Too many turnovers, not enough offense in opening loss

EDGAR 45, GILMAN 22

Reducing turnovers is one of the Gilman Pirates’ main goals for the 2021-22 girls basketball season. Fortunately for them, there are at least 23 more games to work toward that one.

The Pirates turned the ball over 24 times in the first half alone and 35 times overall, yet still were in their seasonopening contest for 30 minutes. But a 19-3 spurt by Edgar in the last six minutes broke it open, pushing the host Wildcats to a 45-22 non-conference win.

The Pirates never got into an offensive rhythm but stayed close for much of the contest with some tough defense of their own. Tatum Weir blocked nine shots, Emma Grunseth denied two more and the Pirates held Edgar to 27% shooting from the field.

But Edgar’s 13-0 run in the opening six minutes and its strong finish were too much to overcome.

“We didn’t have much on the scoring front, but defensively and rebounding wise we did okay,” Gilman head coach Tammy Weir said. “We definitely have to take care of the ball better. So, we have a few things to work on to prepare for Friday.”

In the first half, Gilman had early issues solving Edgar’s 1-2-2 and 2-1-2 fullcourt traps. It took just over 11 minutes for the Pirates to finally score their first points of the year on a Grunseth cut to the basket. Ava Warner scored twice off assists from Weir and Madisyn James to cut Edgar’s lead to 13-6, but the Wildcats got a score from Malia Hoesly off a turnover and a 3-pointer from Reagan Borchardt to go up 18-6. James countered with a 3-pointer for Gilman, but that was the Pirates’ last bucket of the half, which ended with Edgar leading 22-10.

Gilman’s defense held Edgar scoreless for the first four minutes of the second half, giving the team a chance to crawl back into it, and the Pirates started to break Edgar’s press more frequently. A Hannah Vick free throw, an offensive putback by Weir and a Kya Dietzler layin off a Weir assist cut the deficit to 22-15 with 15:40 to go.

“I was happy to see us work so hard and break that press,” coach Weir said. “We didn’t handle the pressure and double teams as well as I thought we were going to, but overall, we have a solid strong base of girls to build on.”

Edgar’s defense went back to work, getting a Morgan Schnelle bucket off a turnover and a steal and score by Makayla Wirkus that pushed the lead back to 11 at 26-15.

James banked in a 3-pointer for the Pirates and Weir made one of two free throws to make it 26-19 with plenty of time, 9:38, still to go. But from there, Gilman’s offense went silent again and Edgar slowly pushed the lead back to double digits at 31-20 on two Leah Davis free throws with 5:03 left.

Davis delivered the dagger about 90 seconds later, hitting a 3-pointer off her steal to make it 35-20. Hoesly, Borchardt, Amber Skrzypcak and Morgan Streveler all hit field goals down the stretch to produce a final margin not quite indicative of how tight the game was for the middle 18 minutes.

James led Gilman with eight points, including her two 3-point baskets. Warner finished with four and Vick was three of six from the free throw line. The Wildcats closed off the passing lanes down low to Weir, who was held to just three points. Grunseth and Dietzler scored two points each.

The Pirates were just seven of 25 from the field. Weir pulled down 14 rebounds and Grunseth grabbed seven. Kayleigh James and Madisyn James had three rebounds each. Madisyn James, Weir and Grunseth had two steals each. Weir had two assists.

Borchardt led a balanced Edgar attack with eight points. Hoesly had seven, while Wirkus and Skrzypcak scored six apiece. Edgar kept Gilman in the game by hitting just 10 of 24 free throws, but the Pirates didn’t fare much better, making six of 14.

Gilman opens Eastern Cloverbelt Conference play Friday at Spencer before hosting Loyal in the home opener Tuesday at 7:15 p.m.

“Overall, I was happy to see that we didn’t get discouraged and just kept fighting,” Tammy Weir said. “This is why we have a very strong successful season ahead. These girls are going to leave it all on the floor.”

“I don’t think we had more than eight turnovers against them during that scrimmage,” she said. “We took care of the ball and we were pushing the ball up the court. We were running. We did really well taking care of the ball.”

The Pirates finished sixth in the nineteam conference, which was won again by perennial power Neillsville. The Warriors were 14-0 in league play and 20-2 overall and, as usual, will start the year as the conference favorite. But after that, Weir sees a wide-open race for 2021-22.

“The girls are all clicking really well in practice,” she said. “If we can keep that moving in the right direction, we’ll be good to go. It’s pretty equal all the way across the board. You always have Neillsville of course. But I don’t know if there’s one team that has a whole bunch of returning players. I feel like it’s a pretty even playing field this year. I think everybody has an opportunity.”

Gilman’s Ava Warner catches up to a pass that had been thrown over head during Tuesday’s second half.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS