Elk Mound girls return eight letterwinners to 2021-2022 squad
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ELK MOUND girls’ varsity basketball team returns eight letterwinners for the 2021-22 season as it looks to challenge for the Dunn-St. Croix Conference title. Front row (L to R): Tori Blaskowski, Olivia Schreiber, Ellie Schiszik, Stella Rhude and Brooke Emery. Back row (L to ?R): Olivia Schindler, Kallee Rhude, Chloe Dummer, Madisyn Mohr, Allie Roder, Carly Mohr and Lydia Levra. —photo submitted
by Marlys Krueger
Sports Correspondent
ELK MOUND — Elk Mound head girls’ basketball coach Jordan Kongshaug has plenty of experience returning to the court this season, including eight players who were letterwinners a year ago.
There were no seniors on the squad last year which means a lot of players on this year’s team saw some varsity action. Returning are the four top scorers from last year including junior Tori Blaskowski with a 12.8 scoring average, junior Stella Rhude (11.9 average), junior Brook Emery (9.4 average) and senior Olivia Schreiber (5.4 average). Blaskowski was a First Team All Dunn-St. Croix Conference pick while Rhude was a Second Team selection and Emery was named Honorable Mention.
“We will depend on Tori’s ability to score while attacking the basket as well as providing defensive energy and being one of our primary ball handlers,” Kongshaug said. “We will depend on Olivia’s ability to defend inside and on the perimeter and for her to attack the basket to create scoring opportunities. We will depend on Stella’s athleticism and her ability to create offense on the defensive end. We will also need her to score inside and rebound. Brook has the ability to knock down shots from the outside and she works hard on the defensive end of the floor,” he added.
Four more Mounders with varsity experience are expected to see a lot of action including, a pair of seniors in Kallee Rhude and Olivia Schindler, along with sophomores Madisyn Mohr and Lydia Levra. Newcomers to the varsity are Ellie Schiszik, Allie Roder, Carly Mohr, and Chloe Dummer.
The Mounders had their 2020-2021 season end early due to a Covid-19 problem and did not get to participate in the regional tournament. They finished 9-7 overall and 9-3 in D-SC Conference play where they finished third behind Colfax and Durand.
Kongshaug is the longest tenured coach in the conference, beginning his 12th season leading the team with a168-85 record. He believes the team’s strengths are the ability to be strong on the defensive end.
“We should be able to pressure the ball well,” he said. “And I think we will be able to take care of the ball and knock down outside shots. We will need to box out and rebound because we might be undersized against some teams,” he stated.
Statistically, the team wants to create more turnovers than they commit and they want to improve in every practice so they are playing their best basketball at the end of the season.
Kongshaug believes Colfax, the defending conference champions will be one of the top teams again with some great players returning. He also expects Durand and Mondovi to be very competitive with some talented players on both teams.
Elk Mound began their season last Tuesday with a 64-49 win at Stanley-Boyd.
2021-22 Roster
Seniors: Kallee Rhude, Olivia Schindler, Olivia Schreiber
Juniors: Brooke Emery, Tori Blaskowski, Stella Rhude, Karsyn Heath, Mercede Rothbauer, Sierra Simpson, Lauren Garnett, Grace Roder
Sophomores: Madisyn Mohr, Lydia Levra, Carly Mohr, Chloe Dummer, Carly Mohr, Jillian Schlewitz, Chloe Dummer
Freshmen: Ellie Schiszik, Allie Roder, Jaidynn Sarauer, Claire Roff, Hailey Meyer