Strong as ever, Neillsville wins big; Gilman falls at Greenwood
The Neillsville Warriors remain the unbeatable force in Eastern Cloverbelt Conference girls basketball and the Gilman Pirates had no answers Tuesday in an 87-13 loss on the Warriors’ home court.
Ranked fifth in Division 4 in Tuesday’s WisSports.net state coaches poll, Neillsville got 26 points from Sydney Subke, 17 from Madi Davel and nine more from Braelyn Anding in its 75th straight ECC win. The Warriors remained undefeated on the season at 8-0. They are tied with Owen-Withee atop the conference at 4-0. Those teams play each other Friday in Owen.
“Neillsville is a great team,” Gilman head coach Tammy Weir said. “They’re great shooters, they take care of the ball. They had only nine turnovers. They are a fun group to watch play.”
Neillsville smothered Gilman defensively and eventually took over offensively in the first half, building a 383 halftime lead. Allie Olynick had Gilman’s only field goal, a rebound basket with 4:15 left in the half.
Reece Weir scored four second-half points for Gilman. She had seven rebounds, two assists and a steal. Averie Olynick, Allie Olynick, Claire Drier and Kayleigh James scored two points each. Addy Vick added a first-half free throw. Drier had four steals and an assist. Vick had three rebounds and an assist. Allie Olynick led Gilman with eight rebounds.
Now 1-3 in conference play, the 4-4 Pirates will close out the pre-holiday portion of their schedule Friday when they host the Loyal Greyhounds in league play at 7:15 p.m.
Indians 52, Pirates 34
On Thursday, the Pirates got out to a quick 10-2 lead, but turnovers stalled the offensive momentum and host Greenwood used its physical advantage inside to take a 52-34 win.
The Indians took the lead for good in the last minute of the first half and gradually widened it in the second half. The Pirates, though, were still within striking distance at 35-29 on an Averie Olynick 3-pointer with 10:10 to go, but an 8-1 spurt by Greenwood put the lead into double digits. A high post jumper by Allie Olynick and Drier’s steal and score made it 43-34, but Gilman was shutout in the final four minutes.
“We had 30 turnovers, 11 of which were travel calls, and we are overpassing, which led to eight turnovers,” Tammy Weir said. “We need to shoot the ball. We also need to rebound better on the defensive end. Greenwood scored 12 points off of putbacks. But, our hustle, wow, these girls can leave it all out there.”
Aubrey Steinbach opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, Allie Olynick had five early points and James hit a long twopoint shot to give the Pirates their 10-2 lead. Greenwood went on a 13-2 run, but Gilman countered with a James score off a long outlet pass from Steinbach. Steinbach sank a 3-ball and Raygen Soper grabbed a rebound and found James downcourt for a layup that put the Pirates up 19-17. Eliska Louckova’s steal led to the go-ahead basket for Greenwood’s Tylsen Lindner with 40 seconds left in the half. After a Gilman turnover, Addison Davidson scored with five seconds left to put the Indians up 22-19.
Lindner led Greenwood with 17 points. She and Tatym Travis led the Indians’ rebounding charge. While the Indians only had a 36-35 overall edge, their 14 offensive rebounds were key. Davidson added 10 points.
James led Gilman with 11 points and she had steals. Allie Olynick had nine points and nine rebounds, fouling out before she could get to a double-double.
Steinbach had six points, two rebounds and an assist. Claire Drier had three points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Averie Olynick scored three points and Vick had two. Reece Weir didn’t score but had 14 rebounds and four assists. Soper added four rebounds and two assists.
