WIAA DIV. 2 GIRLS BASKETBALL

Medford girls basketball head coach Greg Klapatauskas called how Friday’s WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal at Mosinee would end, but the actual execution solely came down to the players, who got senior Marissa Fronk a wideopen look at a 3-pointer, which she nailed with 20 seconds left to give the Raiders a 55-52 upset win over the regional’s topseeded team.

Fronk’s shot capped Medford’s gameclosing 8-0 run, which allowed them to dig out of a 52-47 deficit with three minutes left. The Raiders also trailed by seven earlier in the half.

But, knowing they had already won once in Mosinee this season gave them the confidence they could win there again and, with the season on the line, they came through in the clutch to get it done.

“We had our up and down moments, then to get it tied at halftime, it was, ‘hey we got this. It’s a game,’” Klapatauskas said. “They all knew it was a game and I think at that point they started believing.”

“We wanted it really bad,” Fronk said.

The final comeback started when Rynn Ruesch kicked the ball out to Fronk, who penetrated and hit a pull-up jumper in the lane with 2:34 to go. Mosinee went to a four corners offense that forced Medford to get out of its 2-3 zone and man up. A foul sent Mosinee’s Adalyn Lehman to the free throw line for double bonus attempts with 1:54, which she missed, further opening the door for the Raiders. Katie Brehm, who had arguably her best game of the season, powered down the right side of the lane to score and pull the Raiders within 52-51 at the 1:40 mark, then Fronk knocked the ball away from Mosinee’s Lexi Freiboth near midcourt. Ruesch emerged from the ensuing scramble with the ball and got fouled as she went to the rim. Her free throw tied it at the 1:18 mark. Mosinee got the ball into the front court and called timeout with 56.1 seconds to play.

“They called a timeout and these were my exact words,” Klapatauskas said. “They’re going to take a shot, we’re going to get the rebound, we’re going to get it across half court and call a timeout. Then we’re going to take the last shot and we’re going to win the game.”

Kate Fitzgerald, who led all scorers in the game with 21 points, obliged by missing a 3-pointer and Bryn Fronk grabbed the rebound. A first attempt to get it to Ruesch inside was tipped out of bounds by the Indians. The Raiders called timeout with 28.2 seconds left before the Indians could set up a trap on the right sideline.

That’s when it was time to draw up the game-winning play –– or something like that.

“I seriously do not remember the last play called,” Marissa Fronk said. “Coach wanted us to get it in and run our offense, try to get a look into the post because we still had a couple of seconds left. He was just like, ‘run it through.’ But as it got passed to me, I was wide open, so I took the 3. It was just another 3, at least I tried to think that. It was in our favor, it went in then we had to play good defense for that last 10 seconds.”

Fronk took Autumn Krause’s inbound pass and nearly had the ball knocked away. It found its way to Brehm at the right elbow. As she made a move, Fronk drifted to Brehm’s left and was all alone. Brehm found her and, without hesitation, Fronk buried the shot from the left side of the circle.

“Of course I would like to take all the credit for drawing up the play where Marissa drained the 3, but that was not something I drew up,” Klapatauskas joked. “It was all her. I was actually saying get it inside to Katie or Rynn because they’d been finishing really well tonight. But that’s our inside-out game.”

Mosinee got the ball into the front court and called timeout with 10.8 ticks left. The defense only allowed a desperation shot at the buzzer by Claire Selenske that wasn’t even a 3 and the fourth-seeded Raiders had their upset win, ending Mosinee’s season at 16-7.

“We wanted it a lot, just knowing that we were the only ones that beat Mosinee in the conference,” Brehm said.

It didn’t look good early as Fitzgerald scored nine quick points to give Mosinee a 9-2 lead. But the Raiders regrouped and stormed back, taking a 12-11 on a Ruesch basket off a Laurissa Klapatauskas assist. Mosinee re-took the lead and held it until Ruesch hit a bonus free throw with 58.1 seconds left and added a left-hand score off an inbound play five seconds later to tie it at 23-23.

Krause’s three-point play gave Medford its second lead of the night at 26-25 and Brehm’s free throw put the Raiders up 29-27 with 14:43 left. Brehm’s score put the Raiders up 31-30 and an offensive putback by Ruesch and then a steal and free throws by Marissa Fronk tied it at 35-35.

That’s when Mosinee made its first attempt to pull away with a 7-0 run that included two scores off putbacks and a Jenna Placek score in transition. Bryn Fronk ended the run with two bonus throws with 6:56 left. Ruesch answered a Fitzgerald score with a three-point play and Fronk swished a left wing 3-pointer to pull the Raiders within 44-43. Two bonus throws by Klapatauskas later gave Medford a 47-46 lead with 4:09 left, but that lead only lasted a couple of seconds as Fitzgerald hit a left-side 3-pointer and Placek converted a three-point play with 3:02 to go.

Marissa Fronk finished with 20 points and six rebounds. Ruesch had 15 points, seven rebounds, five steals and three assists and Brehm had 11 points and three rebounds.

“Katie and Rynn took another step. They finished well,” Greg Klapatauskas said.

“I was pretty nervous, as well as the whole team, but our confidence built as a few buckets went in,” Brehm said. “We played really good defense. I thought and moved our feet well.”

Klapatauskas had four points and four boards. She blocked three shots. Krause had three points and two assists. Bryn Fronk had two points and four rebounds.

Freiboth had 10 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and four steals for the Indians, who won the Great Northern Conference with a 9-1 record. Medford beat them 47-43 in Mosinee on Jan. 8.

Raider Katie Brehm gets by Mosinee’s Claire Selenske (11) and Jenna Placek and scores to pull Medford within 52-51 late in Friday’s regional semifinal win.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS