GILMAN GIRLS BASKETBALL - Olynick’s 3s spark Pirates in regional rout; Washburn next

GILMAN GIRLS BASKETBALL

A jolt from an unlikely source got the Gilman Pirates’ offense going midway through the first half Tuesday and there was no turning back from there in the team’s 63-19 win over Lake Holcombe in a WIAA Division 5 regional opener.

Freshman Averie Olynick went on a personal 9-0 run with three 3-pointers to shoot Gilman from a sluggish 7-4 start to a 16-4 lead over the 12th-seeded Chieftains. The run ultimately went to 25 straight points, putting the lead at 32-4 and the fifth-seeded Pirates rolled from there, improving to 12-12 and extending their season by at least one game.

Olynick had made four 3-point shots during the entire regular season but ended the first half with four to score 12 points in the win. Claire Drier led the Pirates with 13 and Reece Weir added 10 in the team’s second lopsided win of the season over their western neighbors, who finished their year 8-16. Gilman dominated in rebounding, holding a 54-21 advantage and forced 31 Lake Holcombe turnovers.

Gilman moves on to a regional semifinal Friday at 7 p.m. at fourth-seeded Washburn. The Castle Guards (16-8) beat 13th-seeded Cornell 50-32 in their regional quarterfinal Tuesday. Friday’s winner advances to the regional final at 7 p.m. Saturday against either eighthseeded Prentice (12-12) or top-seeded Owen-Withee (21-4). The higher seed will host the game.

Olynick’s first 3-pointer actually came off an offensive rebound from Allie Olynick off a missed free throw by Pirate Addy Vick. Averie Olynick swished it from the top of the key. She then knocked down another straight-on 3 and then hit one just from the left of the circle for a double-digit lead.

Allie Olynick’s long assist gave Drier an easy two, Raygen Soper got a rebound basket and Kayleigh James scored off a steal, making it 22-4 and forcing a Lake Holcombe timeout with 9:36 to go in the half. The timeout did little to stop the momentum. Weir scored, Drier fed Allie Olynick for two, James hit two free throws and Drier capped the 25-0 run with two straight baskets.

Averie Olynick’s fourth 3-ball of the half, this one from the right side, made it 39-6 at halftime.

After Drier’s 3 and an Aubrey Steinbach basket made it 48-10, the Pirates emptied the bench and the reserves, including the JV freshmen, played the majority of the minutes the rest of the way.

James scored six points and had four rebounds and four steals for Gilman. Steinbach finished with five points and three steals. Soper and Allie Olynick scored four apiece. Soper led Gilman with nine rebounds, while Olynick had eight rebounds and four assists. Scarlett Stuner added four late points and two steals. Patty Kloss hit a 3-pointer and had two steals and Norah Noonan added a basket, five rebounds and three assists. Weir had seven rebounds and four steals. Vick had six rebounds.

Chloe Irwin led Lake Holcombe with eight points, six of which came in the second half.

Cadott 61, Gilman 55

On Thursday, Gilman finished its regular season by falling short in a close, back-and-forth battle with Cadott 61-55 in the fifth-place game of the Cloverbelt Conference Crossovers.

Taylor Hager scored 19 points and Kasey Moldrem hit three second-half 3pointers for nine points to lead the Hornets to a crossover win over Gilman for the second straight year. Hager's assist to McKenna Steinke for a point-blank basket with 2:20 left broke a 53-53 tie and gave Cadott the lead for good.

Gilman got 16 points from Allie Olynick and 14 from James. Olynick added seven rebounds as she and Weir did some damage together working the high and low post against Cadott's 2-3 zone. Weir scored nine points, grabbed nine rebounds and had five assists. Olynick's aggressiveness led to 12 free throws, eight of which she made before fouling out with 37.5 seconds left.

“That was a fun one,” Gilman head coach Tammy Weir said. “The girls played well and it’s always nice to play a team you don’t usually see. We just had a few too many turnovers that they turned into points and not enough defensive boards. They hit the boards offensively and turned every possession into something good. Our free throws were great.”

Gilman was 18 of 27 from the free throw line, while Cadott was 12 for 19. Cadott had a slight 37-35 rebounding edge but got 17 of those boards on the offensive end. Gilman had 16 offensive rebounds of its own.

Gilman jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead with James getting a 3-pointer and a score off a backcourt steal in a five-second span to account for five of them. That wound up being the biggest lead either team had until Hager sank two free throws with 2.4 seconds left in the game to provide the final margin of victory for Cadott.

Down 28-24, Gilman scored the last seven points of the first half to take a 3128 lead. Vick scored the first basket of that run, Weir converted a three-point play with 28.7 seconds left and, off a Cadott turnover, Stuner passed to Drier for the final score.

There were seven lead changes and six ties in the second half. Gilman went up 38-35 after an offensive rebound by James led to a Steinbach 3-pointer. Allie Olynick hit two free throws with 6:07 left and then scored off a cut through the lane and an assist from Weir for a 47-43 Pirates lead. James answered Moldrem’s third 3 of the half with one of her own to tie it at 51-51 with 3:37 to go. Weir's score off a baseline inbound tied it at 53-53 with 2:53 left. Weir's free throw at the 2:09 mark got Gilman within 55-54, but Hager's hoop put Cadott up by three. The teams traded stops and Olynick made one of two free throws with 1:00 to go to make it 57-55. The Pirates had a shot to tie but James’ mid-range jumper just missed. Cadott's Brooklyn Hrdlicka made two big bonus free throws with 14.1 ticks left to make it a two-possession game.

Vick had seven points and five rebounds for Gilman. Drier had four points and seven rebounds. Steinbach finished with three points and Soper had a second-half basket. Olynick had three assists. James and Drier had two each. Weir blocked two shots.

The Western Cloverbelt won four of the seven crossover matchups, including the first- and second-place games on Saturday in Neillsville. Fall Creek won the championship game 48-41 over host Neillsville and Eau Claire Regis took care of Owen-Withee 66-46.

Gilman’s Averie Olynick passes the ball across half-court during her big first half in Tuesday’s WIAA Division 5 regional win over Lake Holcombe. Olynick hit four 3-point shots in the half to help the Pirates take a 39-6 halftime lead. MANDEE ELLIS/THE STAR NEWS