WIAA DIV. 5 GIRLS BASKETBALL - Nothing falls late, Rib Lake’s year ends with a tough 43-35 loss

WIAA DIV. 5 GIRLS BASKETBALL

In an improved season where the Rib Lake girls basketball tripled its win total from a year ago, the Redmen still have run in to the occasional scoring drought.

One of those droughts hit at the worst time Tuesday when a lid seemingly covered Rib Lake’s basket for about the final six minutes, allowing host Three Lakes-Phelps to pull away for a 43-35 WIAA Division 5 regional quarterfinal victory.

Tessa Weik’s rebound basket off a missed free throw by Emma Tlusty tied the game at 35-35, but Rib Lake got nothing to fall after that. None of their eight free throws dropped, a handful of pointblank shots rolled off the rim, nor did anything from the outside.

In the meantime, the Blue Jays emerged victorious in a tightly-contested, physical, low-scoring battle by hitting eight of 14 free throws while breaking that 35-35 tie.

The win sent the 10-14 and eighth-seeded Blue Jays to Friday’s regional semifinal at top-seeded Stevens Point Pacelli (23-1). Ninth-seeded Rib Lake finished its first year under head coach Austin Edwards at 9-16.

Weik was the one player wearing maroon and gold that did have a hot hand for most of the game as she poured in a gamehigh 22 points. The sophomore hit two 3s, got several offensive putbacks and scored off some strong post moves as well.

The offense got into somewhat of a groove in the latter stages of the first half and into the early portion of the second half, erasing a 12-4 deficit and surging into the lead.

Rib Lake turned steals by Josie Scheithauer and Tlusty into baskets for Tlusty and Addison Gumz while pulling within 16-10. Weik’s putback off a missed free throw by Scheithauer made it 17-13 and Weik’s 3 got the Redmen within three before the Blue Jays got a late score from Kassidy Williams to go up 21-16 at the half.

Weik got inside position and scored twice to start the second and cut the deficit to one. Scheithauer got open down low and Avery Niemi found her, Weik sank her second 3 and Niemi hit a mid-range jumper to push Rib Lake to its first lead at 27-24. Weik scored inside to answer a tying 3-pointer by Haylee Barnekow to give Rib Lake a 29-27 lead that wound up being the team’s last lead of the season.

Three Lakes-Phelps went on an 8-0 run to go up 35-29, but Rib Lake got back to even with two Weik free throws, a baseline jumper from Gumz off an inbound play and Weik’s rebound bucket. But six missed free throws over the next couple of minutes set the tone for the game-ending drought.

Gumz scored four points in the defeat. Scheithauer had three in the final game of her solid career in a Rib Lake basketball uniform, while Kiana Dallmann, Tlusty and Niemi had a basket apiece.

Williams led the Blue Jays with 15 points, 10 of which came in the first half. Barnekow and Kaya Szews scored nine each. While neither team shot them particularly well, the Blue Jays finished with a big edge at the free throw line by making 13 of 28. Rib Lake was just five of 20.

Phillips 75, Rib Lake 36

It was a better showing for Rib Lake than the first Marawood North meeting between the teams, but Phillips again showed Thursday why it is the conference champion in a 75-36 win on the Redmen’s home floor.

The Loggers get into their transition game as well as any girls team in the area and scored 25 of their points in transition. They scored 27 points off 25 Rib Lake turnovers and, according to Edwards, had their best outside shooting night he had seen in scouting the Loggers this year. They made eight of 21 3-point shots while closing out the regular season at 22-2 overall and 15-1 in Marawood Conference play.

Edwards said he was happy with his team’s effort as the Redmen at times, ran their half-court offense well, cutting and passing their way into some good looks in the lane. Weik had a big game for the Redmen, falling one rebound shy of a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds. She added four assists. Niemi added 10 points and seven rebounds and had both of Rib Lake’s successful 3-point shots.

A Weik rebound basket made it 16-7 and a basket inside by Gumz made it 18-9 when the Loggers separated for good, going on an 18-0 run to make it 36-9. Niemi scored twice before the half ended at 3813.

The Loggers’ Alie Williams took adutes vantage of some wide-open looks in the second half, burying four 3-pointers, the fourth of which made it 66-24 with less than eight minutes to play and kicked in the running clock.

Williams was one of four Loggers in double figures. Kacy Eggebrecht led all scorers with 21 points and she had 11 assists, five steals and five rebounds. Mataya Eckert scored 19 points and had eight assists, six rebounds and five steals. Brooke Eckert added 10 points and five boards.

Josie Scheithauer and Gumz scored four points each for Rib Lake. Scheithauer had three rebounds and two assists. Dallmann and Tlusty had a basket each. Tahlia Scheithauer had five rebounds.

The teams were nearly even in rebounding with the Loggers holding a 3130 edge.