Strong outing is followed by a disappointing loss to East

Tuesday’s Senior Night celebration at Raider Hall had a sour ending for the Medford girls basketball team, who couldn’t put Wausau East away and paid for it with a game-ending 8-0 run that gave the Lumberjacks a 53-46 win.

In a game that turned into a physical, turnover-filled affair after a tightlycalled start, the Raiders ultimately were done in by a plethora of rushed passes that wound up in the wrong team’s hands, some rushed shots and missed opportunities at the rim and East’s ability to hit clutch 3-pointers every time Medford seemed to be taking control.

Medford fell to 7-14 overall, while Wausau East broke a six-game losing streak and improved to 4-17.

Medford’s first attempt to create separation came midway through the first half when a Breanna Kraemer hoop, an offensive putback by Laurissa Klapatauskas and a 3-pointer from Autumn Krause gave the Raiders a 16-7 lead.

But the Raiders then went cold, started having some trouble with East’s fullcourt pressure and saw East’s Madisyn Krueger hit two 3s and Lily Messman hit another to tie it. Two free throws by Krueger and one by Messman after a steal made it 19-16 before a Katie Brehm hoop ended Medford’s drought with 3:46 left. Medford eventually took a 25-23 lead on another Krause 3, but Messman and Krueger hit triples to give the Lumberjacks a 29-25 halftime lead.

Without the injured Bryn Fronk at the controls on offense, Medford head coach Greg Klapatauskas understands the Raiders will struggle with turnovers at times and with confidence in ball handling. But Tuesday’s troubles were frustrating after the Raiders appeared to have turned a corner in Friday’s win over Northland Pines.

“A lot of people have had to step up and do some things that aren’t necessarily their strengths,” he said. “At times we’ve looked good and at times we’ve struggled with that. Players have had to play roles that might not truly fit their skill set.”

The Raiders asserted themselves after the break, regaining the lead with a 10-0 run. Klapatauskas hit two free throws and Lindsey Wildberg sank a triple. After Klapatauskas hit one of two free throws, Rynn Ruesch scored inside, took a charge on Messman on the defensive end and then putback a Lydia Pernsteiner miss to push Medford’s lead to 35-29.

East ended Medford’s run with a stickback from Hailey Valiska and a jumper by Jess Nardi to get within 35-33 setting the stage for a tooth-and-nail battle over the last 12 minutes.

“When we ran our offense, we were getting good looks,” Klapatauskas said. “All we had to do was not force shots and not turn the ball over.”

Valiska drilled a clutch 3 to put East up 45-42 with 3:30 to go, but Medford got a Ruesch score 18 seconds later and Katie Brehm capped a successful press break with a score to give the Raiders a 46-45 lead with 2:40 left.

The teams traded stops until Messman made the game-turning score and went the distance for a go-ahead layup with 1:20 left. The Raiders turned the ball over off the ensuing inbound, which eventually led to bonus throws by Messman that made it 49-46 with 55.5 seconds left. Raider Brooke Rudolph couldn’t get a shot to fall and a tie-up on the rebound went to East. Messman sank two more bonus throws with 28.6 seconds left and that was followed by a Medford turnover that led to Krueger’s final free throws.

Ruesch led Medford with 13 points, Krause scored nine on three first-half 3s and Rudolph and Klapatauskas scored seven apiece. Brehm scored four, Wildberg finished with three, Kraemer had two and Hope Faude added a free throw.

Krueger had a big night for East with 22 points, while Messman added 15.

East was 14 of 16 from the free throw line, which was key on a night Medford was called for 18 fouls and had three se- niors in foul trouble. The Raiders were just six of 14. The Lumberjacks’ seven 3s were also difference makers. Medford made four.

The Raiders wrap up the regular season Friday with a tough assignment at 21-2 Mosinee. The Indians will be trying to cap off a perfect 12-0 season in the Great Northern Conference.

Medford drew the seventh seed in the WIAA Division 2 sectional half-bracket and will host 10th-seeded Merrill (4-18) in Tuesday’s regional opener at 7 p.m. The winner goes to second-seeded Lakeland (14-8) on Feb. 25.

Medford 53, Pines 33

A 13-point first-half lead vanished early in the second half Friday, but Medford regained control after big back-to-back 3-pointers from Faude and Krause with about 10 minutes left and coasted from there to a 53-33 GNC win over visiting Northland Pines.

The win assured the Raiders of at least a .500 record in league play and completed a season sweep of the Eagles, who fell to 3-8 in league play and 7-16.

Most encouraging from the Raiders’ perspective was their longest stretches of offensive execution in some time. Medford broke down Pines’ 2-3 zone early on and, after about a six-minute struggle with some increased pressure, the Raiders were patient and got good looks against the Eagles’ man-to-man in a 21-4 game-ending run.

“I loved our half-court offense,” Greg Klapatauskas said. “When they were in man-to-man, what I loved was how we could ad-lib out of it. We would set a ball screen or set a back screen and all of a sudden someone would cut to the basket randomly and the girls saw it. They were able to read it. Maybe they’re feeling comfortable enough with the personnel now and each other since we’ve been rotating people around with people getting injured and sick. We had some continuity.”

They also had some of their best scoring balance in some time as well. Pernsteiner and Laurissa Klapatauskas led the way with 10 points each, but Krause also had nine points, Ruesch scored eight, Faude had a season-high seven and Rudolph chipped in with six. Brehm had a first-half bucket and Toryn Rau added her first varsity point with a late free throw.

Pernsteiner was the driving force behind a 25-12 start for the Raiders, scoring eight of the final 15 points in that start.

“We needed Lydia to hit some shots,” Greg Klapatauskas said. “That balance is what we need. That’s awesome. That’s what this team is. We need six people to get six to 10 points.”

Northland Pines got a little push into halftime from buckets by Emily Rottier-Douangmala off a steal and then an offensive rebound that made it 25-16. The Eagles tied the game with 15:52 left at 25-25 after getting four straight points off turnovers. It was tied again at 28-28 after a steal and score by Samantha Huelskamp, but then Medford took over.

Rudolph scored to cap a successful press break and Krause scored off an outlet pass by Ruesch to put Medford up by four. Huelskamp made a free throw at the 10:49 mark, but that was followed by a big 3 from Faude from the right wing. Krause got one to go from nearly the same spot and, suddenly, the Raiders had a nine-point cushion. Faude later got a key offensive putback with 6:02 left that made it 42-31.

“Hope had a nice game,” Klapatauskas said. “That was big. If we’re going to make a run, we’re going to need her to play well.”

From there, the Raiders put it away with strong cuts and passing on offense and shut-down defense.

“We had that (scoring balance) because I think we were more unselfish on offense,” Klapatauskas said. “By being more patient, we were more unselfish. And our defense played well. It’s been solid all year.”

Medford was 18 of 35 on two-point shots and 20 of 44 overall from the field (45.5%). The Raiders also hit 11 of 16 free throws (68.8%) for their second-best percentage of the season. Medford was well below its season average with 13 turnovers and forced 22, scoring 22 points off of them.

Rudolph led the team with six rebounds, Ruesch had five assists, while Faude had three and Klapatauskas had three steals.