Lady Toppers use second-half surge to sweep Bulldogs

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by Missy Klatt
Sports Correspondent

GLENWOOD CITY —  It was a slow start and a slow first half when the Lady Hilltoppers and the Lady Bulldogs met on the basketball court in Glenwood City this past Thursday night, January 21st. The Bulldogs struck first but it was the Hilltoppers who eventually pulled away in the second half to earn a 45-27 win for the regular-season sweep of their rivals.

Glenwood City had also beaten Boyceville, 58-41, in the season opener back on December 3.

The win was the fourth in conference play for Glenwood City (5-10 overall) while Boyceville remaines winless in the Dunn-St. Croix and is 2-10 in all games.

In last Thursday’s contest, it was Kady Grambow who got things started for the Bulldogs when she hit a three pointer at the 15:49 mark. The Bulldogs followed that up with two more from Rachael Montgomery before the Lady Toppers went on a 12-point run over the next five and a half minutes with buckets from Kendall Schutz, Bella Rassbach, Ryeah Oehlke, and Delanie Fayerweather giving the Toppers a 12-5 lead.

With lots of missed shots at both ends of the court it was a low scoring first half for these local rivals. The Bulldogs added two more points at the eight minute mark with two from Chrissa Kersten off of a Topper turnover. About two minutes later, the Lady Tops added one from the free throw line.

The Lady Dawgs then had seven unanswered points from Mya Lagerstrom and Montgomery before the Toppers finished the half with buckets from the Oehlke sisters. First Ryeah and then Maddie who had a nice baseline drive to score just before the buzzer giving the Hilltoppers a 17-14 lead at halftime.

Hilltoppers’ head coach Carly Kittilson agreed with the slow start of the game. Stating that both Boyceville and her team were sitting in their zones on defense.

“It came to a point where we just needed to get the intensity up, so we switched to man-to-man and then started to play our game,” stated Kittilson.

“Second half we came out with a lot of energy and focused to get the job done,” remarked Kittilson.

Indeed, the second half started with a lot of energy and balls going through the hoops at both ends of the court to start the half.

Topper Bella Rassbach scored first with a jumper with an assist from Maddie Oehlke. Then Bulldog’s Grambow countered with a bucket from outside the arc which was followed by a long jumper from Rassbach.

Two more points from Rassbach gave the Toppers a 23-17 lead early in the half. At the 15:57 mark, Boyceville’s Faith Harnisch was at the line where she hit both of her free throws. The Toppers countered this with a baseline three pointer from Maddie Oehlke. The Lady Dawgs immediately followed with two more from Harnisch under the basket after an assist from Grambow. Then it was Rassbach once more with a long jumper for the Lady Tops. With the Toppers leading 28-21, the Lady Dawgs took a time out.

Shortly after this, the game seemed to slow down again as both team were missing shots and making some turnovers. Over the next nine minutes, the Toppers outscored the Dawgs 10-3 to give them a 38-24 lead.

With just over three and a half minutes left to play, the game had some new energy as “fresh feet” with many subs were now in the game.

Maddie Oehlke went to the line for the first bonus shots of the game at 3:28. She hit both ends of her one-and-one. This was countered by two from the Dawgs’ Hailey Hanestad who put up two off a rebound. Schutz replied with a three for the Toppers before Grambow was at the line for the Dawgs where she made the second of her two free throws at the 2:47 mark.

The scoreboard then remained quite until the Toppers’ Libby Wagner put in two off a rebound for the last points of the game with about 25 seconds left on the clock. With that, the Toppers recorded their fifth win of the season.

For the Bulldogs it was another disappointing loss as they struggle with their number of players. Harper Olson, a starter for the Dawgs, was out this game and then Rachael Montgomery left the game late in the second half due to an injury.

Boyceville head coach Jay Lagerstrom thought his girls played a good game defensively and gave themselves a chance to win this one on that end of the court, but offensively they shot extremely poor from the 3-point line, 14% and not much better inside at 19%.

“We need to find ways offensively to get better and have available players,” said Lagerstrom.

Kittilson had praise for her players and specifically Bella and Ryeah, “Bella Rassbach had some really nice shots for us in the second half against Boyceville’s zone. When Boyceville went to their man to man, Ryeah Ohelke had a mismatch. She had strong post ups and finished her shots! It was nice to see. I’m very proud of our girls both JV and Varsity and the effort they put in daily.”

For the night Bella Rassbach led the Toppers in points with 12 followed by Maddie Oehlke with 11. For the Dawgs, it was Kady Grambow with seven. She also pulled down nine rebounds. Rachael Montgomery had ten rebounds for the Dawgs.

Glenwood City (45)

FG-FT-F-TP: Rassbach 6-0-0-12, M. Oehlke 3-3-2-11,  Schutz 3-1-2-9, R. Oehlke 4-0-2-8, Wagner 1-0-0-2, Fayerweather 1-0-3-3, Johnson 0-0-1-0. Total 18-4-10-45.

Boyceville (27)

FG-FT-F-TP: Lagerstrom 2-0-4-5, Montgomery 2-1-1-5, Hanestad 1-0-2-2, Kersten 1-0-2-2, Grambow 2-1-2-7, Harnisch 2-2-1-6. Total 10-4-12-27.

Glenwood City…..…..…..…..…17 28 – 45

Boyceville…..…..…..…..…..…..14 13 – 27

3-point goals: Glenwood City: M. Oehlke 2, Schutz 2, Fayerweather. Boyceville: Lagerstom, Grambow 2.