RIB LAKE 57, GILMAN 45 - Redmen bring energy out of the break, earn solid win over Gilman

RIB LAKE 57, GILMAN 45

A year to the day since losing a game in Gilman that could’ve gone either way, the Rib Lake girls basketball team ended a two-game skid Thursday by leading from start to finish in a 57-45 victory over the visiting Pirates in their annual nonconference matchup. With nearly two weeks to regroup after a Marawood crossover loss to Marathon and an especially disappointing home Marawood North loss to Prentice, the Redmen used the holiday break to make some offensive tweaks and recharge mentally and the results showed.

“We were still sloppy with the turnovers and the defensive rebounding needs to be better,” Rib Lake head coach Austin Edwards said after the team improved to 6-3 overall. “But we made more shots, we got out to a hot start and we played way better defense. Gilman is not a bad team. That’s a team that is going to beat a lot of teams that we play, so getting that win, especially against an opponent that’s in our regional this year, is huge.”

“It was just about keeping the energy up in general instead of bringing it down,” said Emma Tlusty, who led Rib Lake with 16 points in the win. “Coming off a loss with Prentice was really hard for us.”

“We were very much expecting to win that (Prentice) game,” senior Addison Gumz said after scoring 10 points Thursday. “We were just kinda off. Our offense wasn’t really going good that game either. Today, we kinda figured stuff out from practice over the break.”

This year, the Pirates, who fell to 5-5 overall, were the team feeling a bit groggy coming out of the break. The last game for both teams had been back on Dec. 20.

“They took control right away and we just couldn’t catch up,” Gilman head coach Tammy Weir said.

A quick start was something Rib Lake focused on coming into the game and that was exactly what the Redmen got, jumping out to a 14-2 lead in the first six minutes.

Tlusty got the game’s first basket, Avery Niemi hit a free throw and Tessa Weik hit a short shot in the first two minutes. The Pirates also had to tweak their rotation almost immediately when Reece Weir picked up two fouls in those two minutes.

Niemi answered a long two-point shot by Gilman’s Allie Olynick with a 3-pointer, Tlusty scored twice in a row with the second time being off a Gumz steal and Gumz scored in transition to cap the early 14-2 run.

“That was the mindset in practice all during the break, we have to get off to a fast start because these slow starts are killing us,” Edwards said. “The last two games, Prentice and Marathon, we had slow starts. We said getting out to a fast start is going to be key. I had a feeling they were going to come out in a man-to-man defense. They did and that’s where we got our quick 14 points and made some really good plays off of it.”

The players said the key offensively was spacing.

“We set up wide and it really helped us a lot,” Gumz said. “That was a big thing for us. We were having troubles spreading out and getting lanes for our guards.”

No one on Rib Lake’s team penetrates better than Tlusty, and her quick start with 10 first-half points, certainly was a key to the win.

“The energy was what brought us the win,” Tlusty said. “We came out with the energy up and we left with our energy up. It’s not just me. It’s other people who bring me energy. If I make a layup or go for a drive, if I draw a foul, other people start bringing the energy and then my energy is up.”

Gilman finally settled into the game after Scarlett Stuner came off the bench and immediately hit a 3-pointer at the 8:58 mark. That started an 18-9 surge that got the Pirates within 25-22. Kayleigh James scored nine of her game-high 17 points in that surge, including a 3-pointer that cut Rib Lake’s lead to three with 1:05 left in the half. Niemi’s rebound basket with five seconds left made it 27-22 at the half.

Gumz started the second half with a stepback 3, which James answered. Tahlia Scheithauer fed Tlusty down low for a score, which Gilman’s Aubrey Steinbach answered to make it 32-27, but then Rib Lake slowly separated itself from there. Niemi scored twice around a Gumz score to make it 38-27 and a Kiana Dallmann 3pointer got the lead back to 12 at 43-31 with 9:13 to go. Olynick and James each hit a 3-pointer for Gilman, but the Pirates only got as close as nine the rest of the way.

“When they throw that secondary punch and make the game close, we have to get some baskets to keep the lead in double digits,” Edwards said. “They cut it to five at one point, and that was nerve wracking. I was thinking we need a basket here. Every time I said that, we got a basket.”

“Momentum helps a lot,” Gumz said. “Especially when you want to keep the energy up. It’s hard when you’re down 10 points for sure. When you get up like that, it’s much easier to keep it alive as a team, especially when you start getting tired at the end of the second half.”

Niemi scored 10 points for Rib Lake, Weik scored seven, Dallmann added five, Isabelle Gumz chipped in with four, Madilyn Blomberg scored three and Scheithauer added a hoop. Weik led Rib Lake in rebounds with six, while Niemi had five and Scheithauer had four. Weik had four assists and Scheithauer had three. Scheithauer had three steals and Niemi blocked two shots.

Gilman got nine points from Olynick, four apiece from Weir, Norah Noonan and Addy Vick, three from Stuner, two from Steinbach and two first-half points from Averie Olynick. Weir had seven rebounds, Noonan had five and Vick and Claire Drier had four each. Weir had five assists while Allie Olynick, Drier and Raygen Soper had two each. Averie Olynick, James and Vick had two steals apiece.

“Last year we came off of break and we played at Gilman on this date and Christmas break hit us,” Tlusty said. “We knew this Christmas break we had to work because last year we just came off Christmas break and we were dead.”

Gilman’s Reece Weir has her eyes up as she looks for a teammate to pass to before being trapped by Rib Lake’s Kiana Dallmann and Isabelle Gumz early in Thursday’s game won by Rib Lake. Official Dave Vaara also has his eyes on the action. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS