Lady Mounders collect pair of wins

After scoring just 32 points in an opening game loss to Boyceville, the Mounder girls more than doubled their point total as they flew past the Eleva-Strum Cardinals 75-38 in a non-conference home contest Nov. 26. They followed that up with their first conference win of the season as they traveled to Elmwood Nov. 29 and rolled over the Raiders by a score of 54-24.

 Eleva-Strum

Elk Mound showed the home crowd a lot of what they hope to do this season as they used a pressing defense to create plenty of turnovers which led to over half of their points in the game.  They jumped out to a 7-0 lead when Josie Hayes hit back to back buckets off assists from Kaysi Meindel, then returned the favor after stealing the ball and feeding Meindel for a lay up. Hayes added a free toss and after the Cardinals scored, the Mounders went on another run, this time for nine points for a 16-2 lead. McKenna McVey, Hayes and  Meindel all hit from underneath while Sarah Winchester canned a triple in the run. Anna Sessions added a deuce, Mattie Pitts drained a three ball, Katie Johnson scored from the lane and the quarter ended with Pitts feeding Meindel on a fast break layup for a 25-9 Mounder lead.

Hayes scored 12 of Elk Mound’s 20 points in the second quarter as she hit from all over the court, including four buckets in the paint, a free toss and a three ball. Sessions closed out the half with a deuce from underneath as Elk Mound held a 45-20 lead at the intermission.

They continued to roll in the second half as Winchester hit another triple to put her team up by 30 at 53-23, and McVey hit from the top of the key which was followed by back to back triples from Pitts to end the third quarter with the Mounders up 61-25. Three more players added their name to the scoring column in the final eight minutes for Elk Mound as MiKayla Olson scored on a drive, Emma Hayes hit a deuce and Lexi Grossbier canned a free throw. Johnson finished off the lop sided win with a layup.

“This feels a lot better than after the Boyceville game,” Elk Mound coach Jordan Konshaug said. “But this was a different team than Boyceville, too. We were a lot more aggressive tonight and we moved the ball up and down the floor like we wanted to do. The girls were all very unselfish and they made good choices with the ball. We had a chance to get a lot of players on the court and we showed some team depth,” he added.

After scoring just two points against Boyceville, Josie Hayes came up big with 21 to lead the Mounders while Pitts added 14 with four triples and Winchester and Meindel both collected 10 points. Elk Mound went six of 11 from the foul line while the Cardinals were eight of 16.

ELEVA-STRUM (38) H. Gibson 5-2-2-13, A. Lorenz 2-3-5-8, K. Enos 1-3-4-6, A. Severson 2-0-2-4, S. Rivard 2-0-3-4, C. Ashwell 1-0-0-3

ELK MOUND (75) J. Hayes 8-4-7-21, Pitts 5-0-0-14, Winchester 4-0-0-10. Meindel 5-0-0-10, McVey 3-0-0-6, Sessions 2-0-0-4, Johnson 2-0-0-4, E. Hayes 1-0-0-2, Olson 1-0-0-2, J. Solem 0-1-2-1, Grossbier 0-1-2-1

Three Pointers: Pitts 4, Winchester 2, J. Hayes 1, Ashwell 1, Lorenz 1, Enos 1, Gibson 1

Elmwood

Five different players scored for the Mounders in the first quarter including Meindel on a bucket and a three pointer, Winchester and Josie Hayes both with two deuces, Jamie Solem with a triple and McVey with a basket for an 18-6 lead.

“We came out with a lot of intensity and a lot of defensive pressure,” Kongshaug said. “That led to some easy baskets for us.”

The lead increased to 31-15 at the half in part by the Hayes sisters combining for 11 of the Mounder’s second quarter points as Josie collected seven and Emma four. Elmwood outscored Elk Mound in the third quarter 14-10, but the Mounders defense regained their intensity in the final eight minutes, holding the Raiders to just five points, all on free throws, to finish with the 20 point win. Meindel had 10 points in the second half with eight of them in the fourth quarter.

“It felt good to get our first conference win, especially on the road,” Kongshaug said.

Josie Hayes and Meindel tied for scoring honors with 15 points each and McVey added seven.

ELK MOUND (54) J. Hayes 6-2-5-15, Meindel 7-0-0-15, McVey 3-1-2-7, Winchester 3-0-0-6, E. Hayes 2-0-0-4, Solem 1-0-0-3, Pitts 1-0-0—3, Johnson 0-1-2-1

ELMWOOD (34) M. Brunner 3-5-6-11, A. Pax 2-2-2-7, J. VandenBerg 3-0-0-6, Je. Weix 2-0-0-4, K. Lee 1-0-0-2, M. Geraets 1-0-0-2, Ju. Weix 0-1-2-1, E. Fredrickson 0-1-2-1

Three Pointers: Solem 1, J. Hayes 1, Meindel 1, Pitts 1, Pax 1