MEDFORD GIRLS BASKETBALL - Raiders get two expected wins, now aim to upset Mosinee

MEDFORD GIRLS BASKETBALL

Playing a severely overmatched Wausau East team in their WIAA Division 2 girls basketball regional opener Tuesday, the Medford Raiders started out playing a little too nice, prompting an early timeout and wake-up call from head coach Chad Fronk just 2:04 in.

Eventually, the competitive juices kicked in and the Raiders turned steals and defensive rebounds into transition baskets and ran over 11th-seeded and winless Wausau East 75-27 to extend their season by at least another three days.

Taylor Klingbeil scored 24 points, Rylee Hraby scored 12 and Kayla Baumgartner hit double figures with 10 as the sixthseeded Raiders improved to 14-11 for the season and advanced to a regional semifinal Friday at third-seeded Mosinee (17-6).

Friday’s 7 p.m. game will be the third of the season between the Great Northern Conference rivals. The Indians, who finished 10-2 in the GNC, took the first game in Mosinee Dec. 13 53-43 and then completed the regular-season sweep with a dominant 75-51 win at Raider Hall on Jan. 31.

Medford, though, is now on a sevengame winning streak and hopes to take its best shot and see if it’s enough to pull off the upset. Friday’s winner will move on to the regional final on Saturday at 7 p.m. against either seventh-seeded River Falls (7-18) or second-seeded Lakeland (20-4), who won the GNC with a perfect 12-0 record.

The regional champion will play in a March 6 sectional semifinal, currently scheduled to be played in Ashland.

Medford slowly scored the first 14 points of Tuesday’s regional opener. But East hung around and pulled within 20-9 on a three-point play by junior post Evelyn Thome with 7:31 left in the first half. A 3pointer by Liliana Hoenisch made it 22-12.

But then in the last five minutes of the half, the Raiders finally started to assert themselves, forcing turnovers and getting out and running past the Lumberjacks. A 19-4 surge to end the half started with a rebound basket from Laney Hraby. Rylee Hraby scored off a steal, then took a long pass from Kayla Baumgartner for a layup. Baumgartner scored inside, Klingbeil scored off a steal and Rylee Hraby scored twice off assists from Toryn Rau and Laney Hraby. Baumgartner sank two free throws and Klingbeil drained a 3-pointer to give Medford a 41-16 halftime lead.

Early in the second half, Klingbeil got three steals and assisted Rau, Pilgrim and Rylee Hraby while adding a three-point play and three more buckets as Medford pushed the lead over 40 at 60-19.

Rau finished with eight points, Kiley Anderson scored seven off the bench, Laney Hraby and Aliyah Pilgrim finished with five points apiece and Laura Wegerer and Ari Kapfhamer scored two each in the final moments.

Hoenisch led East (0-18) with 11 points, while Thome added 10.

Raiders 50, Hatchets 30

As expected, Medford finished the regular season with a win over visiting Tomahawk Thursday, but it didn’t come as easily as the 50-30 final score would suggest.

Defensively, Tomahawk’s 1-2-2 zone was quite effective in the first half at taking away Medford’s inside game, even when the Hatchets’ top inside presence, sophomore Freya Alberg, left the game after picking up her third foul with 8:56 still left in the first half. Once Medford got the zone moving, it presented several good shots from the the 3-point arc, but the Raiders were only three of 14 from long range in the half.

Rylee Hraby hit one to start the scoring. Baumgartner knocked one down to make it 14-7 just after Alberg got her third foul. Pilgrim sank the third for a 1913 halftime lead after a blocked shot by Baumgartner on the defensive end. Rylee Hraby got the ball and quickly took it the other way and kicked it out to Pilgrim in the left corner.

Overall, Medford was just four of 23 overall in the half and finished 14 of 46 (30.4%).

“Our shots just weren’t falling,” Rau said after the Senior Night win. The team’s only senior, Rau was honored prior to the game. “All of the shots we were taking were good. They were wide-open 3s. You have to give Tomahawk props. They came in and worked their butts off too.”

“They packed in their zone and played a lot faster,” Fronk said. “They really wanted it.”

Rau helped kickstart the offense after halftime by knocking down an early 3. Baumgartner scored and then fed Klingbeil for a score on a two-on-one break. Rylee Hraby added a 3-pointer that made it 30-15.

Tomahawk (4-8 GNC, 11-12 overall) didn’t quit, getting two 3-pointers from Claire Albert to stay within 35-27 with six minutes left, but Klingbeil dropped in a 3ball from the right corner and was fouled by Alberg. She missed the free throw on her shot at a four-point play. Moments later, Baumgartner grabbed a missed 3 by Rau, and Rylee Hraby swung the ball back to Rau in the right corner and she swished the second try that opened up 41-27 lead with 4:29 left.

“We just talked about recognizing that they were really packing it in,” Rau said of the team’s halftime discussion. “The high post, low post, that wasn’t really working getting it in there. We just had to trust our shots outside.”

Another key to the second half was some full-court pressure Medford applied early on, that created a couple of transition scoring opportunities that weren’t there in the first half.

“Coming out of the half we decided to put a little pressure on them, just to try to speed them up,” Fronk said. “We had to do something to change the pace a little. Then I think we got gassed a little too, but we got a couple turnovers that opened it up a little bit.”

Baumgartner’s 3 with 2:55 left was the final dagger, making it 46-29 and she was four of four at the free throw line after that.

Klingbeil led Medford with 17 points, four rebounds and four steals. She had eight of Medford’s 19 points in the first half. She made eight of nine free throws. Baumgartner scored 12 points and added 12 rebounds for a double-double, Rylee Hraby had eight points, five rebounds and four assists and Laney Hraby and Pilgrim both finished with a 3-pointer apiece.

Albert led Tomahawk with 11 points, while Alberg finished with six before fouling out.

In her final regular-season home game, Rau scored seven points and added seven rebounds, three assists and three steals. Ending the regular season with six straight wins, she said the team was looking forward to seeing if it can make a postseason run.

“(Senior Night) is definitely sad,” she said. “I’m a three-year starter so it’s sad to see it end. We’re definitely excited knowing that we have one more home game. We’re ready for Mosinee, because we know it’s coming. We’re definitely going to prepare for that and be ready. We have nothing to lose.”

Medford guard Rylee Hraby dribbles around Wausau East defender Sky Pikorz and attacks the basket from the right baseline early in Tuesday’s 75-27 WIAA Division 2 regional quarterfinal victory. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS