Mounder girls edge Chiefs and Blackhawks to win sectional crown

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The last time (and first time) that an Elk Mound girls’ basketball team qualified for the state tournament Mounder Hall of Famer Ted Heimstead was the head coach and the players’ roster was populated with names such as Renee Paulsen, Crissy Gorell, Sara Solem, Jill Erpenbach, Keri Cyr, Lisa Morris, Renae Rhude, Tracy Meyer, Jennifer Rhude, Amy Maves, Linda Carlstrom, Renee Weidinger, Colleen Heimstead, Sue Plaszcz and Jill Prause.

That was 37 years ago!

Well, Elk Mound will be making only its second trip to the girls’ state basketball tournament this Thursday since that initial visit in 1988 after the 2024-25 Mounder edition, coached by Jordan Kongshaug and standout starters like seniors Ellie Schiszik, Allie Roder and Hailey Meyer and juniors Belle Kongshaug and Allie Robel, won a pair of exciting sectional tournament games to earn the state berth.

Number one seed Elk Mound held double-digit leads over Wisconsin Dells (21-3), the second seed, in both halves of its WIAA Division 3 sectional semifinal game played last Thursday evening, March 6 at Black River Falls High School, but had to hold off a late rally by the Lady Chiefs to secure its second straight sectional final appearance with a 46-42 victory.

That win propelled the Mounders into a sectional championship rematch versus Baldwin-Woodville (23-5), the bracket’s other top seed, in front of a capacity crowd of over 1,600 plus spectators at Eau Claire North Saturday afternoon, March 8. After feeling the heartache of a 60-43 loss to the Blackhawks a year ago, Elk Mound was not going to be denied this year.

The Mounders made some clutch shots, perhaps none bigger than Allie Roder’s three-point make that put her team ahead by a point with just over two minutes left in regulation. Elk Mound then salted away a 54-48 sectional championship win at the free throw line.

In the 2024 championship, Baldwin-Woodville made 21 of its 25 free throw attempts while Elk Mound finished just 5-for-20. The Mounders flipped that script in last Saturday’s final by making 19 of its 27 charity tosses. The Blackhawks, meanwhile, converted on only seven of their 14 free toss attempts.

“Certainly, yesterday was quite an environment and we faced some adversity as Baldwin took the lead late,” Mounder head Coach Jordan Kongshaug told media during a statewide Zoom call Sunday evening.

“I think honestly, the way last year ended, losing in the sectional final certainly stung for our team and we were motivated to get another opportunity, but yet when you lose in the sectional final, that’s a long time to wait and to sit there and in a year’s time you don’t know what your team necessarily is gonna look like and so we were just really excited to have another opportunity to play to get to Green Bay,” he continued.

“Baldwin played great. It came down to kids making plays and fortunately in crunch time we made a few plays, hit a few shots, and obviously are extremely happy with the outcome,” Kongshaug stated.

The Mounders improved to 26-1 with the sectional championship win.

Elk Mound, who was ranked sixth in the final state coaches poll, earned the number one seed among the four remaining D3 teams. They will play last year’s state runner-up Xavier (18-10) in the very first game of the 2025 WIAA Girls’ State Basketball Championships. Tipoff is set for 1:35 p.m. this Thursday, March 13 at the Resch Center in Green Bay. State-ranked squads from Oostburg (26-2), the second seed, and third seed Laconia (24-4) will tangle in the second semifinal that  follows the Elk Mound-Xavier match up. The semifinal winners will vie for the D3 state championship Saturday afternoon, March 15.

Wisconsin Dells

Wisconsin Dells was looking for payback when they met Elk Mound in last Thursday’s sectional semifinal at Black River Falls.

The Mounders defeated the Chiefs, who finished 9-1 in this year’s South Central Conference race and shared the championship with Westfield, 51-32 in a 2024 regional final played in Elk Mound. 

Wisconsin Dells jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead when junior Ashiya Hopkins hit from behind the three-point arc.

Mounder senior Allie Roder answered with her own triple, a theme she would carry throughout the weekend.

The Dells added a hoop on its next possession, but Elk Mound scored the next seven points on an Ellie Schiszik three and back-to-back two-point hoops by Allie Robel and Roder.

After a Chiefs’ basket, junior Belle Kongshaug went to the free throw line after being fouled while attempting a long-range shot and hit all three free throws for a 13-8 Mounders’ lead.

Wisconsin Dells’ Natalie Backhaus scored on the ensuing possession, but Schiszik added a pair of free throws. Backhaus, however, responded with a drive to basket, scored the hoop and drew a foul from Roder. She missed the free toss, but the Chiefs were within three at 15-12.

Sophomore Kendra Garnett came off the Elk  Mound bench and nailed a three and Roder added a conventional three-point play on the Mounders next offensive possession. The Dells added a free throw, but Elk Mound still held the advantage at 19-14.

After a few scoreless trips by each squad, Elk Mound scored seven straight points. Hailey Meyers scored in the paint, Garnett caught nothing but net on her second three-point attempt, and Robel came up with a nice spin move that yielded a shot off the glass for two and a 26-15 Mounder advantage.

Backhaus and Schiszik traded buckets and Natalie Fields added a couple of free throws to the Dells’ tally as the game went to half with Elk Mound holding to a 28-19 lead. 

Wisconsin Dells came out of the locker room and scored the first four points of the second half to cut the Mounder lead to five points. After Schiszik hit the front end of a two-shot foul, Hopkins sent her second triple through the hoop and the Chiefs were within three points of knotting the game.

But, Elk Mound went on a 9-2 run for a 10-point lead at 38-28 with 9:21 remaining in the game. During that run, Kongshaug made a three, Schiszik had a triple the conventional route (with a deuce and free throw) and Roder canned her second three pointer.

That double-digit Mounder lead, however, evaporated over the next five minutes as the Dells responded with an 8-1 run of its own. Three free throws, a two-point hoop and a three off the hands of Maia Marsich pulled the Chiefs to within three points of the Mounders.

Schiszik scored a bucket on a nice drive, but Hopkins hit another three pointer, her second of the half and third of the game, to move the Dells to within a basket, 41-39, of Elk Mound with 2:10 to play.

Elk Mound, however, sealed it at the free throw line. Roder made a pair and Schiszik added another to bolster the Mounder advantage at 44-39 with under 20 seconds on the clock.

Jaz Alwin put in a three pointer to close the gap to two points, 44-42, with 9.4 seconds. But, coming out of a Chiefs’ timeout, Schiszik took the inbounds pass and was fouled with 6.9 seconds. She made both tosses to seal the win as the Mounders went in front 46-42. A last second three-point attempt by the Chiefs hit the front of the rim as time expired.

Schiszik finished with 14 points and Roder had 11 to lead the Mounders who made six triples and were 14-for-23 at the free throw line. Elk Mound snared 21 rebounds with nine going to Robel, Roder had five and Meyer four. The team also had five steals.

Natalie Backhaus was the only Chief in double figures as she finished with 13.

Baldwin-Woodville

With three and a half minutes left in the first half of last Saturday’s sectional championship game, it appeared that Elk Mound was on the verge of taking command as it held a 24-14 advantage over Baldwin-Woodville after Schiszik made a pair of free throws with 3:34 left until halftime.

Instead, Blackhawk senior Haley Jordt, the team’s leading scorer, sparked her team’s resurgence with a three-point basket. Baldwin-Woodville eventually outpointed Elk Mound 9 to 3 as it closed the deficit to 27-23 by intermission.

Coming out of the break, Elk Mound briefly held on to its four-point lead thanks to a Roder three, but consecutive triples by Blackhawks’ Trinity Karau and Hailey Cota trimmed its to a single point at 36 to 35.

A Roder drive and score followed by a conventional three-point play by Robel gave the Mounders a bit of breathing room at 41-35.

But, Elk Mound wasn’t able to hold the lead. 5’ 8” junior forward Shannon Fritts drained a three following a steal to knot the score at 43 all with just under eight minutes left.

Roder broke the tie and put the Mounders back on top by two with a nice drive for the easy layup.

Baldwin-Woodville took its first lead since early in the first half when Fritts connected on her second three pointer in a minute half to put the Blackhawks in front 46-45 with 5:29 remaining on the game clock. Half a minute later, Fritts tacked on a free throw as Baldwin now lead by a pair of points.

Kongshaug had an opportunity to put the lead back in Elk Mound’s hands when she was fouled while in the act of shooting a three pointer. The junior, however, was only able to convert the last of her three foul shots which left the Mounders still trailing by a point.

Jordt was fouled by Robel. The B-W player missed the first foul shot, but converted the second as the lead went to two points for the Blackhawks.

Demonstrating nerves of steel, senior Allie Roder, made what might possibly be the biggest shot of her high school career when she swished a three pointer that gave the Mounders a 49-48 lead with just over two minutes on the scoreboard.

The Mounders rebounded the Blackhawk miss on the next possession and then worked to run time off the clock. Roder was fouled with 1:05 to play and stepped to the line and converted both free tosses to give her team a 51-48 lead.

Baldwin’s 3-point try by Trinity Karau to tie the game misfired with 31 seconds to go and Elk Mound came away with the rebound.

Cota picked up her fifth foul as Roder went to the line with 27.1 seconds to play. Roder missed her first foul shot, the Hawks came down with the board, but another Karau three missed its mark and Robel hauled in the board and was fouled by Fritts (5th)  which put the Mounders in the double bonus at 10.4 seconds. She made the first but missed the second which Elk Mound corralled. Roder grabbed the rebound and was fouled immediately by the Hawks’ Jordt. Roder sank both free throws with 7.4 seconds to secure a 54-48 Elk Mound win and state berth.

“This is a group that over the course of the past three years has just won a lot of games and have been in close games and know how to win,” said Coach Kongshaug.

“In this tournament, Ellie (Schiszik) has taken her game to another level. She has wanted to play at state her whole life. In the Dells’ game, we started to reel a bit and she (Schiszik) just wasn’t going to let us lose,” continued Kongshaug.

“Today I said, Ellie we are always at our best when you are aggressive at the offensive end and right from the get go she set the tone. But, all year we have also had other kids step up and have had balanced scoring and it seems at one point or another we have had different players make plays for us,” said the coach.

“Obviously, Roder’s three at the end was a huge, the biggest shot we have had here in 37 years probably,” chuckled Kongshaug.

Three Mounders finished the contest in double figures. Schiszik  tallied 17 including two triples, four rebounds and three assists, Roder netted 16 points with two threes, eight boards and three assists and Robel finished with 13 points and six rebounds. Kongshaug added a three pointer and finished with six points. Elk Mound went 5-for-11 at the line.

Shannon Fritts and Haley Jordt finished with 16 and 10 points, respectively, to led Baldwin-Woodville.

When asked by what the team’s goal at state is, Kongshaug said, “Well, I mean, if we’re gonna go there, we might as well win, you know? We just gotta play our game, we’re a good basketball team. We’re going there for a reason. We’ll prepare like crazy. These kids buy in,” concluded Kongshaug.