Raiders stave off Tigers’ rally

Marathon picks up big home victory

By Casey Krautkramer

Jeff Schneider, Marathon varsity girls basketball coach, called a 30-second timeout with his team leading Stratford by only two points in the closing seconds of Thursday’s home game. The perfect inbounds play helped the Red Raiders beat the Tigers, 47-43.

“We just wanted to make sure we had a good inbounds play and we definitely got it to the right kid in Chloe (LaValley) because she is one of our better free throw shooters,” Schneider said. “That was great and she came through for us by making two big free throws.”

Her first free throw hit the back of the iron and went in the basket. She swished her second free throw to give the Red Raiders a pivotal four-point lead against the Tigers.

“I was pretty terrified but I knew that I just needed to zone out and put them in,” LaValley said. “I just LaValley, a senior guard this season, converted four of her five free-throw attempts against Stratford to lead Marathon with 10 points. Sophomore forward Kyla Heise added seven points in the victory. Senior guard Kali Prihoda contributed six points and she paced the Red Raiders with six rebounds against the Tigers.

Marathon avenged an early-season 44-34 road loss to Stratford. The young Red Raiders have certainly improved their play on the basketball court throughout this season. Coach Schneider is proud of how well his team played against Stratford in the teams’ second matchup.

With the victory, Marathon improves its record to .500 this season both in the Marawood South Conference 6-6 and overall at 9-9.

Wildcats 2-1 in past week

Edgar’s varsity girls basketball team lost to Wisconsin Rapids Assumption, 46-35, on Thursday at home.

Senior center Reagan Borchardt did her best to lead the Wildcats with 19 points and 12 rebounds, but she was saddled with early foul trouble against the Royals. Two of her three first-half fouls occurred when she reached over the top of an Assumption player to attempt to catch too short of a pass thrown from her teammates. Junior Makayla Wirkus added seven points and she paced Edgar with six assists and three steals in the loss to Assumption.

Edgar rebounded from Thursday’s defeat by upending Stratford, 43-37, on Friday at home. Borchardt led the Wildcats with 21 points and eight rebounds. Wirkus contributed seven points and she paced the team with five steals in the victory.

The Wildcats also won Monday’s non-conference home game against Rosholt, 49-33. Edgar now has an 8-4 record in the Marawood South Conference and is 14-5 overall this season.

‘Jays have upcoming tests

The Athens varsity girls basketball squad is preparing for huge upcoming games versus Wisconsin Rapids Assumption this Thursday, Feb. 2, and on Tuesday, Feb. 7, at Phillips which will determine if it wins the Marawood North Conference championship this season. Athens’ only conference loss is to Phillips in the first matchup this season. Phillips’ lone conference defeat is to Assumption.

Marawood North squads play a home-and-away series against their North opponents and play just one game against each Marawood South Conference team, but both North and South games count toward the Marawood North Conference standings.

The Athens Bluejays beat the Rib Lake Lady Reedman, 58-35, on Thursday at home. Junior Sophia Coker tallied a game-high 28 points and 15 rebounds. Junior Addison Lavicka added 10 points and she led Athens with seven assists.

Athens on Saturday lost, 61-49, to Division 3 opponent Somerset, which has a 14-5 record this season. Hartwig paced the Biuejays with 14 points.

The Bluejays defeated the Stanley-Boyd Orioles, 69-40, on the road Tuesday. Hartwig led Athens with a gamehigh 18 points and she also paced the Bluejays with five steals. Sophia Coker added 13 points and she led Athens with eight rebounds. Lavicka contributed 12 points and she paced the team with 10 assists. Junior Sydney Coker had nine points.

Athens remains tied with Phillips for first place in the Marawood North Conference with 10-1 records each. Athens has an 18-2 overall record this season and is ranked seventh in this week’s wissports.net Division 5 coaches poll.

CRISP PASS- Edgar junior Makayla Wirkus snaps the basketball off her wrist to senior teammate Reagan Borchardt on Thursday during the team’s 46-35 home loss to Wisconsin Rapids Assumption. Edgar junior Olystra Baumann (4) is pictured behind Wirkus.STAFF PHOTO/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER