Hilltopper girls suffer losses to Mounders
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DESPITE being surrounded by a trio of Elk Mound defenders, Glenwood City junior Jenna McCarthy (#24) hit this second-half jump shot for two points when the Hilltoppers hosted Elk Mound February 12. McCarthy led the Hilltoppers with 13 points including a trio of three-point baskets in the first half. Glenwood City lost the contest 90-31.
—photo by Shawn DeWitt
The Glenwood City girls knew they faced a difficult task when they played the Mighty Mounders in back-to-back conference basketball contests to concluded the regular season last week.
The Hilltoppers were hoping to play well and be competitive against the two-time Dunn-St. Croix champs.
Unfortunately, neither came to fruition for Glenwood City.
The Mounders trampled the Toppers by a combined score of 164 to 50 in the two games giving Elk Mound its second straight 14-0 finish in league play and a perfect 24-0 finish to the regular season.
In the Monday, February 12 contest, a makeup of the January 12 game that was postponed by winter weather, Elk Mound rolled to a 90-31 victory in Glenwood City. Three days later, the Hilltoppers had to travel to Elk Mound for the conference and regular season finale where they were once again soundly beaten by the Mounders, this time 74-19.
With those two lopsided losses to Elk Mound, Glenwood City finished 3-11 in conference play, good for a sixth-place tie with rival Boyceville, and 5-18 overall.
The Hilltoppers headed into the WIAA Division 5 playoffs, which got underway Tuesday, on a seven-game losing streak. Glenwood City, seeded 14th, was in Turtle Lake last night to take on the third-seeded Lakers in a quarterfinal game. The winner will move on to face the victor of the Solon Springs (#11) and Clayton (#6) contest in this Friday’s, February 23, regional semifinal.
Elk Mound-Game 1
Junior Jenna McCarthy hit a trio of three-point shots in the opening half and sophomore Anaka Eliason added another for the Hilltoppers but it was much too little as the Mounders bombarded their hosts with eight long balls of their own en route to a commanding 58 to 17 halftime advantage.
Junior Ellie Schiszik, who recently surpassed the 1,000-career point mark and is the Mounders’ leading scorer, netted a pair of three-point baskets and 16 of her game-high 19 in the first half. Teammates Lydia Levra and Belle Kongshaug also had a pair of threes in the first 18-minute frame to go along with one each by Jaidynn Sarauer and Allie Roder.
The Mounders continued to shot the ball with accuracy in second half adding four more triples while the Toppers offense struggled to find the net on a consistent basis.
Elk Mound, who finished with a dozen three-point hoops, parlayed their play into another 32 points in the second half to 14 by Glenwood City as the Mounders cruised to a 97-31 win in the February 12 game.
McCarthy finished as the top point getter for Glenwood City with 13 points on a trio of three pointers and two deuces. Eliason along with Morgan Blaser and Emma Bliese each finished with three points apiece as each tallied a trey.
The Hilltoppers finished with six, three pointers of their own but were only 3-for-11 at the foul line.
Elk Mound-Game 2
A near identical replay of their first meeting three days earlier took place when the Toppers and Mounders met in Elk Mound for the conference and regular-season finale last Thursday.
Schiszik once again led Elk Mound to a superlative first half of offensive prowess as they put 47 point on the board to the Hilltoppers ten.
Elk Mound did dial back its offense in the second half as it’s entire bench saw action, but still managed 27 points.
Glenwood City garnered just nine points in the final 18 minutes, a three and two free throws by lone senior Libby Wagner, a Morgan Blaser triple and a free throw from Tori Ohman.
Wagner was the Toppers scoring leader with six points while Kaylin Brandt, Blaser and Ohman each added three. Glenwood City had two triples and was 7-for-10 at the charity stripe.
Elk Mound had 14 of its 15 varsity players finish with at least one point. Schiszik again led the way with 16 points, Levra added 14 and Allie Robel tallied ten. The Mounder finished with just four treys this go-round and was a pedestrian 12-for-21 at the line.