Lady Bulldogs struggle offensively, fall to Mounders
ELK MOUND — After suffering a humbling home loss to Colfax in its previous contest, the Boyceville girls’ basketball squad showed improvement when it played the Dunn-St. Croix’ other co-leader, Elk Mound, last Thursday, December 17.
Unfortunately, turnovers and frigid shooting resulted in a 22-point loss in Elk Mound as the Mounders stayed tied for the conference lead with a 56-34 victory.
Elk Mound and Colfax, a 48-41 winner over Spring Valley that same evening, share the top spot in the D-SC standings with unblemished 4-0 records.
The loss, meanwhile, dropped Boyceville’s record to 1-3 in conference play and 1-5 overall.
The Mounders received scoring contributions from eight players including three in double digits. Elizabeth Fasbender led Elk Mound players and all scorers with 16 points. Teammates McKenna McVey and Morgan Radtke tallied 14 and 11 points, respectively, in the win.
Junior Madysn Riek was Boyceville’s top offensive contributor with 13 points, eight of which came in the second half.
“We played better (than the Colfax game),” said Boyceville’s head coach Jolene Bird. “But we had too many turnovers and had another poor night shooting the ball.”
The Lady Bulldogs finished just 10 of 45 shooting for an average of 22 percent. They were a collective 8 of 29 from two-point range and a chilling 2 for 16 from the three-point arc (12.5 percent). Boyceville did knock down 12 of 17 free throws but Elk Mound had 23 chances from the charity stripe and netted 13.
Boyceville struggled to score all game long but particularly in the first half when it scored just four baskets and two free throws and trailed 32-12 at the intermission. Jenna Beyrer had a three while Riek pocketed two baskets and Emma Harnisch one.
The Bulldogs’ offense showed improvement after the halftime break. Boyceville scored 22 points in the second half but was unable to make a dent in the deficit as Elk Mound tallied 24 points in the final 18 minutes to maintain its advantage en route to the win.
Cassie Malean, who had three free throws in the first half, had a two-point basket and another free throw in the latter half to finish with six points. Jenna Beyrer and Emma Harnisch tallied five each for the Bulldogs. Harnisch also grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Bulldogs who finished with 33. Morgan Kuhn added seven board with Riek and Beyrer each contributing five.
Boyceville played in Bloomer last evening (December 22). The girls will then be off for holiday break until January 5 when they return to action in Cameron for another non-conference game.