Mounder girls undefeated season comes to an end with sectional final loss to B-W

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AMERY — It wasn’t suppose to end this way.

The Elk Mound girls undefeated season came to a heartbreaking end and dreams of their first state berth since 1988 were dashed last Saturday afternoon, March 2 in the Amery High School gymnasium following a loss to Baldwin-Woodville in the WIAA Division 3 basketball sectional championship.

Unlike their sectional semifinal win over La Crosse Aquinas two days earlier, there would be no second-half comeback this time.

Every time the Mounders, who finished the season 27-1, tried to make a run in the latter half of the game, the Blackhawks, champions of the Middle Border Conference, rebuffed Elk Mound’s advances by hitting timely shots and finished off the game making their final 12 shots from the charity strip to salt away a 60-43 victory and earn a trip to the girls’ state basketball tournament which will be held at Resch Center in Green Bay this Thursday through Saturday, March 7-9.

The Blackhawks finished 21-for-25 at the free throw line and made five triples while the Mounders went just 5-for-20 at the charity stripe and finished with just a single three pointer.

Baldwin-Woodville (22-6), seeded fourth, will take on top-seeded Edgewood (25-3) in the first D3 state semifinal slated for 1:35 p.m. Thursday, March 7. The winner will advance to Saturday’s state championship game versus the winner of Thursday’s other semifinal that features #3 Xavier (21-7) against #2 Kettle Moraine Lutheran (24-4).

“Baldwin-Woodville played a great game, and they had an answer every time we started to make a run,” stated Jordan Kongshaug, Elk Mound head coach.

“While its disappointing, I am so proud of this team,” added Kongshaug. “They were a privilege to coach!”

The two squads had played early in the regular season with the Mounders prevailing 51-39 at home in the November 30 non-conference showdown with Ellie Schiszik, Lydia Levra and Allie Roder combining for 38 points.

That outcome seemed to give some fans confidence that their Mounders would again win out.

But, Baldwin-Woodville showed itself to be much improved since the teams previous meeting.

Ellie Schiszik, a member of the exclusive 1,000 career-point club and the team’s leading scorer, put Elk Mound on the scoreboard first with a three-point basket. As it turned out, it would be the Mounders only one of the game.

Baldwin-Woodville tied it the conventional way when junior Magdelynn “Maggie” Jensen sored off a rebound and was fouled by Mounder sophomore Allie Robel. Jensen finished off the play with the free throw.

Fellow Hawks’ junior Haley Jordt put a three through the net on Baldwin-Woodville’s next trip down court for a 6-3 advantage.

A steal would lead to another Hawks’ hoop, this one by sophomore Shannon Fritts, and an 8-3 advantage.

Schiszik was fouled while shooting and dropped in both foul shoots to cut the Hawk lead to 8-5.

Baldwin-Woodville would get another three-point play, this time from senior guard Marin Nygaard, to take a six-point lead.

Mounder senior Carly Mohr would net her first points of the contest with a shot from under the hoop and a free throw to cut her team’s deficit to three.

Baldwin-Woodville stretched its advantage to double digits with a 10-2 run. Jensen began it with two free throws, Fritts and Jordt canned back-to-back three pointers and Fritts bookended it with another hoop to stake the Hawks to a 21-10 lead. The lone Mounder score during the B-W spree came via a Lydia Levra deuce.

Elk Mound closed out the half on a 12-4 run with three baskets by Mohr and a deuce and two free throws from Allie Robel  to pull with three, 25-22.

The second half was but a few seconds old when Schiszik picked up her second foul. Jensen hit both free throw attempts to push the Blackhawk lead to 28-22.

But, baskets by Schiszik and Robel on consecutive trips to the offensive end had the Mounders within a point.

The Blackhawks, however, responded with ten straight points highlighted by three pointers from Haley Cota and Ryeah Oehlke to open their lead to 37-26.

Robel’s hoop stopped the Blackhawk run but the Mounders were not able to make a significant dent in the deficit as the teams traded baskets and free throws.

Baldwin-Woodville slowly expanded its double-digit lead at the charity stripe. Elk Mound committed its seventh foul at 7:16 when Schiszik was whistled for her fourth infraction of the game to put the Blackhawks in the bonus and then reached double bonus status with just under three minutes to play. The Blackhawks finished the game by hitting 12 straight free throws and used an effective four-corners stall to erase the final two and half minutes of game time for the 60-43 win.

A Robel free throw and a basket in the paint by Mohr were the only points the Mounders mustered in the final seven minutes of the game.

Schiszik finished with 14 points to led Elk Mound with Allie Robel and Carly Mohr each tallying 13 despite all three playing the second half with foul trouble. Schiszik and Mohr ended up with four fouls and Robel had three. Schiszik had the Mounders only triple and the team finished 16-for-28 at the line.

Baldwin-Woodville was led by Jordt who finished with 18 points including two treys and Jensen tallied 13 points including a 7-for-7 finish at the charity stripe.

It was the final game for a trio of Mounder seniors. The team had to say tearful farewells to Chloe Dummer, Lydia Levra and Carly Mohr.

“I want to say thank you to our seniors for their leadership and commitment to our program,” concluded Kongshaug.