Boyceville girls split pair of conference basketball games

The Boyceville girls’ basketball team finally shook off the doldrums last week, playing some of its best ball of the season, to put an end to a five-game losing skid.

 The Lady Bulldogs’ resurgence began Thursday, February 4 when it hosted conference leader Elk Mound. Boyceville put together a solid effort as it nipped at the Mounders’ heals through the first half before taking a one-point lead with 11:15 to play. Elk Mound regained the advantage and was able to hold off the upset-minded Bulldogs for a 61-53 victory.

The momentum from that contest carried into Saturday’s matinee in Elmwood where Boyceville’s offense and defense finally congealed and produced an impressive 42-26 win over Elmwood/Plum City, its first since January 16 when it knocked off Mondovi on the road. The February 6 win also gave the Bulldogs, who improved to 4-8 in the Dunn-St. Croix, a sweep of the regular season series with the Wolves.

“It was a great team win,” noted Jolene Bird, long-time Boyce-ville head coach. “We moved the ball well on offense and played solid defense.”

That optimism along with hopes for a second straight victory was short-lived, however, as Boyceville was dealt a 67-42 non-conference loss by St. Croix Central in Hammond Monday night, February 8. No game details were available at Tuesday’s press time.

Boyceville will look to pocket a few more wins before tournament time as it closes out the regular season with three straight home games beginning this Friday, February 12 against second-place Glenwood City in the annual Coaches versus Cancer game. It then hosts Chetek-Weyerhaeuser in a non-conference game on Monday, February 15 before wrapping up the conference and season slate against Mondovi on Thursday, February 18.

Elmwood/Plum City

A solid defensive performance and just enough scoring propelled the Bulldogs to their first win in over three weeks.

Boyceville allowed Elmwood/Plum City just 13 points in each half as it took the 18-point win.

Madysn Riek and Morgan Kuhn provided the offensive spark with 16 and 15 points respectively including 18 of Boyce-ville’s 23 first-half points.

Riek scored four baskets in the opening half and Kuhn netted a triple and a deuce and hit five of six charity tosses to send the Bulldogs into halftime with a 10-point advantage, 23-13.

The pair continued to lead Boyceville in the second half. Riek added three baskets and a pair of free throws while Kuhn scored a basket and sank both her free throw attempts. Brooklyn Booth had a second-half triple to finish with five points.

Boyceville, who sank 10 of its 12 foul shots, outscored Elmwood/Plum City 19-13 in the final 18 minutes for the 42-26 win.

Reik also helped the Bulldogs dominate the board as she finished with 18 of the team’s 40 rebounds. Booth added a half dozen and Kuhn tallied five.

The Bulldogs’ offense was not stellar but did enough to take down the Wolves. Boyceville shot just 28 percent, making 15 of it 53 total attempts which included just two of 13 from behind the three-point arc.

Three other Bulldogs scored in the game. Cassie Malean had three points and both Jenna Beyrer and Emma Harnisch finished with 2-point buckets.

Mikayla Afdahl led the Wolves with eight points and Cheyanne Catura contributed six in a losing effort.

Elk Mound  

The Bulldogs had upset on their minds when they welcomed conference front runner Elk Mound to the Dog House Thursday, February 4.

Boyceville shot 43 percent from three-point range sinking six of its 14 attempts and played a solid defensive game that kept them close throughout the night.

But in the end, the Mounders had just enough to hold off the upstart Bulldogs for the 61-53 victory.

“I thought we played a pretty good game on both ends of the floor,” stated Coach Bird. “But we had too many turnovers which lead to empty offensive possession.”

Boyceville stayed within a few baskets of Elk Mound throughout the first half and trailed by just four at half thanks to a triple by senior Marki Lagerstrom in the wanning seconds. Lagerstrom had a pair of threes in both halves and finished with 14 points.

Elk Mound had four three-point baskets in the game, all of which came in the first half. Sarah Winchester sank a pair and Allie Weber and Kami King added the other two to help the Mounders open a 22-11 advantage midway through the opening half.

But the Bulldogs battled back with an eight to nothing run and closed the deficit to just three points at 22-19. Elk Mound, however, answered with a quick five point spurt to put it ahead by nine.

But with just seconds left on the first-half game clock, Lagerstrom put down her second trey to send the Bulldog into intermission trailing by just four points. Cassie Malean had just put in the first of a two-foul shot when the second attempt bounded off the rim and back into the Bulldogs’ possession. A teammate quickly passed the ball to a wide open Lagerstrom who in turned nailed the long-range shot to complete a four-point play.

Elk Mound tried to extinguish any thoughts of a Bulldogs’ upset with a 10-2 run to open the second half of play.

Boyceville, however, did not fold. Instead, it whittled away at the 12-point deficit. Madysn Riek had a couple of inside baskets and Jenna Beyrer connected on a three. Lagerstrom followed suit and Boyceville found itself within a point of Elk Mound at 37-36.

Jenna Beyrer capped a 13-0 Boyceville run with a nice jumper at the 11:15 mark that gave her squad its first lead of the game at 38-37.

But then turnovers began to bite the Bulldogs as they came away empty on four straight offensive trips down court.

Elk Mound got consecutive scores from Kami King, McKenna McVey and Morgan Radtke to retake the lead, 43-38.

Riek scored inside to narrow the gap to three once more but the Mounders found an answer to each Bulldogs’ score. Elk Mound’s leading scorer McKenna McVey, who was held to just seven points in the first 18-minute half, broke out for 14 points in the second half and finished with a game-high 21 points.

King chipped in with 13 points and Elizabeth Fasbender added ten.

Lagerstrom’s fourth triple of the contest pulled Boyceville to within four points at 49-45 but it would get no closer as both Riek and Lagerstrom had to play close to the vest with four fouls each.

McVey gave Elk Mound a 61-28 lead with less than a minute to play.

Malean sank a pair of charity tosses and Morgan Kuhn canned a three just before the final buzzer to make it a 61-53 final.

Riek topped the Bulldogs’ scoring with 16 points followed by Lagerstrom’s 14. Kuhn tallied eight, Beyrer seven and Malean finished with six points.

Both teams made 11 free throws. Boyceville had 17 attempts from the charity stripe and Elk Mound 16.

Malean and Riek each had seven rebounds.

“I thought the girls played real hard,” said Bird of her charges. “They played good team basketball.”