Glenwood City boys nip Turtle Lake, fall to Spring Valley and Durand
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THE HILLTOPPERS’ Owen Swenby (#25) took the basketball to the hoop and scored despite pressure from Spring Valley defender Nolan Stans (#4). Glenwood City fell short of an upset as the league-leading Cardinals held on to win the January 25 conference contest played in Glenwood City, 49-42. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
By Missy Klatt
Sports Correspondent
Four games on the schedule this past week for the Glenwood City Hilltoppers Boys Basketball team produced mixed results with two wins and two losses.
The week started with a close 42-49 loss to the Dunn-St. Croix leading Spring Valley Cardinals at home on Monday, January 25th. Then, on Thursday the 28th they hosted the Boyceville Bulldogs and came away with a 76-53 win (see related article). On Friday, Glenwood City traveled to Turtle Lake where it defeated the Lakers 71-69. The Toppers then finished off the busy week on the road Saturday in Durand where they fell to the Panthers 40-66.
With the split in games, Glenwood City is 2-7 in conference and 4-10 overall.
This week will be another busy one for the Hilltopper boys with another four games on the slate. Monday, February 1st, Glenwood City played in Osseo-Fairchild and was in Colfax on Tuesday, February 2. The Toppers then return home for a pair of games beginning with Durand on Thursday, February 4 and Elk Mound will then come to town on Friday, February 5.
The Hilltoppers then wrap up the regular season the following week with road games in Mondovi on Monday, February 8 and at Plum City against the Wolves of Elmwood/Plum City on Thursday, February 11.
Spring Valley
According to head coach Tristan Kittilson, it was a very close hard fought game when Glenwood City played the Spring Valley Cardinals on January 25. The Cardinals currently sit on top of the Dunn-St. Croix Conference.
At the half the Toppers were down by just four points at 18-22.
In the second half, the Toppers were outscored by just three points at 24-27.
Kittilson credited his team’s full-court press for the tight game.
“I really like our full court pressure defense, it caused a lot of problems for them, just needed to be more efficient on the offensive side and giving up offense rebounds really hurt down the stretch,” said Kittilson. “Obviously really wanted my guys to get the win but it was a step in the right direction.”
With the scoring well spread out, Brandyn Hallquist was the only Hilltopper in double digits with 13.
Glenwood City (42)
FG-FT-F-TP: Hallquist 5-2-3-13, Bliese 3-0-1-6, Wickman 0-2-5-2, G. Janson 3-0-1-7, Olson 2-2-0-6, M. Janson 1-0-1-2, Eggert 0-0-1-0, Moe 0-0-4-0, Swenby 2-2-3-6. Total 16-8-18-42.
Spring Valley (49)
FG-FT-F-TP: Ducklow 2-0-4-4, Bauer 2-0-2-4, Stans 5-0-2-10, Stasick 1-0-1-2, Bowman 8-4-1-23, Muir 0-0-1-0, Durmond 0-0-1-0, Bednark 1-3-3-6. Total 19-7-15-49.
Glenwood City……………18 24 – 42
Spring Valley………………22 27 – 49
3-point goals: Glenwood City: Hallquist, G. Janson. Spring Valley: Bowman 3, Bednark.
Turtle Lake
On Friday, January 29, the Turtle Lake Lakers were “on” with their shooting and soon had a 30-13 lead in the first half. However, the Toppers boys were not about to lay down. They fought back on the road and by the end of the half they were only down by nine points, 31-40.
According to Kittilson, the Toppers played a great second back and forth half coming all the way down to the last second when Brandyn Hallquist hit the game winning floater in the lane to win it for us! A two-point, 71-69, victory for the Hilltoppers.
“I was extremely proud of my guys and the way they fought for thirty-six minutes! Several players for us stepped up for us to get this victory!” exclaimed Kittilson.
Mitchel Bliese came off the bench to lead the Toppers in scoring with a career high 16 points. Gavin Janson followed with 15, Brandyn Hallquist with 13, and Owen Swenby with 12.
Glenwood City (71)
FG-FT-F-TP: Hallquist 5-2-1-13, Bliese 6-1-3-16, G. Janson 5-1-0-16, Olson 5-0-3-10, Eggert 0-0-3-0, Moe 2-0-5-5, Swenby 4-4-5-12. Total 27-8-17-71.
Turtle Lake (69)
FG-FT-F-TP: D. Torgerson 1-0-2-2, Humphrey 4-1-1-9, Thill 10-3-1-28, Strenke 6-10-2-26, Lauritson 0-1-1-1, N. Torgerson 1-1-4-3. Total 22-16-12-69.
Glenwood City…..…………31 40 – 71
Turtle Lake…..……………..40 29 – 69
Durand
On Saturday, the Toppers headed to Durand to play in a game that was rescheduled from January 11th. It was a tough way to end a good week but as their third game in as many days, fatigue was starting to set in.
Kittilson concurred that it was a tough game.
“They played a great game from start to finish, we hung in there early and battled but we just couldn’t keep up with them,” admitted Kittilson.
By the end of the first half the Toppers were down by twenty-one points at 20-41.
The second half was closer with the Panthers taking the half by just five points at 25-20.
Kittilson stated that his team played hard until the end but they just couldn’t make enough plays. He is hoping that the boys will get some rest on Sunday as it’s another long week ahead with four more games as the regular season heads into its final two weeks.
Brandyn Hallquist led the Toppers with 16 points followed by Owen Swenby with 10.
Glenwood City (40)
FG-FT-F-TP: Hallquist 5-3-3-16, Bliese 1-0-1-2, G. Janson 1-0-0-3, Olson 3-2-4-9, Eggert 0-0-2-0, Moe 0-0-2-0, Swenby 4-1-1-10. Total 14-6-13-40.
Durand (66)
FG-FT-F-TP: Kurth 1-3-1-5, S. Bauer 0-2-2-2, Wittig 1-0-1-3, Anibas 4-0-0-8, Brenner 2-0-1-4, B. Bauer 2-1-2-6, Biesterveld 4-0-1-9, G. Hurlburt 9-1-1-19, Berger 1-0-3-2, Fedie 1-0-2-3, E. Hurlburt 2-0-1-5. Total 27-7-15-66.
Glenwood City…….…….…20 20 – 40
Durand…..…….…….………41 25 – 66
3-point goals: Glenwood City: Hallquist 3, G. Janson, Olson, Swenby. Durand: Wittig, B. Bauer, Biesterveld, Fedie, E. Hurlburt.