Lady Mounders crush Cardinals, lose to Assumption Royals

The Elk Mound girls clinched at least a share of the Dunn-St. Croix Conference title with a whopping 92-44 win over the Spring Valley Cardinals February 12. But, less than 24 hours later, playing short handed, the Mounders dropped a contest against last year’s Division 5 state runner up, the Assumption Royals 56-47. The win over the Cardinals gives them a one game lead over Glenwood City with just one conference game left against Elmwood-Plum City February 18. They will then begin tournament play with a bye and will host Westby February 26.

Spring Valley

Keeping the conference’s leading scorer Becky Fesenmaier under her 17 point average wasn’t a problem for the Mounders as they held her to 10 in the game, most of them in the second half. Meanwhile Elk Mound was scoring from everywhere led by  a career high 21 points by Allie Weber. 18 of Weber’s points came in the first half on four treys, two deuces and a pair of free throws while her final points came on her fifth triple of the game in the second half.

Morgan Radtke was a powerhouse under the hoop with nine buckets and finished with 20 points. Kami King added 12 points which included two treys. Hannah Cedarblade stepped in for an injured Sarah Winchester and scored nine points all in the second half. Emily Winchester came up with eight points which included two shots from behind the arc. McKenna McVey added seven points, Elizabeth Fasbender six, Madyson Borofka five and Megan Krall four in the win, which may or not be a school record for total points.

“We played with great energy and shot the ball well,” Mounder coach Jordan Kongshaug said. “I was pleased at how well our younger kids played. Our future looks bright!” he added.

Assumption

The Royals are 9-2 in the  Marawood South Conference and were 14-4 overall when they entered the Mounders’ gym for a Saturday afternoon game.

Without Sarah Winchester again and top reserve Riley Radtke, Elk Mound fell behind 20-11 before Morgan Radtke knocked down a pair of free throws and McVey added one of her own. Radtke added a bucket near the end of the half but the Mounders were down by 10 at 29-19 heading into the break.

They came out of the locker room with a new purpose however as Fasbender scored on a shot in the paint and added a free toss and King drained a triple to cut the deficit to 29-25 rather quickly.

A lot of the game was played at the free throw line for both teams as Fasbender went there twice and hit three shots and King dropped one in before Weber canned her first and only trey of the game to get the Mounders back in the game down 36-32.

King banged in a couple of free tosses and Fasbender drained a trey and the Royal lead was cut to three at 40-37 with eight minutes left. After Weber hit two free shots, Assumption’s leading scorer Gina Grundhoffer, a Division 1 college recruit, followed suit. Weber scored with a deuce and free throw and the Mounders were still in business down 45-42.

The Royals got behind the usually quick Mounder defense for a layup but McVey scored on her own fast break layup to make it 47-44.

With tired legs from the night before starting to show, the Mounders committed their seventh team foul and the Royals connected on four freebies with a Grundhoffer triple in between to pull out to a 54-44 lead with 1:42 left. Fasbender finished off the scoring for Elk Mound with a bucket and free toss.

The Mounders were 17 for 23 at the foul line while Assumption was 19 for 25. Fasbender finished with 17 points and was the only Mounder in double figures. Weber came up with eight points, King and Radtke six each while Cedarblade and McVey both scored five points. The Royals were led by Marie Zurfluh with 18 and Grundhoffer with 12.

“We struggled with Assumption’s pressure in the first half and turned the ball over too much,” Kongshaug said. “But we stayed close despite playing short handed.”