ALL-GNC GIRLS BASKETBALL - Baumgartner nabs first-team spot; Fronk gets coaching honor

ALL-GNC GIRLS BASKETBALL

The Medford Raiders’ youth drives its hopes for the future, but that youth did enough in the present to secure three awards in the voting for the 2023-24 All-Great Northern Conference girls basketball squads.

Freshman Kayla Baumgartner made a strong impact in her first varsity season and secured a spot on the All-GNC first team, while sophomore Rylee Hraby and freshman Taylor Klingbeil both earned honorable mention.

The awards come on the heels of a 1313 season where the Raiders more than doubled their win total of six from a year ago, won three more GNC games than a year ago while going 7-5 and jumped up a spot in the standings to fourth place.

The Raiders rebounded from a 2-8 start to the season against some extremely tough competition and had won eight of 10 games before the season ended in a 5734 WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal loss at Rice Lake.

That improvement led Medford’s second year head coach Chad Fronk to be voted by his peers at the GNC Coach of the Year.

Baumgartner finished the season as Medford’s leading scorer, averaging 11.2 points per game, and its leading rebounder, pulling down 7.1 boards per game while playing in all 26 contests.

In Medford’s 12 GNC games, Baumgartner scored 11.5 points per game to place seventh in the conference’s scoring statistics and tied Klingbeil and Tomahawk’s Claire Albert for seventh in rebounding with an average of 6.7 boards per game. Baumgartner also ranked third in the conference by averaging 1.6 blocked shots per outing.

Baumgartner did most of her offensive work inside, but she couldn’t be left alone outside as she knocked down 21 3-point shots in 80 attempts and was 11 of 39 from behind the arc in GNC play. Her 128 free throw attempts more than doubled anyone else on Medford’s roster. She made 75 of them (58.6%). She was 29 of 60 in conference play.

Baumgartner scored in double figures in 11 of Medford’s final 12 games, led by a 26-point, 12-rebound effort in a 57-53 loss at Rhinelander on Feb. 5. She had 17 points and eight rebounds in a 62-53 win at Northland Pines on Feb. 9 and 15 points and six rebounds in a 64-52 win at Antigo Dec. 19. She had 13 rebounds in a 62-34 home loss to Mosinee on Dec. 8 and 10 rebounds in a 74-40 loss at Lakeland on Jan. 19.

In non-conference play, Baumgartner had 19 points and 19 rebounds in a 58-48 loss at La Crosse Central on Jan. 6 and 14 rebounds in a 44-41 win over Ripon at Wisconsin Dells on Dec. 28.

Baumgartner joins three unanimous picks on the All-GNC team. Lakeland junior Kristina Ouimette earned the GNC Player of the Year award after scoring 28 points per game in GNC play and adding 7.3 rebounds, 8.1 assists, 4.6 steals and 2.3 blocks per game. Ouimette shared the Player of the Year Award last season with her sister Julianna Ouimette, who now plays for Lehigh University. Kristina plans to rejoin Julianna there after next season. Mosinee sophomore Taelyn Jirschele returns to the first team after scoring 18.3 points and dishing out 4.2 assists per game in league play. Rhinelander freshman Aubryn Clark is the third unanimous pick of the coaches. She averaged 18.0 points and 5.3 assists per GNC game.

Lakeland sophomore Ava Evenhouse added to the GNC’s theme of youth in 2023-24 by claiming the fifth first-team spot. She averaged 11.8 points per GNC game, while shooting 49.6% from the field (59 of 119). While the first team has two sophomores, two freshmen and a junior, the second team features two seniors and three juniors.

Hraby and Klingbeil were among 14 players to get honorable mention.

Hraby’s first All-GNC girls basketball award is a result of her improved play as Medford’s primary ball handler and 3-point shooting threat. She averaged 10.0 points per game overall and 10.9 points per GNC game. She averaged 3.3 steals to rank fifth in GNC play and hit 2.3 triples per GNC game, tying her with Clark for fourth in the conference.

Overall in 26 games, Hraby averaged 2.9 steals, 1.8 assists and 3.8 rebounds per outing.

Hraby sank seven of 14 3-point tries to score 21 points in a 49-34 win over Antigo on Feb. 6 and also hurt the Red Robins with 18 points in Medford’s Dec. 19 win at Antigo. She had seven rebounds in the Feb. 9 win at Pines and in a 66-36 win at Tomahawk Feb. 16, a game she had six steals and four assists in. She had four assists in the Jan. 19 game at Lakeland. Hraby had eight steals in Medford’s 55-23 win over Northland Pines on Jan. 5 and six steals in one of the team’s biggest wins of the season, a 60-40 victory at Mosinee on Jan. 26.

Hraby was five of seven on 3s in Medford’s 64-36 WIAA Division 2 regional win over New Richmond while scoring 15 points on Feb. 20. She had a season-high 23 points in a 63-60 win at Merrill on Jan. 15 and had 17 points in the Ripon win.

Klingbeil’syearmirroredBaumgartner’s as both got better as the year progressed and they became more accustomed to the physical nature of varsity play.

Klingbeil finished at 7.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game overall while playing in all 26 games. She added 1.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game. She ranked 12th in GNC scoring at 8.9 points and was second in GNC free throw percentage at 68% (17 of 25). Overall, she led Medford by hitting 69% of her free throws (29 of 42).

Klingbeil was nine of 13 from the field while scoring a season-high 19 points in the Feb. 16 win at Tomahawk. She had 17 points and seven rebounds in the big win at Mosinee and scored 12 points in the win at Pines. Klingbeil had eight points and 12 boards in the Jan. 5 win over Pines.

Additionally, Klingbeil’s 13 points and eight rebounds contributed heavily to Medford’s 60-42 win over a good Crandon squad Jan. 23. She had 11 points and a season-high 13 rebounds at Merrill and had a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double at La Crosse Central. She had 10 rebounds in the playoff win over New Richmond.

Lakeland again blew through the conference with a perfect 12-0 record. The T-Birds now own a 29-game GNC winning streak. The T-Birds were the conference’s only sectional qualifier. They edged Rice Lake 70-69 in a thrilling Division 2 regional final before losing 45-35 to Menomonie in the sectional semifinal at Marshfield.

Rhinelander went 9-3 in league play with Clark and fellow freshman Vivian Lamers logging heavy minutes. Mosinee went 8-4 with three All-GNC award winners still set to return next year.

Rylee Hraby Hon. Mention

Taylor Klingbeil Hon. Mention

Chad Fronk Coach of Year