Pirates nail down third place in Eastern Cloverbelt

GILMAN GIRLS BASKETBALL

The Gilman girls basketball team locked up a third-place finish in this year’s Eastern Cloverbelt Conference standings Tuesday with a 39-28 win over visiting Columbus Catholic.

The win avenged one of the team’s toughest losses of the season, a 57-55 defeat in Marshfield back on Dec. 16, and put the Pirates at 10-5 in league play and 15-7 overall. Gilman is now a game and a half up on 8-6 Columbus Catholic and Loyal and has just one league game to play, while the Dons and Greyhounds have two more games left. The Pirates hold tiebreakers over both for the East’s spot in the third-place crossover set for Feb. 17.

Gilman’s defensive work was outstanding in Tuesday’s win. The Pirates limited the Dons to just 10 of 56 shooting from the field, including one of 14 from 3-point range, where Columbus hurt the Pirates badly in the first meeting. Columbus was just nine of 42 on two-point shots.

Gilman held a 19-12 lead at halftime and kept Columbus (10-10) at arm’s length from there.

The Pirates were absolutely dominant in rebounding, holding a 49-22 edge, but they worked through some offensive struggles as well. Gilman turned the ball over 17 times compared to just seven for Columbus, made 12 of 27 two-point shots and just two of 13 from behind the arc. The Pirates were also just nine of 22 at the free throw line.

But it was all good enough to put another key win on the regular-season résumé, heading into the WIAA’s first-ever computerized post-season seeding process that will take place this weekend.

“We got a win, but we need to work on some stuff,” Gilman head coach Tammy Weir said. “We had 17 turnovers, which was too many.”

Tatum Weir led the Pirates with an 11-point, 12-rebound double-double. She also blocked five more shots and dished out two assists. Madisyn James sank six of 10 free throws and had four rebounds and an assist in a nine-point outing. Emma Grunseth had seven points, nine rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Aubrey Syryczuk’s recent run of strong play continued with four points, eight rebounds and three assists. Hannah Vick pulled down nine rebounds, including seven defensively, and scored four points. Ava Warner had four points and four rebounds. Kya Dietzler added three rebounds.

Maggie Callaghan was the only Columbus Catholic player in double figures with 12 points. Jenna Kibbel, who lit up the Pirates for 27 points in the first meeting, was limited to just three in this one.

Gilman will finish league play Monday by hosting Greenwood at 7:15 p.m. The Feb. 17 Cloverbelt Crossovers will be held at the West sites this year. Fall Creek and Cadott are tied for third place in the Western Cloverbelt at 8-5 with one game to go.

Gilman 63, Granton 19

In the teams’ second meeting in a fourday span, the results were much like the first in Gilman’s 63-19 win Friday on the Bulldogs’ home floor.

The Pirates limited Granton to just eight made field goals in 44 total attempts, forced 21 turnovers and held a huge 51-19 rebounding advantage. The Pirates were just four of 23 on 3-point shots but they were a solid 20 of 45 on twos and outscored Granton 11-0 from the free throw line while cruising to the team’s ninth conference win of the season.

Tatum Weir posted a 21-point, 14-rebound doubledouble and blocked three shots. Grunseth just missed her second double-double in as many nights with nine points and nine rebounds. She added four assists and two steals.

James hit two of Gilman’s 3-pointers and scored eight points. Dietzler had seven points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists. Vick chipped in with four points, two rebounds and two steals.

Syryczuk hit a 3-pointer and had six rebounds, three steals and two assists. Bryn Hendricks had the team’s final triple and had three rebounds and two assists. Emma Miller had a hoop and two rebounds. Warner had a bucket and four rebounds. Addysson Hopkins had a hoop and Kayleigh James and Claire Drier each added a free throw. Both also had two assists and two rebounds.

Gilman 49, Owen-Withee 26

On Thursday, Weir scored 16 of her 22 points in the first half and added 17 rebounds to lead Gilman to a lopsided 49-26 win at Owen-Withee.

Gilman led 29-6 at halftime and, despite slowing down offensively with an uptick in turnovers, wasn’t seriously threatened in the second half while completing a season sweep of the Blackhawks.

Weir scored Gilman’s first eight points, all at pointblank range, to put the Pirates up 8-2. After a Geneva Capitillo steal and score for the Blackhawks, Gilman went on the game’s decisive run by scoring the next 17 points to build a 25-4 advantage.

It started with a Grunseth 3-pointer from the left wing, then she hit one of two free throws after grabbing an offensive rebound. Syryczuk scored and Hannah Vick hit a jumper from the free throw line. Grunseth added two more free throws, Syryczuk converted a three-point play and Weir, now starting to hit from the high post, scored twice more to get the lead to 21. Weir hit two more 15-footers to get the lead to 24 at one point.

Weir beat Owen-Withee’s zone with another high post jumper to start the second half and her elbow jumper moments later gave the Pirates their biggest lead at 39-13. That’s when the offense stalled for a lengthy stretch, but Owen-Withee only shaved seven points off the lead in that time.

Grunseth finished with a 12-point, 10-rebound double- double, Madisyn James and Syryczuk scored five apiece and Warner scored three late points. Vick finished with two.

Weir blocked four shots and had three steals. Syryczuk had five steals and four assists. James had four steals, four assists and three rebounds. Dietzler had eight rebounds, while Vick had five rebounds and three assists. Warner had three rebounds, an assist and a steal.

The Pirates held a huge 48-22 rebounding advantage but also turned the basketball over 25 times. They made 17 of 33 two-point shots and nine of 13 free throws.

Capitillo lead Owen-Withee with nine points.