Elk Mound girls slam Central, lose in overtime to Toppers

Playing on the road twice last week and scoring 53 points in both games showed mixed results for the Elk Mound girls as they pounded the Panthers from St. Croix Central 53-26 Dec. 4, then gave up a halftime lead and lost in overtime 56-53 at Glenwood City three days later.

St. Croix Central

Josie Hayes scored almost half of the Mounder’s points as she finished the game with 24, including 10 in the third quarter. It was a close game for the first eight minutes with Elk Mound holding a slim 9-7 lead, but they outscored the Panthers 13-4 in the second quarter as Kaysi Meindel hit a three pointer, McKenna McVey knocked down two free throws to go with a bucket and Sarah Winchester connected on one of two free tosses to go with Hayes’ five points, allowing the Mounders to take a 22-11 into the break.

Hayes seemed to be unstoppable in the paint in the third quarter, hitting five shots and with a Meindel deuce and a basket and free throw by Mattie Pitts, the Mounders had the game put away heading into the final stanza, up 39-22. The defense again held the Panthers to just four points while they added 14 in  the last quarter.

“We played a strong game defensively,” Elk Mound coach Jordan Kongshaug said. “We did a good job of forcing turnovers that resulted in some easy offense. We also did a nice job of rebounding. We struggled offensively the first half but made better decisions in the second half.”

The Mounders finished just nine of 19 from the foul line while the Panthers  were one for six.

ELK MOUND (53) J. Hayes 10-4-9-24, Meindel 3-1-3-7, Pitts 3-1-3-7, McVey 2-2-2-5, Winchester 1-1-2-4, E. Hayes 1-1-3-3, A. Sessions 1-0-0-2

ST. CROIX CENTRAL (26) M. Johnson 3-0-0-7, K. Pabst 3-1-2-7, L. DeSmith 2-0-4-4, T. Refsnida 2-0-0-4, L. Moll 1-0-0-2, K. Harrington 1-0-0-2

THREE POINTERS: Winchester 1, Meindel 1, Johnson 1

Glenwood City

Playing against a team that is much improved from last year, the Mounders held a 21-15 lead at the half as Josie Hayes picked up six of her team’s points and Jamie Solem added five. But the third quarter was a different ball game as the Toppers turned the tables and outscored the Mounders 19-10 to hold a 34-31 advantage heading into the fourth.

Elk Mound fell behind by as much as nine points but  got back to within one at 44-43 after three Glenwood players fouled out. With 1:40 to go, they went ahead on a Josie Hayes bucket off a feed from Solem, and a Solem free throw gave them a two point lead at 46-44 with just six seconds left.  But Glenwood City’s Moriah Kuehndorf scored on a nifty pass from her teammate to send the game into an extra period.

The Mounders fell behind but tied the game at 49-49 on a Josie Hayes bucket and a McVey free toss, then tied it again on two freebies from Meindel. Emma Hayes gave her team the lead with a pair of free throws of her own with 1:35 left but a Topper three ball and a free throw off a Mounder turnover gave them the lead back and a last second three point attempt by Elk Mound missed the mark, thus ending the game.

Josie Hayes again led the team with 19 points while Meindel finished with nine. The Mounders were 23 of 30 from the foul line while the Toppers were 9 of 14.

ELK MOUND (53) J. Hayes 8-3-5-19, Meindel 2-4-9-9, Solem 1-5-8-8, McVey 0-5-10-5, E. Hayes 1-2-3-4, K. Johnson 0-1-4-3, Winchester 0-3-6-3, Sessions 1-0-0-2

GLENWOOD CITY (56) J. Kopacz 6-2-2-17, Kuehndorf 7-1-2-15, J. Ullom 3-3-4-9, Ke. Knops 2-2-4-6, R. Klatt 2-1-2-5, Kr. Knops 2-0-0-4

THREE POINTERS: Kopacz 3, Solem 1, Meindel 1