GILMAN GIRLS BASKETBALL - Pirates’ rally runs out of steam

GILMAN GIRLS BASKETBALL

Down 16 early in the second half, the Gilman girls basketball team made a big run to put pressure on host Columbus Catholic Friday, but the Dons got a key score when they needed it and then made enough free throws to hold on for a 43-32 win.

The Dons clinched fourth place in the final Eastern Cloverbelt Conference standings with the win at 8-6. They are 149 overall. Gilman, who was looking to slide ahead of Columbus into that fourth slot, finished 6-8 in league play and slipped to 11-11 overall.

Gilman will host Cadott tonight, Thursday, at 7:15 p.m. in the fifth-place game of the Cloverbelt Conference crossovers.

In Friday’s loss, a slow offensive start put Gilman in a hole immediately. The Pirates didn’t crack Columbus Catholic’s 2-3 zone for nearly seven minutes before Allison Olynick finally scored off a Reece Weir assist to make it 8-2. Gilman got as close as 13-10 in the first half following a 3-pointer by Kayleigh James, an Addy Vick score at the end of a press break and a Vick free throw with 5:59 left. But the Dons went on an 11-0 run to push their lead to double digits and led 26-15 at the half after Weir sank two free throws with 3.2 seconds left.

Izzy Holz knocked down a 3-pointer and scored off a Pirate turnover to give the Dons their largest lead at 31-15, but a long two-point shot by Claire Drier and a shot in the paint from Weir finally got Gilman into a sense of rhythm offensively.

James sank a 3-pointer from the right side to make it 31-24 with 11:48 left, then she picked an errant pass along the right sideline and sprinted up the court for a layup.

The Dons went up by eight, but Gilman kept chipping away. Drier hit a free throw with 8:36 left. The Pirates got the rebound on Drier’s miss, but missed a handful of shots and came away empty. Still, the defense held for a stretch, James hit two free throws and Drier got a steal and score to pull Gilman within 34-31 with 4:30 still to play.

But the Dons broke Gilman’s press on the next possession and got an easy score from Chayse Blenker. Columbus got a stop, Blenker made one of two free throws, as did Drier to make it 37-32 with 3:32 left. Gilman, though, went scoreless the rest of the way and Katelyn Casperson made four of six free throws to salt it away.

James scored 11 points for the Pirates, who were left wondering what might have been had they made a handful of layups that rimmed out during the loss. Drier added seven, Vick scored six and Weir had four. Olynick and Raygen Soper added a hoop apiece.

Gilman outrebounded Columbus Catholic 35-19. Vick had eight boards, Weir had seven and Olynick and James had five apiece. Weir had five assists and five steals. The Pirates forced 19 turnovers by the Dons while giving up the ball 15 times.

But, Gilman made just seven of 31 twopoint shots, three of 19 from behind the 3point arc and nine of 16 free throws.

Casperson led Columbus Catholic with 13 points, Gracie Wilczek scored nine and Holtz added eight.

After tonight’s regular-season finale, Gilman will open WIAA Division 5 tournament play as a five-seed in Tuesday’s regional quarterfinal. The Pirates will host 12th-seeded Lake Holcombe (7-14) at 7 p.m. The teams met early in the regular season with Gilman rolling to a 75-18 win. The winner advances to a Feb. 28 regional semifinal against either 13th-seeded Cornell (6-16) or fourth-seeded Washburn (14-8) with the higher seed hosting. The regional final is set for Saturday, March 1 at 7 p.m.