Prairie Farm brings Gilman’s regional run to abrupt end

D5 REGIONAL FINAL: PRAIRIE FARM 65, GILMAN 41

After both teams survived tough regional semifinals on Friday, the secondseeded Prairie Farm Panthers used the home court energy to exert their will in Saturday’s WIAA Division 5 girls basketball regional final and pull away for a 65-41 win over sixth-seeded Gilman, ending the Pirates strong 2021-22 season.

The Panthers, who won the East Lakeland Conference with a 13-1 league mark and improved to 21-5 overall, rode a huge effort from 5-9 junior Marnie Kahl, who scored 24 points and added nine rebounds, five assists and four steals to her totals for the night. Sydney Junkans, a 5-10 junior, did some inside damage as well, finishing with 19 points and seven boards while hitting 10 of 12 free throws. Avery Hansen, a 5-6 junior added a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double.

While those offensive numbers were solid, Prairie Farm’s man-to-man defense might have been the bigger story as Gilman never really got into an offensive rhythm after falling behind midway through the first half.

“Prairie Farm shut down our outside game, so we were only able to get nine 3-point attempts off,” Gilman head coach Tammy Weir said. “We had too many turnovers the first half (14) and only three in the second half. We missed some free throws, but overall we had a strong last game. Those back-to-back games are tough, especially with the emotional, mental and physical aspect that hit us on Friday.”

Gilman needed a late surge to finally pull away from rival Thorp 38-25 in its regional semifinal. Prairie Farm nearly let an eight-point halftime lead get away against seventh-seeded Turtle Lake and trailed by one late before securing a win in a 52-49 in its Friday matchup. The Panthers will have their hands full tonight, Thursday, when they meet top-seeded McDonell Central (23-3) in Colfax in a sectional semifinal.

With nerves showing on both sides, neither team got much going early in Saturday’s final. Aubrey Syryczuk’s floater in the lane gave Gilman its only lead of the game at 2-0 two minutes in. Kahl broke a 4-4 tie with a 3-pointer at the 12:20 mark, Hansen scored off a turnover and Kahl scored in the lane at the 10:50 mark to open up an 11-4 Panther lead. Syryczuk scored again for Gilman to close the gap to 11-6 and she had the lob assist to Tatum Weir to make it 13-8, but the Pirates would get no closer the rest of the way.

Kahl’s steal led to a Hansen bucket and an Addie Christopherson steal gave her two free throws that she swished for a 20-11 Prairie Farm lead with 4:16 left in the half. Junkans got the next four points and Kahl added a hoop to build a 26-11 lead for the home team. The Pirates did get a nice runner from Madisyn James that just beat the halftime buzzer, making it a 28-15 game.

A Junkans 3 off an offensive rebound by call pushed the lead to 16 at 33-17. Weir scored seven of Gilman’s next eight points to keep the Pirates within striking distance at 36-25 with about 12:00 go. But Kahl hit a long 3 and Weir picked up her fourth foul at the 11:24 mark and had to spend some time on the bench. Prairie Farm then went on a clinching 16-2 run, getting eight points from Hansen in that run to make it 55-27 and put it away.

To their credit, the Pirates didn’t quit and outscored Prairie Farm 9-4 down the stretch after trailing by 29. Weir and James hit 3s in the latter stages of the half and Emma Grunseth had four late points.

Weir finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, an assist and a blocked shot. Syryczuk had a nice last outing with nine points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals. Grunseth had nine points and eight rebounds and James finished with five points and three assists.

Hannah Vick had two assists and two rebounds. Kya Dietzler had three rebounds and Ava Warner had two rebounds and an assist. Gilman made 13 of 30 two-point shots (43.3%) and two of nine 3s. The Pirates had a slight 29-28 rebounding edge and turned it over 17 times compared to Prai- rie Farm’s 11. The Panthers outscored Gilman by seven at the free throw line by making 16 of 23. Gilman was nine of 16. The Panthers were six of 15 from 3-point range with Kahl hitting four of them.

The loss was Gilman’s second in the regional final round in three years. Gilman has been denied sectional play since the 1998-99 season. The defeat ended the careers of six seniors –– Addysson Hopkins, James, Syryczuk, Dietzler, Vick and Grunseth –– who had a lot to do with the 54 wins Gilman has collected over the past four seasons.

“I could tell that we wanted to win,” coach Weir said. “The girls had the drive and left it all on the court. We played hard and played strong, but just didn’t have enough to finish. Great job Lady Pirates.”