Elk Mound girls nip Durand to remain atop D-SC, then fall to Blackhawks
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Elk Mound was glad to have junior Stella Rhude back in the lineup when it hosted Durand last Thursday evening in a key showdown of first-place teams.
Although Rhude, who had been sidelined the past couple of weeks due to an injury, had just five points in the contest, her final two points with 15 seconds remaining in the game proved to be the game winning shot as the Lady Mounders hung on to win the February 3 conference contest 43-42.
The Lady Mounders, however, were on the other side of another close contest the following evening as they lost 54-52 in Bloomer.
The big win over Durand kept the Elk Mound girls in a tie atop the Dunn-St. Croix with Colfax who was a big winner over Boyceville that same night. Both the Mounders and Vikings are share the lead with 9-1 records while the Panthers are now a game back at 8-2. Overall, Elk Mound is 16-4 with all four of its final regular-season games on the road against conference opponents.
Elk Mound has a huge game in Colfax looming this Friday, February 11. Before that, Elk Mound tuned up with a game in Boyceville last night.
Elk Mound will then travel to Durand next Monday, February 14 before finishing the conference and regular seasons in Spring Valley on February 17.
Durand
First place in the D-SC girls’ basketball standings was on the line when Elk Mound welcomed Durand last Thursday.
The game was close throughout.
With the score knotted at 16 just before halftime, Elk Mound scored a couple of hoops to take a 20-16 advantage into the halftime locker room.
In the second half, the Lady Mounders pushed their lead to ten points on four separate occasions, 30-20, 32-22, 34-24 and 36-26 with just six minutes to play, only to have the Panthers craw their way back into the contest.
Durand nailed a three to close within four points of the Elk Mound at 39-35 but with a 1:25 on the clock Brooke Emery made a pair of free throws to make it 41-35.
But baskets by Bentley Bauer and Madison Sand got the Panthers to within two points at 41-39 with just 25 ticks left on the clock.
That’s when Stella Rhude broke open on a fast break and laid in the basketball to give Elk Mound a 43-39 lead with 15 seconds to go.
Sand then hit a three-point shot, her third of the game, to make it a 43-42 contest.
The Panthers stole the inbounds pass and had a chance to win the game but could not get off a shot before the scoreboard hit triple zeros.
“It was an intense atmosphere,” noted Elk Mound head coach Jordan Kongshaug of his squad’s battle with the Panthers. “It was a very good high school basketball game and our girls played with a lot of intensity.”
“It felt good getting a victory against a very good Durand team,” he added.
Ellie Schiszik and Brooke Emery each had a pair of triples to finish with ten and nine points, respectively. Olivia Schreiber also had a three to finish with ten points as well.
Tori Blaskowski led the Mounders in rebounding with five, Allie Roder added four along with six points and Lydia Levra, Schreiber and Rhude each added three boards. Schreiber also came up with four steals.
Durand’s lead scorer Madisyn Kilboten and Madison Sand each tallied 13 to top the Panthers’ scoring chart. Bentley Bauer finished with six and Emma Hoyt
Bloomer
Despite a 23-point performance by freshman Ellie Schiszik which included seven, three-point shots, and another 14 points from Stella Rhude, Elk Mound came up two points short in a 54-52 non-conference loss in Bloomer last Friday, February 4.
Schiszik made five treys and 17 of her points in the first half to help the Lady Mounders to a 34-29 lead over the host Blackhawks who got ten points from Danielle Latz.
Unfortunately, Elk Mound’s offense cooled off in the second half while its defense had trouble containing Bloomer’s post players Brooklyn Sarauer and Abby Iverson who each finished with 14 points including nine and eight points, respectively, in the final 18 minutes of action.
Bloomer finished with a 25-18 scoring advantage in the latter half to take the 54-52 win. Latz finished with 15 points to top Bloomer’s scoring chart.
“Bloomer played very well, and we struggled to stop their posts inside,” said Kongshaug.
Besides her 14 points, Rhude corralled ten of the Mounders 28 rebounds and picked up a couple of steals. Olivia Schreiber had four rebounds, four assists and two steals while Brooke Emery tallied four boards and three assists and steals.