Elk Mound girls slide by SCC, defeat GC

Facing former Dunn-St. Croix Conference rival St. Croix Central Dec. 1 at home, the Mounder girls had to hang on for a 62-57 win, then went on the road two days later and had to make a late surge before defeating Glenwood City 58-47. The wins put them at 2-0 in conference play and 3-2 overall.

St. Croix Central

The Panthers were coming off a fourth place finish in the D-SC a year ago with two losses by over 20 points to the Mounders. But they appeared to be much improved this season as they begin play in the Middle Border Conference, and with Elk Mound’s starting post player McKenna McVey out with an ankle injury, this match up turned out to be much closer than expected. Sarah Winchester started the contest out with a bang for the Mounders by hitting a three point shot and added a deuce, and her second triple made it 10-1 a few minutes later. After freshman Morgan Radtke, filling in for McVey blocked a Panther shot, she scored in the paint off a feed by Elizabeth Fasbender and a free toss by Kami King made it 15-4. Winchester drained her third trey to up the Mounder lead to 19-6 and Fasbender scored on a layup for a 21-10 score. A pair of free throws by both Fasbender and King, along with a Fasbender triple made it 28-15 with around five minutes left in the half, but that would be all the points the Mounders could muster as Radtke committed her third foul, and the team turned the ball over twice while misfiring on several three point attempts to hold a 28-19 halftime lead.

Radtke scored from under the hoop to start the second half but a few seconds later had to take a seat on the bench after getting called for her fourth foul. The Panthers crawled back to within six points at 30-24 before Fasbender hit two free tosses and Allie Weber scored from short range and added a free throw for a 35-24 Mounder advantage. Central was switching defenses throughout the contest from a couple of different zones to a man to man to try and slow Elk Mound down, but Winchester connected on a short jumper, then hit a free throw for a 38-29 lead. The Mounders couldn’t pull away completely as they maintained a seven point lead for the next few minutes. Central cut that lead to four points off a steal and layup with four minutes left in the game before free throws came into play. Down the stretch, Fasbender went 4 for 4 at the line and hit a deuce in between, Winchester connected on a pair of foul shots while Weber was 1 for 2 and they pulled out the five point win.

“We played better offensively than in our previous games,” Mounder coach Jordan Kongshaug said. “We moved the ball well to get good shots. Defensively, we were solid at times but we let down our intensity in the second half. We will keep working to be more consistent,” he added.

Elk Mound hit 21 of 31 shots from the charity stripe while the Panthers were 11 of 22. Winchester led the Mounders with 21 points including four triples while Fasbender finished with 19 points with a 10 for 12 performance at the foul line. Central’s leading scorer last year, Emma Landry scored 16 in the game as did teammate Mia Krogseng.

ELK MOUND (62) Winchester 7-3-4-21, Fasbender 4-10-12-19, King 2-4-6-8, Radtke 3-1-4-7, Weber 1-2-3-4, M. Krall 1-1-2-3

ST. CROIX CENTRAL (57) Landry 7-2-5-16, Krogseng 7-0-3-16, A. Kopacz 3-2-2-10, K. Cress 2-1-2-5, J. Singleton 0-2-2-2, B. Singleton 0-2-2-2, J. Ruvelson 0-2-4-2, M. LaVenture 1-0-1-2, C. Frankiewicz 1-0-0-2

THREE POINTERS: Winchester 4, Kopacz 2, Krogseng 2, Fasbender 1

Glenwood City

Elk Mound led 32-24 at the intermission led by King with nine points and Fasbender’s seven while Weber and Winchester both scored five. After leading by 13 points in the second half, the Toppers fought back to knot the score at 42-42 before the Mounders put the hammer down and outscored them 16-5 the rest of the way. Fasbender came up with nine points in the half and King added eight with a pair of triples.

“We played well early in the game,” Kongshaug said. “We made big plays down the stretch to pull out the win. Kami had a big game for us both offensively and on the defensive side,” he added.

King led the Mounders with 17 points while Fasbender collected 16 and Radtke 10.

ELK MOUND (58) King 4-2-4-17, Fasbender 7-2-5-16, Radtke 4-2-4-10, Winchester 3-0-0-8, Weber 2-0-0-5, H. Cedarblade 1-0-0-2

GLENWOOD CITY (47) M. Kadinger 4-5-6-19, M. Peterson 4-3-7-11, J. Klinger 3-0-0-7, B. Moll 1-2-2-4, R. Klatt 2-0-4-4, G. Peterson 0-2-2-2

THREE POINTERS: King 3, Winchester 2, Kadinger 2, Weber 1, Klinger 1