Red Raiders edge the ‘Cats

Marathon beats Edgar by one point

Marathon’s girls basketball team erased a 16-point deficit in the first half to upend Edgar, 5554, on Monday in an intense battle between arch-rival schools. Players from both teams skinned their knees while diving for loose basketballs on the Edgar gym floor.

Red Raiders head coach Jeff Schneider is proud of his squad’s toughness in fighting back to get the Marawood South Conference victory.

“The girls’ effort and fight was absolutely incredible after being down by as many as 16 points to start the game,” he said. “It is really exciting watching us play so hard and with so much effort on the defensive end of the floor; our defense in the second half was outstanding. Our girls’ ability to attack the basket and get to the rim made it possible for us to shoot more free throws and them having to deal with foul trouble. Edgar is a fine team and we are fortunate to get a win at their place this early in the season.”

Edgar senior Karlin Lipinski sank a three pointer to start the game, and senior Malia Hoesly scored four straight points to help the Wildcats build a 7-0 advantage. Later on, Edgar extended its lead against Marathon by 16 points on sophomore Makayla Wirkus’s steal and layup and junior Reagan Borchardt’s reverse layup. Marathon began chipping away at Edgar’s lead while the Wildcats’ Borchardt and senior Skylee Manecke were on the bench. Borchardt was saddled with early foul trouble and Manecke got injured while applying full-court pressure against the Red Raiders. Marathon senior Jenna Ashbrenner sank a pair of double-bonus free throws to bring the team within nine points, 25-34, of Edgar at halftime.

Red Raiders senior Allison Wokatsch nailed a three pointer to get the squad within one point, 35-36, in the second half. Marathon then took its first lead of the game, 37-36, on Aschbrenner’s two free throws with nine minutes, 41 seconds left. Arch-rivals

Marathon extended its lead to five points on senior Jada Prihoda’s four straight points, but Edgar battled back to almost win the game. Wildcats junior Morgan Schnelle drained a pair of free throws with 32 seconds remaining to bring the squad within a point, 54-55, of the Red Raiders.

Lipinski stole the ball from Marathon on its next possession to make things interesting at the very end. Players from both teams battled for a loose ball, which resulted in a tie-up with 1.8 seconds left. Hoesly’s long heave missed at the buzzer to give Marathon a thrilling one-point victory.

Hoeksema said this was a nice win for her team against Edgar, which it lost to in the regional championship game last season.

“It was quite the battle; this is my first year as a starter on varsity and it was really cool to experience the Marathon against Edgar rivalry,” she said.

Marathon’s players wore green wrist bands and the Red Raiders student section wore green to support the Wildcats in the loss of their assistant coach Gary Brewster, who recently died after battling COVID-19.

Both Edgar and Marathon have identical 1-1 Marawood Conference South records and they are 2-1 overall after Monday’s game. Wokatsch led Marathon with 20 points against Edgar, while Aschbrenner and junior Kali Prihoda contributed 10 points apiece. Hoeksema added nine points and Jada Prihoda six. Aschbrenner paced the Red Raiders with four steals and Wokatsch with seven rebounds. Edgar’s individual player statistics were not available.

Marathon did lose to Shiocton, 5239, on the road Tuesday. The Red Raiders fell behind, 25-14, at halftime.

Wokatsch was the lone Marathon player in double-digit scoring with 18 points. Kali Prihoda led the Red Raiders with four steals and Jada Prihoda paced the squad with 10 rebounds.

Coach Schneider said there were a few factors that led to his team’s nonconference loss against Shiocton.

“We had a few good stretches defensively but we need to keep improving our communication and fundamentals with the ball,” he said. “It was an extremely tough turnaround to travel 90 minutes each way after a tough game Monday night at Edgar. I was proud of the girls for competing as best they could and the experience will make us a better team. One of our goals is to play at our highest level of basketball at the end part of the season and we will continue to improve throughout it.”

Tigers fall to Warriors

Stratford’s girls basketball team lost, 55-21, to Neillsville on the road Tuesday. The Tigers fell behind, 25-12, at halftime.

Junior Lauren Kraus led Stratford with nine points, three blocked shots and 11 rebounds. Kraus pulled down seven of her nine defensive rebounds in the first half. The Tigers fall to 0-3 this season.

The Stratford varsity girls basketball preview story and team photo will appear in next week’s newspaper.

DONNING GREEN IN SUPPORT OF GARY- Marathon senior Jenna Aschbrenner and her teammates wore green bands on their left wrists to support the Edgar high school girls basketball program in grieving the recent passing away of their assistant coach, Gary Brewster.STAFF PHOTO/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER