Mounder girls slip past Bulldogs then rout Raiders for two conference wins

The Elk Mound girls had to come from behind in the fourth quarter before pulling out a 37-34 win at home over the Boyceville Bulldogs Jan. 9 then played a Saturday matinee game at Elmwood two days later and came up with their highest point total of the season in a 67-20 win over the Raiders. The wins bring their conference record to 4-2 and their overall record to 6-4.

 Boyceville

The Mounders held a 9-5 lead after a quarter of play but the game was all knotted up at 17-17 at the half. McKenna McVey put the Mounders up with a close range bucket but Boyceville tied it with a layup by their team’s leading scorer Abbey Bird. The Bulldogs then pulled ahead by seven points but Sarah Winchester went to work and came up with 10 points in the quarter including a game tying triple, then  Elizabeth Fasbender put the Mounders ahead to stay after stealing the ball and hitting a shot in the lane and a free throw to boot. McVey added another free toss before the Bulldogs hit two of their own to cut the Mounder lead to 36-34 with 19 seconds left. Jamie Solem tacked on a free throw and the Mounder defense came up with two big stops to preserve the win.

“I was proud of our effort, especially on the defensive end,” Elk Mound coach Jordan Kongshaug. “Our team is starting to turn a corner and we need to keep building momentum.”

Winchester led the Mounders with 16 points with four treys while McVey finished with 11 points. Elk Mound could have made things a little easier on themselves but they  knocked down just 7 of 25 free throws in the game. The Bulldogs were 5 for 12 from the line and had 33 turnovers.

ELK MOUND (37) Winchester 5-2-2-16, McVey 5-1-7-11, Fasbender 3-2-8-8, Solem 0-1-4-1, K. King 0-1-2-1

BOYCEVILLE (34) Bird 5-1-3-11, A. Lake 2-4-8-8, S. Marlett 3-0-0-6, M. Kuhn 2-0-0-6, A. Peterson 1-0-0-3

THREE POINTERS: Winchester 4, Kuhn 2, Peterson 1

Elmwood

The Mounders gave up 10 points in the first quarter but held the Raiders to single digit scoring the next three as they held a 31-12 lead at the intermission. Winchester and McVey, a pair of solid sophomores continue to lead the way on the offensive side as they combined for 27 of those points including 15 by Winchester with four triples in the mix.

Elk Mound poured in 23 third quarter points for a 54-13 lead as Solem, Winchester and Mattie Pitts all drained a three ball  and Waive Melgaard, and Morgan McDougall  put their name in the scorebook in the final stanza to combine for seven of the Mounders’ 13 points.

“We started a little slow but had a lot more energy the second half,” Kongshaug said. “We took care of the ball and made smarter decisions. It was a good win for us,” he added.

Eight players scored for the Mounders with McVey leading the way with 22 points and Winchester drained five triples enroute to a 19 point afternoon. The woes from the charity stripe continue however as they hit on only 9 of 22 but the Raiders were not much better with a 4 for 14 performance.

ELK MOUND (67) McVey 10-2-9-22, Winchester 5-4-7-19, Sternecker 4-0-2-8, Solem 3-0-0-7, McDougall 2-0-0-5, Pitts 1-0-0-3, Melgaard 0-2-2-2, King 0-1-2-1

ELMWOOD (20) A. Morrell 2-0-2-5, Ju. Weix 1-2-6-4, S. Hall 1-0-0-3, A. Hoyt 1-0-2-2, K. Lee 1-0-0-2, Je. Weix 0-1-2-1

THREE POINTERS: Winchester 5, Solem 1, McDougall 1, Pitts 1, Morrell 1, Hall 1