Lady Bulldogs win back-to-back games; roll into regionals with momentum

BOYCEVILLE — It’s just what the doctor ordered.

Some much needed wins!

The Boyceville girls’ basketball team, plagued by injuries and inconsistent play over the past month, closed out the regular season with a pair of home victories last week to build some momentum for the WIAA Division 4 tournament which got underway last evening.

The Lady Bulldogs, sans starters Marki Lagerstrom (fractured leg) and Madysn Riek (injured ankle), dispatched the Amery Warriors 50 to 37 in a non-conference affair played in the Dog House Monday, February 15. Riek, who had missed Boyce-ville’s previous two contests, returned to the starting lineup three days later and gave her team an inspirational boost as it corralled the Mondovi Buffaloes 40-25 in the regular season and Dunn-St. Croix finale played at home Thursday, February 18.

Boyceville, who had just one win in its previous eight contests before closing out the regular season with back-to-back victories, finished 5-9 and in a fifth-place tie with Spring Valley in the final Dunn-St. Croix standings.

The Bulldogs, seeded ninth, headed into last evening’s regional quarterfinal road game at eighth-ranked Osseo-Fairchild with a 7-15 overall mark. The winner will have the honor of playing at Eau Claire Regis on Friday, February 26 against the top seeded Lady Ramblers, who are also ranked eighth in latest Wissports.net Coaches D4 state poll.

Mondovi

It wasn’t pretty but it was a win.

Both teams started slowly and struggled to hold on to the ball throughout the first 18 minutes of play.

The Bulldogs did manage to hold a 17-14 lead at the intermission.

Still clinging to that same three-point advantage midway through the second half of play, Boyceville embarked on a 12-0 run in the final seven and a half minutes of play to earn a 40-25 victory.

“Overall an ugly game,” said Bulldogs’ head coach Jolene Bird. “But I was glad to see we can even win when it is ugly.”

“I thought we played great defense,” added Bird. “We just had too many turnovers and empty possessions on offense.”

Boyceville committed 23 turnovers in the game and hit just 29 percent of its shots including just two of ten from behind the arc and 12 of its 38, two-point attempts. Mondovi wasn’t much better hitting just eight shots in the game’s entirety, seven of which came from three-point range. Neither team had a stellar performance at the charity strip. The Bulldogs hit just 10 of 18 and the Buffs connected on just two of their nine tosses.

Riek scored seven points in her return and lead the Bulldogs with nine rebounds and a pair of steals and blocked shots. Cassie Malean had break out performance on offense leading both teams in scoring with 16 points, including 12 in the second half. Boyceville had scoring contributions from four others. Morgan Kuhn and Jenna Beyrer each had a three to finish with nine and five points respectively while Emma Harnisch had a basket (to go with eight rebounds) and Brooklyn Booth sank a free throw to account for the rest of the Bulldogs’ scoring.

Haley Poeschel scored five treys to lead Mondovi with 15 points including the game’s opening basket but had little help as the Lady Buffaloes had scoring contributions from just two other players – Emily Flaskrud’s six point effort and four points from Anna Accola.

The game went scoreless for the first two and a half minutes until Poeschel canned her first triple. Just 45 second later Morgan Kuhn deliver her only three-point basket to knot the contest at three.

Cassie Malean then drove the lane for her first basket that gave Boyceville its first lead at 5-3.

Poeschel answered with another behind the arc bucket for a 6-5 Mondovi advantage.

Kuhn had a pair of basket while Harnisch and Riek added easy layings as the Bulldogs forged in front 13-6.

But Poeschel answered with her third three-point shot to make it 13-9. She added her fourth three in the final minute to pull Mondovi within 16-14. Kuhn made one of two foul shot with 6.9 seconds left in the first half to give the Bulldogs a 17-14 lead at the half.

A six-to-two run to open the second half gave Mondovi a 20-19 advantage. It would be shortlived as Malean scored buckets on consecutive offensive possessions as Boyceville retook the lead, 24-20. Mondovi would never lead again.

After Emily Flaskrud hit a three-point shot to close Mondovi’s deficit to 28-25, Boyceville went on its game-winning run.

Malean kicked it off with a pair of free throws and Brooklyn Booth added another. Jenna Beyrer sank a three ball to make it 34-25. Riek made three out of four foul shots and Malean added one more to make it 38-25. Kuhn capped the scoring with a nice 16-foot jumper to give the Lady Bulldogs their second straight win.

It was also the final home game for seniors Marki Lagerstrom and Jenna Beyrer who were both honored prior to the start of the varsity contest.

Amery

With Riek, the Bulldogs inside force, still sidelined with an injury,  junior Morgan Kuhn took control of the Boyceville offense and pumped in a game-high 21 points to lead the Bulldogs to a 50-37 non-conference win over Amery at home on Monday, February 15.

Kuhn scored 11 of Boyceville’s 19 first half points and Marissa Dormanen and Cassie Malean each added triples.

The Bulldogs coupled that scoring with a stifling defensive effort that held the Warriors to just ten, first-half points.

“I was very proud of the girls’ performance,” said Bird. “They played very hard and showed great composure having a couple new starters and bringing up players without varsity experience.”

“We knew we could be under sized without Maddy Riek playing but everyone stepped up and played strong defense in a very physical game,” Bird stated.

Amery nearly tripled its offense outpoint in the second half with 27 points but Boyceville kept pace and then some adding 31 points of its own after the intermission.

Kuhn added ten more points to her tally in the latter half. Jenna Beyrer scored her six points – all free throws – in the second stanza while Malean and Emma Harnisch added five, second half points each to finish with eight and seven points respectively. Dormanen finished with five and Brooklyn Booth netted a triple for three points.

Overall, Boyceville hit 30 percent of its shots including 6-for-19 from behind the arc. The Bulldogs also had 16 more foul shots than the Warriors connecting on 14 of 15 compared to five of nine for the visitors.

In Riek’s absence, Kuhn hauled down nine and Beyrer eight of the Bulldogs 24 rebounds.

Seven Amery players scored points but just one – Madelyn Granica – finished in double digits. She had ten. Esmee Luchtenburg netted nine and Jillian Jensen had six points.