WIAA DIV. 2 GIRLS BASKETBALL - Raiders eliminated on a tough night for the offense at Mosinee

WIAA DIV. 2 GIRLS BASKETBALL

The Medford Raiders outscored Mosinee 15-0 from the 3-point line, but not much else that needed to go right in order for them to pull off a WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal upset did and their season ended Friday with a 55-35 loss to the Indians, the third-seeded team in the sectional half-bracket.

The sixth-seeded Raiders never led, but they did stick close with Mosinee for the first 10 minutes. But they never solved Mosinee’s triangle-and-two defensive wrinkle in the first half, didn’t hit enough shots, didn’t get enough rebounds and turned the ball over too much to create a serious upset bid.

Medford’s seven-game win streak ended and it finished its season at 14-12. Mosinee ended 18-7 after surprisingly getting blown out by second-seeded Lakeland 66-40 in Saturday’s regional final. Those two teams had played a pair of three-point games in the regular season. Lakeland (22-4) faces top-seeded Rice Lake (21-5) tonight, Thursday, in a sectional semifinal at Ashland.

Medford’s season did end with a highlight. Sophomore Taylor Klingbeil scored the 15 points she needed to break the school’s single-season scoring record of 472 held since the 1986-87 season by MASH Hall of Famer Heidi Barron. Klingbeil set the new record of 473 points on a short shot in the lane with 42 seconds left.

Klingbeil had just four points with less than seven minutes left, but opportunities finally broke for her down the stretch and she scored 11 of Medford’s last 14 points.

“It says a lot about Taylor,” Medford head coach Chad Fronk said. “When we played Wausau East (in the previous game Feb. 25), she could’ve scored like 38 points. But she gave it up quite a bit. She wasn’t going crazy. Obviously it’s good to have the record, but she would’ve rather had the ‘W.’” Part of the reason Klingbeil’s scoring was limited for much of the night was the triangle-and-two Mosinee used. The Indians put two of their top athletes, Taelyn and Paetyn Jirschele on Klingbeil and Kayla Baumgartner and zoned the lane with their other three defenders.

Klingbeil had four points and Baumgartner hit a 3-pointer following an offensive rebound by Toryn Rau to keep Medford within 10-7 early. Baumgartner found ways to score twice more to keep it within 16-11, but Taelyn Jirschele, who scored 14 of her 16 points in the first half, scored on a reverse layup, got a defensive rebound and pushed the ball to Britt Fitzgerald for an easy bucket and added a steal and score as Mosinee’s 9-0 run made it 25-11. The Indians ended the first half leading 29-13.

Medford made just five of 23 shots from the field in the half, turned the basketball over nine times leading to 10 Mosinee points and gave up 11 offensive rebounds in the half, leading to 10 second-chance points.

Fronk said this was the first time all season Medford had a team use a triangleand-two against it. “That was a good game plan on their part,” Fronk said. “They packed it in. They were like, go ahead and shoot from the outside. We’re not letting you get anything down low.”

Rylee Hraby offered some hope for a comeback by starting the second half with a 3-pointer but that was the only dent Medford would make in Mosinee’s halftime lead. The Indians scored six straight points after that to go up 35-16. Hraby hit another triple, but Paetyn Jirschele scored six straight points for Mosinee after that to put the game away at 41-19.

Klingbeil’s 15 points led the Raiders. She also grabbed seven rebounds. Baumgartner finished with seven points and seven rebounds. She was a force defensively, blocking seven shots and adding two steals. Hraby finished with nine points on three second-half 3s. Rau and Laney Hraby each added a bucket.

Taelyn Jirschele had eight rebounds, six steals and three assists. She was the game’s dominant player, certainly in the first half. Paetyn Jirschele added 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Bridget Frye had six points and 10 rebounds.

Mosinee outrebounded Medford 41-30 and finished with 20 offensive rebounds. The Raiders turned the ball over 21 times while Mosinee only had seven miscues with the ball. The Raiders finished 30.4% from the field overall (14 of 46), including just five of 30 from 3-point range.

“We’re not the fastest, we’re not the quickest, but the girls play hard,” Fronk said. “We tried to match their physicality. They play physical. (Rebounding) was a point of emphasis in all three games we played them.”

Medford could bring everyone back next year, except for Rau, the team’s lone senior. The team’s 14 wins this season were the most for a Medford team since the 2019-20 team went 17-7.