Lady Toppers stay winless, drop three to open 2022
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HACKED — The Toppers’ Kaylynn Kurtz (#40) was fouled by a Mondovi player while shooting the ball. Kurtz finished with seven points in the January 6 game which the Buffaloes won 65-25. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
A new year offers a fresh start and new opportunities.
For the Glenwood City girls’ basketball team, an opportunity to earn its first win of the season.
Unfortunately for the Lady Hilltoppers, 2022 began like 2021 ended – with losses.
Playing three games last week including a pair of non-conference contests, Glenwood City fell short in each although it nearly pulled off a victory in the final competition of the week.
After losing by 40 or more points in its first two games of the new year – a 65-21 setback at home to Clear Lake on Tuesday, January 4 followed by a 65-25 home conference loss to Mondovi two days later – the Hilltoppers nearly gained their first win of the season when they went on the road to Independence Saturday afternoon only to have it end with a one-point, 34-33, loss to the Indees.
With those defeats, Glenwood City slipped to 0-11 on the season and 0-4 in Dunn-St. Croix play. The ladies played in Durand last evening (January 11) and will return home this Friday, January 14 to host rival Boyceville, who is also winless on the season. The following afternoon, Houston, MN will be in town with game time set for 3:30 p.m. Glenwood City will have little time to relax as they head for Elk Mound on Monday, January 17.
Clear Lake
The Clear Lake girls of the Lakeland West Conference were in town last Tuesday, January 4 along with their boys’ team for a double feature with the Hilltopper teams.
While the opening contest between the boys’ squads was an entertaining and close affair, the Lady Warriors dominated the night as they easily dispatched the Topper gals 65-21.
Led by the Rosen sisters – Katie and Maddie, Clear Lake ran out to a 27-8 lead by the end of the first half. Glenwood City managed just two baskets in that 18-minute span, a three off the hands of Jenna McCarthy and a Mali Draxler hoop, to go along with three free throws.
Offensively, things improved slightly for the Hilltoppers in the latter half as it scored 13 points including three hoops by Libby Wagner and a three by senior Kendall Schutz.
It was, however, not enough to close the gap on Clear Lake who scored 38 to pull away for the 44-point victory as the Warriors hit four of their seven three-pointers in the second half. After scoring eight in the first half, Clear Lake’s Katie Rosen tossed in ten more in the second half to finish with a game-high 18-points which included a 7-for-10 performance at the charity stripe. Teammate Brenna Peterson netted 13 points in the final stanza to finish with 16 points while Maddie Rosen and Emily Hadac tallied nine and eight, respectively for the Warriors.
With her three, second-half hoops, Libby Wagner finished as Glenwood City’s top scorer with six points. Kendall Schutz tallied five and Aubree Logghe and McCarthy had four each.
Clear Lake had 24 free throw attempts making 14 while Glenwood City made three of its four foul shots.
Mondovi
Glenwood City, unfortunately, was never really in its home conference game against Mondovi last Thursday.
Employing a full-court, trapping defense to open the game, the Buffaloes bowled over the host Hilltoppers sprinting out to a 21-0 advantage off several GC turnovers.
With the first half winding down, the Hilltoppers trailed 41-3, those three points courtesy of a basket and free throw by senior Kendall Schutz. But before the halftime horn sounded, Libby Wagner and Kaylynn Kurtz each scored a basket to send the locals into the locker room down 41-7.
Glenwood City more than doubled its offensive output in the second half, scoring 18 points as more players found success.
Mondovi, however, added 24 more points to its total for the 65-25 win.
Kaylynn Kurtz finished as the Toppers’ leading scorer with seven points, Schutz tallied five and Wagner and Izzy Davis finished with four points each. Glenwood City finished 7-for-10 from the charity stripe but had no three pointers.
Mondovi, who sank seven balls from behind the outside arc, was led by Katherine Thompson’s 15 points. Morgan Clark and Josie Hulke added nine each to the Lady Buffs scoring column.
Independence
With head coach Dean Bellanti sidelined due to illness, assistant coach Samantha Schreiber stepped in and nearly coached the Hilltoppers to their first win this past Saturday afternoon in Independence.
In a contest that was close the entire way, Glenwood City overcame four, first-half threes by the host Indees as senior Kendall Schutz nearly matched them shot-for-shot from long range sinking three triples of her own to go along with three free throws to give her 12 points and the Toppers a 22-19 halftime lead.
While Schutz tacked on three more baskets including her fourth trey of the game to finish with a game-high 19 points, the only other offense Glenwood City could muster were two baskets, one each by Michaela Blaser and Mali Draxler.
Independence ended up edging Glenwood City 15-11 on the second-half scoreboard as it pulled out the 34-33 win.
Both teams made just three free tosses each with the Toppers going 3-for-9 and the Indees 3-for-11.
Aubrie Pronschinske led Independence with 15 points.