MEDFORD GIRLS BASKETBALL - Five straight wins gives Medford momentum heading into regionals

MEDFORD GIRLS BASKETBALL

The Medford Raiders didn’t score as easily as they had in their previous four games, but they clicked offensively when they had to Tuesday while earning a 49-40 non-conference win at Crandon.

Rylee Hraby scored all 13 of her points in the second half, including three 3pointers, to become one of four Raiders to score in double figures against the pesky Cardinals, who led for most of the first half. Kayla Baumgartner worked through some early foul trouble to also score 13, senior Toryn Rau had one of her most active games of the season with 11 points as well as some key rebounds and assists and Taylor Klingbeil added 10.

With its fourth straight win, Medford improved to 12-11 and got back over .500 for the first time since they were 2-1 on Nov. 29. Medford closes its regular season tonight, Thursday, at home against the Tomahawk Hatchets with a chance to tie Rhinelander for third place in the Great Northern Conference. The Raiders are 6-5 in league play, a game behind the Hodags, who are at second-place Mosinee on Friday.

Down 25-20 at the half, it didn’t take long for Medford to start clicking offensively in the second half.

Rau zipped a pass across the lane to Baumgartner for a short score off the left block. Crandon’s Alayna McCorkle answered with a rebound basket, but the Raiders then went on a 12-0 run to take the lead for good. Klingbeil started it, getting into the middle of Crandon’s zone and dropping in a short shot 75 seconds into the half. Rau ripped away an offensive rebound and fed Baumgartner for a score, then she got her own offensive putback to give Medford a 28-27 lead. The Raiders got a stop and then Klingbeil made the extra pass on the perimeter, giving Rau an open look for 3 that she nailed. Hraby then got her first points, draining a rightside 3pointer off Baumgartner’s skip pass to make it 34-27 and force a Crandon timeout with 13:39 to play.

Hraby’s second 3-pointer opened up a 37-29 lead. Crandon got within 39-35 with nine minutes left, but Klingbeil countered with a 3-pointer. After Crandon’s Briley Erdmann got a 3-point shot to roll around the rim and through, cutting the Raiders’ lead to 42-40 with 5:14 left, Hraby came right back with her third 3-pointer of the night. Ranking second on Medford alltime list for made 3s, that was the junior’s 100th triple of her career.

The Raiders did a solid job of burning clock on their next couple of possessions. Hraby beat Crandon’s ball pressure for layup that got the lead to seven with 2:40 left and she added the final basket to create the final margin.

The Cardinals, who lead the Northern Lakes Conference and fell to 18-4 overall with Tuesday’s loss, took a 17-11 lead with 6:00 left in the first half on a score in the post from Lauren Littleton. Medford tied it with a 6-0 spurt as Baumgartner hit a short turnaround and then blocked a shot, recovered the ball and hit Klingbeil with a long pass for an easy basket. Klingbeil, who is closing in on the school’s singleseason scoring record, added a rebound basket to tie it. Baumgartner’s 3-pointer gave Medford its only lead of the first half at 20-19, but Crandon ended the half with a 6-0 run.

Klingbeil is up to 417 points this season after Tuesday’s game. The school record is 472 set by Heidi Barron way back in 198687. Laney Hraby had two points in the win, scoring off an assist from her sister in the first half.

Littleton led Crandon with 15 points, while Lily Palubicki added 11, nine of which were scored in the first half.

Medford drew the sixth seed in the WIAA Division 2 sectional half-bracket and will begin tournament play Tuesday by hosting winless and 11th-seeded Wausau East in a regional quarterfinal. The winner goes to third-seeded Mosinee (9-2, 16-6) for a Feb. 28 regional semifinal. The regional final is set for Saturday, March 1.

Medford 68, Pines 29

On Friday, a fourth straight game of strong offensive production led to a 68-29 Great Northern Conference blowout over Northland Pines at Raider Hall.

It took a few minutes for Medford to find its rhythm, but once it happened, the Raiders tore out to a 40-16 halftime lead and then slowly but steadily increased their lead in the second half, dropping the Eagles to 1-10 in conference play and 5-17 overall at the time.

Klingbeil led the charge with 21 points, seven rebounds, seven steals and four blocked shots. Baumgartner recorded a 16-point, 12-rebounds double-double and Rylee Hraby scored a season-high 14 points, knocking down four of nine 3point attempts.

While Medford hit at least the high 60s for a fourth straight game, Pines couldn’t buy a basket for much of the night. The Eagles shot just 17.5% from the field (10 of 49), including just eight of 49 on two-point shots. They also turned the basketball over 28 times.

A 23-5 run in the first half broke the game open. Northland Pines actually led 5-0 to start the game and was still within 12-7 when Baumgartner’s 3-pointer got the run started. It was followed by two Rylee Hraby 3-pointers that sandwiched two free throws by Klingbeil. Klingbeil took a defensive rebound and sprinted the other way with it for a basket to make it 25-9. Laney Hraby’s 3-pointer made it 3011 and Rylee Hraby got a trail 3-pointer in transition off an Aliyah Pilgrim assist. Klingbeil’s score off a steal gave Medford a big 35-12 margin.

Klingbeil hit a couple of 3s early in the second half and Baumgartner added one to put the game away. The second half was highlighted by some contributions from the bench as junior Laura Wegerer scored twice inside and Peyton Boelk hit both of her long outside shots, a 3-pointer and she had her toe on the line for a long two-point field goal.

Pilgrim had six assists while finishing with three points. Laney Hraby had three points and three assists. Rau had a hoop and three rebounds. Jolie Steliga had six rebounds and two assists.

Vienna Klemett led Northland Pines with 14 points.