Elk Mound girls lose to Marathon, bounce back with win over Athens

The Elk Mound girls’ basketball team played a pair of games against opponents from both ends of the spectrum when they competed in a Holiday tournament in Marathon Dec. 29-30. Facing off against the host team Marathon, the Mounders stayed close for most of the game against the Red Raiders who are ranked second in the state in Division 4 according to the Wisconsin Basketball Association poll. But in the end, lack of being able to control the boards defensively on the Mounders part resulted in a 70-52 loss. Elk Mound refueled overnight however, and blasted the Athens Blue Jays 78-17 as four players scored in double figures to lead the team.

Marathon

The Mounders scored 14 of their 30 first half points at the charity stripe with Sarah Winchester hitting 5 of 6, McKenna McVey 4 of 4, Morgan Radtke 3 of 4 and Allie Weber 2 of 2 but the Red Raiders scored 37 points to hold a seven point advantage at the intermission.

McVey and Kami King both came up with seven points on a couple of deuces and a triple each, Elizabeth Fasbender hit a pair of close range shots and a pair of free throws while Winchester dropped in a bucket to account for all the Elk Mound scoring in the second half. But they allowed Marathon to score 14 times from the paint, with Morgan Rachu doing most of the damage with 10 points on five buckets.

“We kept it interesting for a good portion of the game against one of the best teams in the state,” Mounder coach Jordan Kongshaug said. “We had an opportunity to cut the deficit to five points with three minutes left but we couldn’t get our shots to fall. Our inability to get rebounds on the defensive end was the difference,” he added.

McVey finished with 11 points to lead the Mounders while Winchester chipped in with 10 points.

MARATHON (70) Rachu 9-2-2-22, J. Anderson 5-2-2-12, A. Kind 5-1-1-12, J. Blume 3-4-5-11, O. Meurette 3-0-2-6, B. Balz 2-1-2-5, A. Streiber 0-2-6-2

ELK MOUND (52) McVey 3-4-4-11, Winchester 2-5-6-10, King 4-0-0-9, Fasbender 3-2-5-8, Radtke 2-3-4-7, Weber 1-2-2-5, H. Cedarblade 1-0-0-2

THREE POINTERS: Rachu 2, Weber 1, Winchester 1, King 1, McVey 1, Blume 1, Kind 1

Athens

The Blue Jays have been struggling so far this season and were coming off a 112-34 drubbing by Eau Claire Regis the previous day. (Marathon dumped Regis 92-75 in the championship game). The Mounders had the game put away by halftime when they went up 51-8 with help from 13 points by McVey, 11 from Fasbender, 10 from Weber and eight by Radtke. Hannah Cedarblade and Megan Krall each came up with a deuce in the second half and Weber and Fasbender both drained triples to help the Mounders’ score their highest point total of the season.

McVey finished her day with 18 points, Fasbender and Radtke both ended up with 16 and Weber scored a career high 15.

The Mounders are 7-3 and resume play Jan 4 at Loyal then head to Colfax Jan 7 for an early conference show down. Both the Mounders and Vikings are undefeated in conference play.

ELK MOUND (78) McVey 7-4-7-18, Fasbender 6-2-3-16, Radtke 7-2-2-16, Weber 7-0-0-15, King 3-1-2-7, Cedarblade 1-0-2-2, Winchester 1-0-0-2, Krall 1-0-0-2

ATHENS (17) K. Dierich 3-0-0-6, E. Frick 1-1-6-3, B. Arge 1-0-0-2, B. Lira 1-0-0-2, E. Janke 1-0-2-2, E. Ellenbecker 1-0-0-2

THREE POINTERS: Fasbender 2, Weber 1