Pirates pummel Greenwood to cap successful conference season

GILMAN GIRLS BASKETBALL

The Gilman Pirates used a strong start to the second half and the season’s second triple-double from junior center Tatum Weir to rout the Greenwood Indians 53-15 Monday and end Eastern Cloverbelt Conference play with a solid 11-5 record.

Gilman, now 16-7 overall, never trailed in Monday’s win and held the Indians to just six first-half points while building a double-digit lead. The offense, though, really didn’t kick in until Weir got two baskets in the final moments of the first half to open up a 21-6 lead and then the Pirates opened the second half with a huge 19-2 burst to break it wide open at 40-8.

Weir scored 16 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked 11 shots to record her triple-double. She was seven of 10 from the field and made both of her free throws. Emma Grunseth added another double-double to her collection with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

“The girls played hard and well together,” Gilman head coach Tammy Weir said. “We had a few too many turnovers (15), but we were able to keep it together and play some good defense.”

Grunseth hit two 3-pointers and Aubrey Syryczuk added one in the early going as Gilman gradually built a 17-4 lead, working around a handful of turnovers and some missed opportunities at the rim.

But after Weir gave the Pirates a little push of momentum with her last-minute baskets, they came out smoking after the break.

Kya Dietzler started it by sinking two free throws 35 seconds in for her two points on the night. Weir scored twice and then Madisyn James finally found the range from 3-point land, sandwiching two around a basket by Greenwood’s Avry Wuethrich to make it 33-8. Grunseth missed two free throws, but the rebound on the second miss found its way back to her and she scored off that. Weir sank two free throws with 13:38 left after a technical foul was called on Greenwood coach Trevor Wuethrich and Hannah Vick made one three seconds later. Claire Drier came off the bench and capped the 19-2 run with a rebound basket.

From there, coach Weir mixed and matched her lineups on the floor over the last 10 minutes and the Pirates’ lead kept growing. Drier wound up with a seasonhigh five points, as well as two rebounds and an assist. Ava Warner hit two free throws and Kayleigh James hit one.

Syryczuk drained her second 3 of the night to make it 52-10 and wound up with eight points, four rebounds, four assists, two steals and a blocked shots. Madisyn James finished with six points on her two triples, four steals, three assists and two rebounds. Dietzler had four rebounds and Vick had two.

Gilman shot 36% overall from the field (18 of 50), including six of 18 from 3-point range (33.3%), and was a solid 11 of 17 from the foul line. The Pirates forced 25 turnovers and outrebounded the Indians 38-29.

Tysen Lindner led Greenwood with four points.

Gilman wraps up its regular season tonight, Thursday, by playing at Fall Creek in the third-place game of the Cloverbelt Crossovers. The Crickets went 9-5 in the Western Cloverbelt and are 15-8 overall.

In Saturday’s championship games at Osseo-Fairchild, Neillsville (16-0, 21-2) will play the host Thunder (13-1, 22-1) in the 7:30 p.m. title game, while Spencer (14-2, 17-6) will take on McDonell Central (12-2, 19-3) in the 6 p.m. second-place game.

Gilman drew the sixth seed in the WIAA Division 5 sectional half-bracket and will host 11th-seeded Rib Lake (6-15) in Tuesday’s regional quarterfinal at 7 p.m. The Pirates beat the Redmen 63-41 back on Jan. 10. The winner will get either 14th-seeded Thorp (2-20) or third-seeded Flambeau (15-5) in a Feb. 25 regional semifinal. Gilman beat Thorp 48-42 on Jan. 3 and lost 41-35 to Flambeau way back on Nov. 29.