Scoring balance highlights Rib Lake’s 57-34 win over Hatchets

RIB LAKE GIRLS BASKETBALL

The Rib Lake girls basketball team got excellent scoring balance, built a big first-half lead and enjoyed a relatively stressless 57-34 non-conference win over visiting Tomahawk Tuesday in non-conference play. The win broke a mini three-game slide and a run of six losses in seven outings for the Lady Redmen, who are in the midst of a four-game homestand to end the regular season. Now 6-15 overall, Rib Lake closes it out with Marawood Conference games against Prentice tonight, Thursday, and Marathon on Friday.

No one scored in double figures for Rib Lake in Tuesday’s win, but six players scored at least six points.

“It’s always nice to see everyone get playing time,” Rib Lake head coach Wayne Mann said. “We were more patient on offense and I thought we took good shots throughout the game. It was nice to see even scoring. Defensively we held Tomahawk to one shot.”

The balanced scoring came on 19 of 39 shooting inside the 3-point arc and solid 10 of 12 shooting from the free throw line. The Redmen were 22 of 56 overall from the field (39.3%) after going three of 17 from 3-point range.

Rib Lake was eight for eight on firsthalf free throws and got nine points from Molly Heiser, including a big three-point play, while building a 32-15 halftime advantage. Danielle Mann also did all of her scoring in the first half with seven points and Josie Schiethauer scored six.

Senior Tia Bube capped off one of her best games of the season by scoring six second-half points as Rib Lake outscored the Hatchets 25-19 in the last 18 minutes. Bube just missed a double-double with eight points and a team-high 10 rebounds. She made four of six shots from the field and added two steals.

Heiser had four rebounds and an assist to go with her nine points. Mann finished with seven rebounds and five steals. Scheithauer added a second-half bucket to finish with eight points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals.

All three of Rib Lake’s 3-pointers came in the second half. Kamy Annala hit one and wound up with seven points, four rebounds, three steals and an assist in the win. Addison Gumz knocked down one and finished with five points and two boards. Rebekah Strobach hit a 3 and added three rebounds and an assist.

Lauren Pelnis had six points, six rebounds and two steals. Emily Rodman had four second-half points and four rebounds. Hannah Schuh added a rebound and an assist.

Rib Lake dominated on the glass, pulling down 44 rebounds.

Claire Albert knocked down four 3s and had half of Tomahawk’s offensive production with 17 points. The Hatchets fell to 5-16 with the loss.

Rib Lake earned the 11th seed and will start WIAA Division 5 post-season play with a regional quarterfinal at sixth-seeded Gilman (16-7) Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Pirates beat Rib Lake 63-41 on Jan. 10. The winner will advance to a Feb. 25 regional semifinal against either 14th-seeded Thorp (2-20) or third-seeded Flambeau (15-5). Flambeau edged a quarantine- depleted Rib Lake team 54-42 on Nov. 19 in the second game of the season.

Stratford 44, Rib Lake 24

Rib Lake was unable to generate much offense on Thursday and dropped a 44-24 Marawood Conference crossover to visiting Stratford.

The Tigers pulled out to a 23-12 halftime lead and outscored Rib Lake 21-12 in the second half. They were led by Lauren Kraus, who scored 16 points and added six rebounds and four steals.

“In the first half, we missed three front ends of bonus free throws and we were only two of nine from the line, which was the difference in us being down by 10,” Wayne Mann said. “Hopefully we can get a few more shots on goal in the remaining games.”

Rib Lake finished six of 15 from the free throw line and got off just 28 total shots from the field. The Redmen were six of 16 on two-point shots and two of 12 from behind the 3-point arc.

Danielle Mann hit both of the 3s and led Rib Lake with 10 points and seven rebounds. Annala and Scheithauer added four points apiece. Heiser had three points, five rebounds and three steals. Pelnis had a hoop, five rebounds and two steals. Bube had a point and two boards. Gumz had three rebounds. Strobach had two rebounds and an assist.