EM girls basketball blasts Bulldogs, move into second-place tie in D-SC

By Cara L. Dempski

BOYCEVILLE — The Elk Mound girls’ basketball team hit the road for a key conference match-up in Boyceville just five days after losing their first game and first Dunn-St. Croix contest to Durand. 

The Mounders walked away from their the December 13 game in Boyceville on the high end of a 52-30 score over the conference co-leading Bulldogs. The big victory put the Mounders in a three-way tie for second with Mondovi and Boyceville. All three squads are 2-1 Dunn-St. Croix conference play. Elk Mound is now 4-1 overall this season.

The Bulldogs struggled against the Elk Mound defenders from the get-go, failing to stand up to the intensity of the Mounders’ defensive pressure and ability to make baskets off turnovers. 

The Mounders ran up 11 points in the first three minutes of the game before Boyceville’s Madysn Riek put two on the board for the Bulldogs with 14:40 in the opening half.

“I thought we came out and played with a lot of good energy,” Mounder coach Jordan Kongshaug said. “I thought we kept our defense intensity, and it was a good bounce-back win.”

The Elk Mound girls’ squad ran all over the Bulldog offense and defenders in the opening minutes of the game, limiting Boyceville to just nine points while racing out to an 18-point lead to make the score 27-9 at the half.

The Bulldogs were able to put together more shooting opportunities in the second half to pick up more than twice the points they earned in the first half, but still could not overcome the speed and intensity the Mounders showed against them.

Kongshaug said, “We knew we needed to keep them running, keep them going. We wanted to pressure the ball.”

The Elk Mound coach said the Mounders need to be more aggressive shooting the ball, but also said the team looked for its shots a little more, and were more confident in shooting.

The confidence definitely showed, as Elizabeth Fasbender and Allie Weber rained seven three-point shots on the Bulldogs and combined for 30 of Elk Mound’s points against Boyceville (Fasbender 17, Weber 13). Center Morgan Radtke contributed eight points to the total with four field goals.

Kami King went to the free throw line several times, dropping in four of her six free tries. Madysen Borofka and Hannah Cedarblade were credited with three points apiece, Ashley Gunderson-Morris sent in a single field goal for two points, and Gracie Peterson contributed one from a free throw.

Madysn Riek led the Bulldogs with 11 points.

The Mounders home showdown against rival Colfax, scheduled for December, was postponed until January 17 due to snow and cold.

Elk Mound will be off until after the New Year holiday when it opens 2017 play in Altoona. 

ELK MOUND 52, BOYCEVILLE 30

Elk Mound………………………..27  25 — 52
Boyceville…………………………..9  21 — 30

TEAM STATISTICS (FG-FT-F-T)

Elk Mound (11-9-15-52) K. Baier 0-0-3-0, H. Cedarblade 1-1-2-3, A. Weber 2-2-3-13, E. Fasbender 2-2-1-17, K. King 0-4-1-4, G. Peterson 0-1-0-1, A. Gunderson-Morris 1-0-1-2, M. Borofka 1-1-2-3, M. Radtke 4-0-1-8, C. Sweeney 0-0-1-0.

Boyceville (7-10-18-30) R. Prestrud 1-0-3-3, B. Booth 0-0-1-0, C. Malean 1-3-3-5, M. Kuhn 0-2-1-2, M. Riek 4-3-3-11, E. Harnisch 1-0-2-2, B. Hellmann 0-2-4-5.

THREE-POINTERS EM — A. Weber 3, E. Fasbender 4; B — R. Prestrud 1, B. Hellmann 1.