Redmen give unbeaten Athens a scare, but can’t hang with Edgar

RIB LAKE GIRLS BASKETBALL

They didn’t get the win, but the Rib Lake Lady Redmen put together a solid performance against a quality opponent Tuesday in a 60-48 Marawood North loss at Athens.

Rib Lake gave the undefeated Blue Jays all they could handle up until Athens went on a 6-0 spurt with about five minutes to go that finally pushed the home team’s lead into double digits. Though Rib Lake only led on a couple of brief first-half occasions, the Redmen made several runs at the Blue Jays, getting some 3-pointers to fall, some points off putbacks and occasionally beating Athens in transition.

“Defensively we played man-to-man the entire game and we played with high intensity,” Rib Lake head coach Wayne Mann said. “This was a team that went to the sectional final last year, so we have a lot of good things to build off of.”

Lauren Pelnis had 10-point, 10-rebound double-double and led a fairly balanced attack where eight different players scored. Josie Scheithauer hit a pair of 3s and finished with nine points, four rebounds and two assists. Addison Gumz and Molly Heiser added eight points apiece. Heiser had seven rebounds.

The Redmen quickly fell behind 8-1, but showed they brought some fight by countering with a 9-0 run to grab a 10-8 lead. Pelnis scored, Scheithauer hit a 3, Danielle Mann swished a jumper and Pelnis passed to Gumz for a bucket following an Athens turnover. After Heiser’s free throw put Rib Lake up 11-10, Blue Jay Celina Ellenbecker hit a 3-pointer and Athens never trailed again.

However, a Scheithauer 3 got Rib Lake within 16-15. After Athens went up 27-20, Rib Lake ended the half with a 9-3 burst that included a Scheithauer steal and score, a jumper by Kamy Annala and two Heiser free throws with 1:12 left that made the halftime score 30-29.

Addison Gumz hit one of two free throws 32 seconds into the second half to tie it at 30-30, but an Addison Lavicka 3-pointer again put Athens on top. Athens stretched the lead to 45-36 at one point, but Rib Lake fought back again, getting a Heiser free throw and a Pelnis triple to cut it to 45-40 with 6:12 left.

But Lavicka hit a key shot for Athens, McKennzie Schug got a putback and Lavicka got a hoop and harm inside at the 3:54 mark. She missed the free throw, but the lead was now up to 11 at 51-40.

Pelnis and Annala scored off steals to cut the lead to seven, but Jazelle Hartwig got room along the baseline and Sophia Coker got a clinching three-point play off a lob pass from Lavicka with 2:06 to play to make it a 56-46 game.

Danielle Mann had two points, six rebounds and three steals for Rib Lake and Tia Bube got a late basket.

The Lady Redmen held their own on the glass with 36 rebounds. They made 14 of 34 two-point shots, but may have settled at times for long 3s and finished just three of 21 from behind the arc. Rib Lake hit 13 of 24 free throws.

While Rib Lake had some early trouble with Athens’ press, they eventually did well enough to get the Jays to pull out of it.

“I was proud of how the girls came back and played after the Edgar game,” coach Mann said. “We cut our turnovers in half from Friday night’s game and we continue to work on handling the ball. Offensively we need to put something in place to create a few more cuts to the basket.

“Overall, I was pleased and saw a lot of good positives in Tuesday’s game.”

Lavicka had a huge game for Athens, pouring in 27 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Hartwig and Coker scored nine points apiece.

Now 1-2 in Marawood play and 1-4 overall, Rib Lake hosts Marathon Friday in a tough Marawood crossover before traveling to Pittsville Tuesday for a nonconference contest with the Panthers.

Edgar 53, Rib Lake 24

The Edgar Wildcats based their success on pressure defense and it worked Friday in their 53-24 home win over Rib Lake.

Edgar got 18 steals and knocked down six of 19 attempts from 3-point range to pull away from the Redmen.

“We knew going into Friday’s game we would have to handle their full-court pressure,” Wayne Mann said. “Not only did they force us to make mistakes, Edgar also took us out of any shooting rhythm. Offensively, we will need to cut back on turnovers and not give up the ball.”

Edgar held Rib Lake to just 21% shooting from the field (eight for 38), including just seven of 27 on two-point shots. Rib Lake made seven of 14 free throws. The Redmen again improved in the rebounding department, only getting outboarded 31-30.

Mann and Gumz led the team with five points each. Mann had 10 rebounds. Bube made four of six free throws. Heiser had four points and six rebounds. Pelnis had three points and four rebounds. Rebekah Strobach had two points and three rebounds. Scheithauer added a point.

Reagan Borchard led Edgar with 12 points and eight rebounds. Karlin Lipinski and Makayla Wirkus had eight points each.

“Defensively we are going to have to transition to man-to-man to take opponents’ 3-point shooting away from them,” Wayne Mann said.

Rib Lake’s Logan Blomberg ducks under Owen-Withee defender Logan Amacher and gets to the rim early in the second half of Monday’s 57-42 non-conference loss.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS