Mounders squash Crickets in girls basketball opener

By Cara L. Dempski

ELK MOUND — The poor Crickets, they never stood a chance.

A pair of double-digit scoring runs in the opening minutes of the game helped the Elk Mound girls squash Fall Creek 63-30 in their regular-season home basketball opener the evening of Thursday, November 17.

Mounder head coach Jordan Kongshaug was pleased with his team’s inaugural performance of the 2016-17 season.

“It was a nice way to start the season,” he said. “It was a great team effort, I appreciated how hard the girls played.”

Kongshaug said the Mounder girls benefitted from a lot of defensive intensity and moved the ball well. Elk Mound employed a full-court press that created multiple scoring opportunities, and sophomore center Morgan Radtke held her own in the paint.

Elk Mound opened the match-up with a 13-0 run before the Crickets answered with a pair of hoops. But the Lady Mounders responded with a 15-0 run to make the score 28-4 in their favor.

Elk Mound held a convincing and commanding 33-12 advantage at halftime and nabbed another 30 points in the second half while holding Fall Creek to only 18 points in the second half.

That is not to say, though, that members of both teams did not have issues during the game.

Kongshaug was pleased with his team’s effort, but said the team needs to reel things in defensively after earning a total 15 fouls.

“We just have to make sure to play a little smarter defensively,” he stated.

Radtke racked up four fouls against the Crickets, but contributed 10 points from the post to assist the Mounders to their win. Seniors Kami King and Elizabeth Fasbender led all scorers as each contributed 12 points to the final score. Fasbender was two for four on free throws and nailed two three-point shots; she committed three fouls. King made up for committing a foul by dropping six shots through the net.

Junior Allie Weber picked up two fouls in the first half and one in the second, but scored nine points, including a three-pointer and two free throws. Megan Krall landed two field goals and a three-point shot to log seven points without committing any fouls.

Ashley Gunderson-Morris tallied five points for the Mounders, and Crista Sweeney logged four more. Hannah Cedarblade and Alexis Schindler each scored two points, with Cedarblade picking up a field goal and Schindler sinking two of four free throw attempts.

Overall, the Mounders and the Crickets each recorded 19. Fall Creek junior Olivia Costley fouled out of the game after committing her fifth in the second half.

The Elk Mound girls now have a short break before they hit the road to take on Stanley-Boyd in Stanley on November 28.

TEAM STATISTICS (FG-FT-F-T)

FALL CREEK (6-18-19-30): R. Levandowski 0-4-1-4, O. Costley 1-2-5-4, J. Kuula 1-4-1-6, C. Sorenson 0-1-0-1, I. Steinke 0-4-2-4, C. Held 2-1-3-5, K. Kent 0-0-1-0, B. Johnson 0-0-2-0, A. Dunham 0-0-2-0, A. Heuer 1-2-1-4, K. Hong 1-0-1-2.

ELK MOUND (25-8-18-63): K. Baier 0-0-3-0, H. Cedarblade 1-0-1-2, A. Weber 3-2-3-9, E. Fasbender 4-2-3-12, M. Krall 3-0-0-7, R. Radtke 0-0-1-0, K. King 6-0-1-12, G. Peterson 0-0-1-0, A. Gunderson-Morris 1-2-3-5, M. Borofka 0-0-1-0, M. Radtke 5-0-4-10, A. Schindler 0-2-0-2, C. Sweeney 2-0-2-4.

THREE POINTERS: EM — A. Weber 1, E. Fasbender 2, M. Krall 1, A. Gunderson-Morris 1.