‘Jays beat nemesis Royals
By Casey Krautkramer
The Athens varsity girls basketball team “got over the hump” on Thursday by closing out a 59-54 home win against Wisconsin Rapids Assumption.
This game was eerily similar to last year’s WIAA Division 5 regional championship in Wisconsin Rapids, in which Athens jumped out to a halftime advantage only to see Assumption storm back in the second half. This time, however, the Bluejays held off the Royals’ late second half rally to close out the victory, unlike last season when the Royals came back to defeat the Bluejays by one point to end Athens’ season. Assumption went on to play in the WIAA Division 5 state championship against undefeated Randolph and finished as state-runners up.
Athens built a 59-54 halftime advan- tage against Assumption on Thursday. The Bluejays were on fire to start the second half. Junior guard Addison Lavicka’s offensive rebound outback and junior forward Jazelle Hartwig’s basket gave Athens a commanding 50-38 lead against Assumption with seven minutes left in the game. Senior Celina Ellenbecker then took defensive charge to give the basketball back to the Bluejays.
Assumption’s tenacious full-court defense then led to its players stealing the basketball and getting fouled by Athens. The Bluejays committed 10 fouls to allow the Royals to shoot double bonus free throws any time they got fouled, which helped the Royals get back into the game.
The Royals had possession of the basketball with an opportunity to trim the Bluejays lead to only one or two points with 23 seconds remaining. That’s when Hartwig stole the ball and was fouled. She made one of two free throws to give Assumption a 5954 victory. After the game, both teams formed a prayer circle at half court, in which the crowd was completely silent while Assumption head coach Ryan Klein led coaches and players in prayer.
Hartwig was grateful she was able to steal the basketball to help her team beat its nemesis Assumption.
“Defense is a constant for me and it leads to offense,” she said. “It was a huge win. We wanted revenge.”
Athens head coach Kyncaide Keefe knew Assumption would put together a big rally in the second half of Thursday’s game, just like the Royals did against the Bluejays in last season’s regional final.
“I told the girls at halftime the game is 0-0 again,” Keefe said. “We need to start a whole new half and a whole new ballgame. We need to have a killer mentality to close out the game against Assumption.”
The WIAA is expected to release the Division 5 playoff bracket this Sunday, Feb. 12. Athens and Assumption are sure to play each other at some point in the playoffs again this season. Now at least the Bluejays are confi dent they can beat the Royals again.
‘Jays can still share North
The Athens girls leapfrogged Assumption in the wissports.net Division 5 poll this week, after the Bluejays’ big win against the Royals. Athens is ranked fifth and Assumption is sixth. The rankings were unveiled before Athens lost to Phillips, 86-70, on the road Tuesday. The Loggers swept the regular-season conference series against the Bluejays.
Athens and Phillips remain tied for first place in the Marawood North Conference with 11-2 records. Edgar helped Athens by beating Phillips on Friday. The North’s conference crossover games against South opponents count toward the North’s conference standings.
The Bluejays need to defeat the Auburndale Eagles on the road this Thursday, Feb. 9, to share the Marawood North Conference championship with Phillips this season. This is Athens’ final conference game this season, because its game at Chequamegon on Thursday, Feb. 16, will get canceled because the Screaming Eagles no longer have enough players for a team. Chequamegon hasn’t played a game since the end of December.
Phillips, meanwhile, plays at Marathon this Thursday, Feb. 16. They end their conference schedule at Abbotsford on Thursday, Feb. 16.
Borchardt will reach 1,000
Edgar senior girls basketball player Reagan Borchardt on Tuesday scored a game-high 16 points in the team’s 41-39 road win against Stratford. Borchardt only needs to score seven points this Thursday, Feb. 9, against Medford at home to obtain 1,000 career points.
Borchardt led Edgar with 26 points in Friday’s 66-60 road win against Phillips. Senior Leah Davis added 17 points.
CELEBRATING A HUGE WIN- Athens varsity girls basketball players enjoying the team’s 59-54 home win against Wisconsin Rapids Assumption on Thursday pictured, from left to right, are: Sophia Coker, Addison Lavicka and Danica Diethelm. Last season, Assumption rallied to beat Athens by one point in the WIAA Division 5 regional championship. The Bluejays held off the Royals’ ferocious rally at the end of Thursday’s game.WINRapidsSTAFF PHOTO/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER
