RIB LAKE GIRLS BASKETBALL - Rib Lake girls take care of two overmatched opponents

RIB LAKE GIRLS BASKETBALL

The Rib Lake girls basketball took advantage of one of the state’s youngest teams Monday while earning their second straight lopsided victory, a 67-13 rout of visiting Chequamegon in Marawood North play.

Featuring a roster loaded with freshmen, the Screaming Eagles were without their lone senior, Jene’ Scherwinski, on Monday and were down to just two players who weren’t freshmen, junior Clare Yunk and sophomore Adison Bablick.

For the second time this season, the Redmen had no trouble with the last-place team in the North, though it took a little while for the offense to get going.

Monday’s win put the Redmen at 7-10 overall heading into the final month of the season. Rib Lake has more than doubled its win total of three from a year ago. Rib Lake is 4-7 in Marawood Conference play with five league games and seven games overall remaining in the last three weeks of the regular season.

The Redmen backed off from using any full-court pressure, instead relying on their half-court man-to-man to stifle the young Screaming Eagles, holding them to just five first-half points and forcing 42 turnovers in the game. Chequamegon got off only 19 field-goal attempts, making three.

It was 15-5 more than 10 minutes in when coach Austin Edwards’ crew finally found more consistent offense and broke the game open with a 22-0 run that gave the Redmen a 37-5 halftime lead.

Kiana Dallmann, who scored a careerhigh 13 points, got the run started with a short baseline shot. Tessa Weik scored inside and Avery Niemi’s offensive rebound turned into a 3-point make for Addison Gumz. Weik sank two free throws with 3:47 left in the half, Josie Scheithauer knocked down a mid-range shot off a baseline inbound pass, Dallmann hit two free throws and then got a three-point play off a steal with 1:52 left to make it 31-5. Weik got two offensive putbacks for baskets and Emma Tlusty got the last points of the half on a drive from the left baseline.

The run actually reached 26 points in the opening moments of the second half with an offensive rebound basket by Niemi and Scheithauer’s steal and score.

The offensive highlight of the second half was nine points scored in the final 10 minutes by junior Madison Grzanna. Her offensive stickback and then transition score off Tlusty’s outlet pass made it 52-10. Grzanna got a steal and three-point play to make it 57-10 with 9:29 left, assuring the running clock would kick in at the nineminute mark.

Weik led Rib Lake with 14 points, 10 of which were scored in the first half. Gumz scored nine, Josie Scheithauer scored seven, Tlusty added six, Niemi had five points and Tahlia Scheithauer scored four, including a late 3-pointer.

Madyson Ernst led Chequamegon (011, 3-16) with 10 points.

Rib Lake outrebounded the Screaming Eagles 40-24 with 28 of those rebounds coming on the offensive end. Weik had nine rebounds, seven offensive, Tlusty had six total rebounds, including five offensive boards and Madilyn Blomberg grabbed five boards.

Niemi and Dallmann led the Redmen with three assists each. Blomberg, Tlusty and Josie Scheithauer had two apiece.

Dallmann and Josie Scheithauer each had six steals. Tlusty had four and Weik, Addison Gumz and Isabelle Gumz had three steals apiece.

Rib Lake has an opportunity to stretch its win streak to three tonight, Thursday, when it visits 4-14 Newman Catholic in a 6:30 p.m. Marawood Conference crossover. The Redmen are busy next week, traveling to Abbotsford Monday for a rescheduled Marawood North date that tips at 7:15 p.m., hosting North rival Prentice at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday and then hosting Stratford at 7:15 p.m. on Feb. 8 in the final crossover game of the Marawood season.

Rib Lake 50, Avail 13

The Redmen smothered another extremely young squad in the Avail Academy of Minnesota, 50-13, in their visit to the Target Center in Minneapolis on Friday, Jan. 19.

Rib Lake buried the Valor with a 34-7 margin in the first half. Minnesota allows middle school-aged student-athletes to play at the high school level. The Avail Academy’s roster shows four eighth graders and a seventh grader on its roster and no seniors. The majority of the roster includes freshmen and sophomores.

Josie Scheithauer was one of two Redmen to get off to a fast offensive start in the large arena setting. She made four shots from the field, including a 3-pointer, while scoring 11 of her game-high 14 points in the first half. Dallmann had another big night as well, scoring nine of her 12 points before halftime, including a 3-ball.

Tahlia Scheithauer added a 3 in the half and Weik scored five points to help the Redmen build their big lead.

Dallmann and Josie Scheithauer both sank 3-pointers in the second half.

Weik and Addison Gumz scored eight points apiece in the win. Tlusty and Tahlia Scheithauer finished with three points each and Niemi added a first-half basket.

Avail got six points from 5-10 freshman Keira Johnson and a 3-pointer from eighth grader Berean Beck for its offensive highlights.

Rib Lake’s Madison Grzanna gets inside Chequamegon defender Clare Yunk and scores the second basket of her nine-point run in the second half of Monday’s win over the Screaming Eagles. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS