Not enough shots find the basket in losses to Marathon, Prentice

RIB LAKE GILRS BASKETBALL

Back-to-back frustrating nights at the free throw and 3-point lines led to backto- back losses to end the regular season for the Rib Lake girls basketball team.

The last of those losses was a 60-30 home loss to Marathon in the make-up date of a Dec. 10 snowout that put Rib Lake’s regular season record at 6-17 and 3-13 in Marawood Conference play.

While Rib Lake had some success when it got shots from two-point range, making 13 of 30. But the Redmen couldn’t get any big shots from long range, making just one of 14 3-point tries and they made just one of eight free throws, which made it tough to hang with the Red Raiders, who finished the regular season 10-6 in the Marawood South and 13-11 overall.

“We did get good looks at the basket, but we just didn’t hit them,” Rib Lake head coach Wayne Mann said.

The Lady Redmen did get 13 points and seven rebounds from Danielle Mann as she was six of 16 overall from the field and had the team’s lone made triple. Rebekah Strobach scored four points and had three rebounds and two assists and Addison Gumz had four points as well.

Emily Rodman scored three points. Tia Bube had a basket, four rebounds and two assists. Molly Heiser had a bucket and two rebounds and Tiara Kestler returned to the lineup and got a basket. Lauren Pelnis had five rebounds in the loss.

Rib Lake’s WIAA Division 5 regional opener at Gilman (16-8) was postponed by Tuesday’s snowstorm and played Wednesday night after the deadline for this week’s issue of The Star News. The winner advanced to a regional semifinal Friday night against either 14th-seeded Thorp (3-20) or third-seeded Flambeau (16-6) with the higher seed hosting at 7 p.m. The regional final is Saturday night.

Prentice 43, Rib Lake 36

In front of an energetic Senior Night crowd on Thursday, the Lady Redmen faced an uphill climb from the start, falling behind 7-1, and never quite reached the top of that hill in a disappointing 43-36 loss to their Marawood North rivals. With the win, Prentice pulled into a fourth-place tie with Rib Lake in the North standings and finished the regular season at 3-19.

Opportunities were there, but, again, the big shot never came from the outside as the Redmen hit just one of 20 3-point tries. More importantly, the Redmen had ample opportunities for free points from the free throw line but made only 13 of 25 with several misses coming at key times.

“It was a close game all the way through,” Mann said. “The difference is Prentice hit their free throws and we struggled at the line.”

Prentice actually was just 13 of 27 at the line, but the Buccaneers hit just enough of them down the stretch to hold off Rib Lake’s final push that had gotten the Redmen within three in the final minute.

Prentice’s sticky man-to-man defense was a story early as nothing came easy on the offensive end for Rib Lake. Pelnis had the most success early for Rib Lake, getting to the rim for scores twice and knocking down a long two-pointer. Josie Scheithauer got a short shot to fall despite a hand in her face and Mann sank two free throws to tie the game at 11-11 with 5:34 left in the half. Prentice countered with a long two from Leah Nehls, a score from Mallory Burcaw and Carissa Harding’s offensive putback to go up 17-12 and never trailed again.

Mann hit Rib Lake’s only 3-pointer to pull the Redmen within 18-17 at halftime, but Prentice opened the second half with a 7-0 spurt to regain an eight-point edge. Rib Lake scored the next six points, including a three-point play from Josie Scheithauer, to make it 25-23 with 8:50 left. Prentice got those six right back on two scores from Kali Heikkinen and one from Burcaw. The Redmen slowly closed the gap to 34-30 on a Mann hoop with 3:10 to go, but Heikkinen sank two bonus free throws with 2:59 to go and Leah Thums got a hoop and harm with 2:20 to go, but missed the free throw.

Pelnis and Mann did sink two free throws apiece to get Rib Lake within 38-34 with 1:39 left. After Prentice’s Lydia Harding missed two free throws and Heikkinen missed a potential putback, Kamy Annala hit one of two free throws for Rib Lake with 1:18 left. She hit one of two again with 56.5 seconds left to offset a Lydia Harding free throw to make it 39-36.

A tie-up six seconds later went to Prentice on the alternating possession, then Pelnis almost came up with a huge steal for Rib Lake at midcourt, but she couldn’t quite get the ball controlled and Burcaw wound up making it a two-possession game again by making one of two free throws with 40.8 seconds to go. Heikkinen then put it away by making two more with 18.6 seconds after a Scheithauer miss on Rib Lake’s end.

Pelnis finished with a 13-point, 14-rebound double-double to lead Rib Lake on five-of-12 shooting from the field. She also had three steals. Mann scored nine points and had four steals and two boards. Those two hit seven of eight three throws combined. Scheithauer added seven points and three rebounds. Annala had three points and three rebounds. Addison Gumz had three points, six rebounds and two assists. Heiser had a point and three rebounds. Strobach had three rebounds off the bench.

Heikkinen led Prentice with 14 points, while Burcaw finished with 11.