Lady Mounders whip Westby, lose to number one seed West Salem

After receiving a bye in the first round of the regional tournament with a number four seed,  the Elk Mound girls were chomping at the bit after having a week off from competition. They were more than ready to get back on the court and showed it by walloping the Westby Norsemen at home Feb. 26 by a score of 76-30 and just 24 hours later the Mounders were in West Salem for the regional final. Things didn’t go as smooth there however, as they held a one point lead late in the game but couldn’t hold on, dropping the game 57-51 against the number one seeded Panthers.

Both opponents play in the Coulee Conference where Westby placed third with a 6-6 record and were 13-9 overall, while West Salem tied with GET for the conference title at 11-1 and were 21-3 in all games.

Westby

Allie Weber got the Mounders off to a good start with a trey from the top of the circle and after McKenna McVey scored off an inbounds pass it was 5-4. Westby pulled ahead 9-5 which called for Elk Mound coach Jordan Kongshaug to make some adjustments defensively and from that time forward it was all Mounders as they went on a 19 point scoring run. Weber started it with a deuce, Morgan Radtke scored twice on assists from McVey, McVey then dropped in a pair of buckets from under the hoop, Hannah Cedarblade scored in the paint, Sarah Winchester drained a triple and McVey added two more deuces from close range to make it 24-9 before the Norse knew what hit them.

Employing their full court defense with McVey using her long arms to guard the girl passing the ball out created chaos all game and produced plenty of turnovers by the Norsemen. McVey was unstoppable in the post, dropping in two more buckets, Kami King scored in the lane, Radtke added a put back, Megan Krall knocked down a pair of free tosses, Winchester drove the lane for two and when McVey scored again, the Mounder lead was doubled at 40-20.Elizabeth Fasbender finished off the half with a drive to the hoop and Elk Mound went into the intermission with a commanding 42-20 lead.

“We were not rotating around correctly at the start of the game and lost a couple of their players,” Coach Kongshaug said. “That resulted in some easy baskets for them. But we made the adjustment and stepped up our defensive pressure which seemed to take them out of their game.”

Weber started the second half just like the first with a triple, and McVey, who had 18 points already, scored five straight times including a put back and a fast break layup with a free throw in the mix and it was 59-26. Westby was already worn out as Cedarblade stole the ball and scored on a layup and 10 seconds later, Megan Krall did the same thing. Cedarblade added another deuce in the paint and with Krall’s shot from behind the arc, it was a 40 point advantage at 68-28 with 8:00 left.

Kongshaug cleared the bench to make sure his starters could get a rest and Crista Sweeney added a deuce, Madysen Borofka laid in her own, and the game ended mercifully, with a pair of buckets from Emily Winchester.

“Our girls never stopped hustling on defense and we made the extra passes to make sure we got off good shots,” Kongshaug said. “And we finished the shots tonight. McKenna was unstoppable and the girls kept getting the ball to her. It was a great team effort all game,” he added.

McVey led all scorers with a career high 29 point performance including 13 buckets from close range and 3 of 5 from the free throw line. The Mounders finished 5 for 11 at the foul line while Westby was 1 for 6.

ELK MOUND (76) McVey 13-3-5-29, Cedarblade 4-0-0-9, Weber 3-0-1-8, Krall 2-2-4-7, Radtke 3-0-0-6, S, Winchester 2-0-0-5, E. Winchester 2-0-0-4, Fasbender 1-0-0-2, King 1-0-0-2, Borofka 1-0-0-2, Sweeney 1-0-0-2

WESTBY (30) K. VonRuden 5-0-2-10, C. VonRuden 4-0-0-8, C. Olson 3-1-2-7, S. Korn 1-1-3-3, M. Del Medico 1-0-0-2

THREE POINTERS: Weber 2, Cedarblade 1, S. Winchester 1, Krall 1, Korn 1

West Salem

The Mounders had to deal with foul trouble throughout the game with several of them having three fouls by halftime. They also turned the ball over nine times and were just 2 for 8 from long range in the half with one trey coming from Weber and the other from Sarah Winchester and they went into the intermission down 13 points at 30-17.

Elk Mound cut the deficit to seven points early in the second half and kept it around that number for several minutes. With just over five minutes left, Fasbender drained a three pointer to get the Mounders closer, down 47-43 and a pair of King free throws made it 47-46 with three minutes left. Fasbender knocked down a bucket and when McVey scored from close range and added a free toss, the Mounders were ahead for the first time since early in the first half, leading 50-49.The Panthers used their own three point play with a deuce and free throw to regain the lead at 52-50 then forced a Mounder turnover to get the ball back. They finished off the game with five free throws while King hit one for the Mounders to complete the final score.

“We were oh-so-close,” Kongshaug said. “We fought back in the second half and finally made it over that hump to get a lead but couldn’t pull it out. We lost a couple of players who fouled out and Sarah didn’t play the second half with an injury and that hurt us down the stretch. We are disappointed we are not moving on but we had a great season and we will keep our heads high,” he added.

Fasbender and McVey tied for Mounder scoring honors with 13 points each and the team was 16 for 27 from the charity stripe. West Salem knocked down 18 of 26 from the stripe.

WEST SALEM (57) incomplete book

ELK MOUND (51) Fasbender 4-4-4-13, McVey 5-3-3-13,Weber 2-3-4-9, King 1-5-9-8, Cedarblade 1-1-2-3, S. Winchester 1-0-3-3, Radtke 1-1-2-3

THREE POINTERS: Weber 2, Fasbender 1, King 1, S. Winchester 1