Lady Mounders need overtime to pull out win over Bulldogs

After losing by 10 points to Boyceville in the first game of the season, the Elk Mound girls’ basketball team got a little revenge when they came from behind for a 53-45 overtime win on their home court Jan. 17. The win brings the Mounders record to 11-3 with all three losses coming in conference games.

Scoring just three points in the first quarter doesn’t usually keep you in a game, especially against a team the caliber of Boyceville. But after ending the quarter down 11-3, Elk Mound got a wake up call and with help from 10 points by Kaysi Meindel (who scored all three points for her team in that first stanza), they outscored the Bulldogs 18-9 and went into the break up by one at 21-20.

“We got off to a slow start but we picked our energy level up in the second quarter,” Elk Mound coach Jordan Kongshaug said.

Meindel was shut out the second half but Josie Hayes came up with seven of her teams 11 points in the third quarter, leaving the Mounders with a four point lead at 32-28 heading into what everyone assumed was the last eight minutes.

Although the Mounders held Boyceville’s leading scorer Abbey Bird to nine points in the game, they were having a tough time keeping Bulldog post player April Lake in check. Lake finished the game with a game high 20 points, six of them in the fourth quarter and Elk Mound found themselves behind by two points with 11 seconds to go. Freshman McKenna McVey came up with a huge rebound on a missed free throw by her teammate and put the ball in the hoop to send the game into overtime with the score at 42-42.

Josie Hayes came up with the only triple of the game for the Mounders to give them some breathing room in the extra period, and with both Meindel and McVey adding four points, the Mounders defense stepped up to hold Boyceville to just three points, allowing them to earn the hard fought win.

“I was proud of how our kids kept their composure in overtime,” Kongshaug said. “It was a big win for us, especially after losing to them earlier in the season.”

Meindel led the Mounders in scoring with 17 points and Hayes added 15. The team went 14 for 22 from the charity stripe while Boyceville was 10 for 17.

ELK MOUND (53) Meindel 7-3-4-17, J. Hayes 5-4-6-15, McVey 3-3-4-9, S. Winchester 2-1-3-5, J. Solem 1-2-2-4, E. Hayes 1-0-1-2, M. Pitts 0-1-2-1

BOYCEVILLE (45) Lake 8-4-7-20, Bird 4-0-0-9, B. Blaser 1-6-10-8, K. Franseen 3-0-0-6, K. Merten 1-0-0-2

THREE POINTERS: J. Hayes 1, Bird 1