Lady Mounders dump Durand, swamp Spring Valley
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By Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
ELK MOUND — It certainly wasn’t their prettiest game offensively, but the Elk Mound girls rode their defense and came up with enough big shots to pull out a 36-31 home win over the Durand Panthers January 18. In a 48-hour period, the Mounders defeated two teams who were tied for the Dunn-St. Croix Conference lead with one loss, the Panthers and Mondovi
They made sure there was no letdown when they cruised past the Spring Valley Cardinals at home three days later by a 71-31 score.
The Mounders were one game behind Colfax in conference play with their matchup coming this past Monday, January 25 when the Vikings visited. Elk Mound (7-5 overall) and Durand are both 7-2 in the Dunn-St. Croix while Colfax is 8-1.
Elk Mound wrapped up its four-game homestand the following evening, Tuesday, January 26, before taking to the road for games in Glenwood City on Friday, January 29, at Boyceville Monday, February 1, and a non-conference tilt in Amery on Tuesday, February 2, and will return home to host Mondovi in the conference and regular-season finale on Thursday, February 4.
Durand
It appeared there might be a shutout in the first half for the Mounders as they couldn’t get the ball in the basket for the first eight minutes against Durand.
Down 3-0, Stella Rhude finally hit from close range, then followed with three more points to put her team up 5-3. Elk Mound held a 13-10 halftime advantage with Rhude scoring all 13 of those points.
Durand put the clamps down on Rhude the second half, forcing other Mounders to step up. Brooke Emery drained a couple of three pointers while Olivia Schreiber scored from the paint twice to help them keep a lead, and they connected for six free throws down the stretch, two by Emery and four from Tori Blaskowski to help seal the win.
“We had three games in four days (Colfax, Mondovi, Durand) and that is tough,” coach Jordan Kongshaug said. “We did an outstanding job on the defensive end against Durand and it took a total team effort,” he added.
Rhude finished with those 13 first-half points while Emery added eight, Madisyn Mohr five, Blaskowski and Schreiber both four and Kallee Rhude two. The Mounders helped themselves at the foul line by hitting 11-of-14 shots.
Spring Valley
It was a slow start again for the Mounders as they were up just 12-8 with around eight minutes to go in the first half. Stella Rhude and Blaskowski finally got things rolling offensively when they combined for 11 points for a 23-10 advantage.
The Cardinals, much like they have done in previous years, struggled to get the ball down court against a press and this game was no different. But they did manage to get some shots off and when Mara Ducklow scored, it cut the Mounder lead to single digits at 25-17. A bucket by Blaskowski, a free throw from Lydia Levra and a Stella Rhude drive more than countered those points however, and it was a 32-20 lead at the intermission.
The floodgates opened very quickly to start the second half as the Mounders went on a 17-point run for a 49-22 lead.
Olivia Schindler added to the lead with a deuce and Mohr drained back to back treys to up the lead to 59-31. With around two minutes to play, Schindler canned a triple and it was a running clock with a 40-point advantage and those were the final points on the night for both teams.
“We started a little slow but I thought we responded better as the game went on,” coach Kongshaug said. “It was a good team effort tonight,” he concluded.
Stella Rhude finished her evening with a career high 21 points including a seven-of-nine performance from the foul line, while Emery and Blaskowski added 12 each and Mohr 10. The team completed 12-of-19 from the free throw line, while the Cardinals were five-of-six at the line with Ducklow leading them with 17 points.