MEDFORD GIRLS BASKETBALL - Girls shoot down Rapids in OT thriller; 33-0 run decks Antigo

MEDFORD GIRLS BASKETBALL

Medford’s girls basketball team followed up its best offensive performance of the season with another good one Tuesday, particularly in the first half where a 33-0 run ended the suspense early in a 72-30 win at Great Northern Conference cellar dweller Antigo.

While building a 41-13 halftime lead, the Raiders got their fair share of transition baskets off Red Robin turnovers and by beating Antigo’s full-court press. But when they were in their half-court offense, they continued to move the ball well and make the extra pass to an open teammate.

The Raiders made most of the resulting good looks and Antigo (0-11 GNC, 2-17 overall) had no chance to keep up.

With the win, Medford got back to the .500 mark in the conference play at 5-5 and are within a game of the .500 mark overall at 10-11 with three regular-season games left.

Kayla Baumgartner led Medford’s scoring barrage with 19 points, 15 of which came in the first half. Toryn Rau scored a career-high 15 points and Taylor Klingbeil, after having to come out of the game briefly after taking an inadvertent shot to the face in the first minute, scored 15 points as well.

The game was tied 5-5 when Medford began its big run that put this one away early. The Raiders beat Antigo’s press and got an easy score for Aliyah Pilgrim. Rau hit one of two free throws and her steal led to Klingbeil’s rebound hoop. Klingbeil’s free throw moments later made it 11-5.

Baumgarter then hit a 3, Rau got a rebound basket, Baumgartner hit a long two-point shot and Rylee Hraby scored off a steal. Pilgrim hit an open 3 from the left side and her offensive rebound led to a Baumgartner triple. Rau’s offensive rebound led to a Baumgartner score that made it 28-5.

Medford wasn’t done there. Klingbeil hit one of two free throws, but Baumgartner put back the miss. Jolie Steliga found Laney Hraby ahead of the pack for an easy score, Klingbeil scored in the post and then off a steal. Rau’s free throw with 4:21 left finally ended the run with Medford ahead 38-5.

Medford put the running clock into effect with just under nine minutes left when Steliga converted a three-point play and Klingbeil’s long outlet pass gave Rylee Hraby a layup to make it 63-23.

Rylee Hraby finished with eight points, Pilgrim wound up with five, Laney Hraby scored four, Steliga had three and Laura Wegerer closed the scoring with a threepoint play in the last minute.

Tristin Arlen scored 10 points for Antigo, while AirRihanna Williams added eight.

Medford hosts Northland Pines Friday with game time set for 7 p.m. after a onehalf JV game that starts at 6 p.m. The Raiders will travel to Crandon Tuesday for a non-conference matchup at 7:15 p.m. and they’ll close the regular season by hosting Tomahawk Feb. 20 at 7:15 p.m. Seeding for the WIAA Division 2 postseason tournament will be announced Sunday.

Medford 78, Rapids 71

Offense will ebb and flow during the course of a long season, but on Friday, the Raiders showed what they are capable of on that side of the court in a thrilling 78-71 overtime win over Wisconsin Rapids at Raider Hall.

The Raiders produced a season-high in points, even before the overtime, by keeping their turnovers low, moving and sharing the basketball to get open shots and, of course, making those shots.

Medford shot 50% from the field (26 of 52) and was a season-best 44% from 3point range (11 of 25), including three monster makes in the last 37 seconds of regulation that allowed the Raiders to overcome a five-point deficit and get the game to overtime, where they outscored Rapids 9-2.

“I was really impressed with our movement,” said Rylee Hraby, who hit the game-tying 3-pointer with two seconds left, evening the game at 69. “We really moved the ball well and took care of it. There were not many turnovers (14). That was good.”

“We set a goal every time of an amount to keep the turnovers under,” said Baumgartner, who had an 18-point, 11rebound double-double and hit a 3 that pulled Medford within 67-66 with 15 seconds left. “I feel like we did a pretty good job of not turning it over. We were just doing well in our offense, looking for the open shots, taking good shots.”

Klingbeil set a career-high with 31 points while making 12 of 19 shots from the field and six of seven free throws. Her 3-ball with 37 seconds left got the lastminute rally going. Wisconsin Rapids, who fell to 7-12 at the time, didn’t come into the game with eye-popping shooting percentages, but the Red Raiders caught fire in this one as well, dropping in 10 of 17 3s and shooting 53.8% overall from the field in the second half alone to make this easily the most entertaining girls game of the season played in Raider Hall.

Medford led 27-25 at halftime, but the visiting Red Raiders quickly got to like the rim on the court’s west end, draining five quick 3s to go up 42-33. The home team, though, got back to executing in its halfcourt sets and got back within 44-42 on a Rylee Hraby 3-pointer. Baumgartner hit back-to-back 3s, Rylee Hraby dropped one in and Klingbeil scored twice in a 13-0 run that put Medford up 56-50.

Another Klingbeil basket, plus a Rau offensive putback had Medford in the lead 60-55 with 4:20 to go.

“I told the girls at halftime, this is going to be a team effort,” Medford head coach Chad Fronk said. “We’re playing as a team. I thought we played better as a team in this game. There wasn’t the selfishness we tend to have when we think we need to score.”

The momentum quickly swung back to Rapids when Kristin Radtke and Sydney Holberg knocked down 3s. Radtke scored off an inbound play and Lexi Cour sank two bonus free throws with 1:04 left to cap a 10-0 run that put Rapids on top 65-60.

Baumgartner grabbed a huge offensive rebound to keep Medford’s next possession alive and it resulted in Klingbeil knocking down a wide-open 3pointer from the top of the key behind a Rau screen. Gabby Neilitz hit two bonus throws for Rapids with 24.8 seconds left, but Baumgartner worked off a Rylee Hraby screen and got an open look from the top of the key and nailed that as well.

“We didn’t even have a play really,” Baumgartner said. “I was like ‘Rylee, just throw it in to me and if we have an open shot I’ll shoot it.’ I just shot the ball and it looked good. She gave me enough space, I shot it and I was like, ‘yay, it went in.’” Holberg missed a bonus throw with 9.3 seconds left, but the officials ruled the ball went out of bounds off Medford, leading to two Radtke free throws with 7.3 seconds left that put Rapids up 69-66. The Raiders called timeout needing three points while covering the length of the floor.

“In that last timeout, I had a 10-second play in my mind,” Fronk said. “But I looked and we only had seven seconds left. So this isn’t going to work. The girls were like, ‘what are we doing?’ I said ‘just start your offense. Pass, screen away, somebody lift and try to get one.’” The play wound up being nothing complicated as Rylee Hraby took the inbound pass brought it into the front court, crossed over once, pulled up from about 5 feet behind the 3-point line and hit nothing but net.

“We wanted to run the offense, just get like one pop off something,” Hraby said. “Then I kinda got in front of my girl and I just ended up shooting it.”

“Down there rebounding, I was like, ‘that ball is going in, oh my god,’” Baumgartner said.

Klingbeil put Medford in front for good with two free throws and then a tough shot, cutting to the rim and taking an assist from Rau. After two Neilitz free throws with 2:17 left in the four-minute overtime, the teams traded two empty possessions, then Medford was able to seal it at the free throw line in the last 1:05 as Klingbeil was three for four and Baumgartner was two for four.

Rau had 10 points and six assists in the win. Rylee Hraby scored all nine of her points on 3s in the second half and had three assists. Laney Hraby played a key role with five points and nine rebounds. Steliga hit a first-half 3 and finished with five points and two rebounds. Pilgrim had three assists and three steals. Medford assisted on 22 of its 26 field goals.

Radtke led Wisconsin Rapids with 27 points and seven rebounds. Holberg had an 11-point, 12-rebound double-double.

Taylor Klingbeil

Rylee Hraby