Story by Above The Fold Media | For the Leader
Photo by Shaila Johnson
ST. CROIX FALLS – The St. Croix Falls girls basketball team entered the postseason on a roll.
The Saints claimed the Heart O’ North Conference title with an unblemished 18-0 record and closed the regular season with a 13-game win streak. They earned wins over Ashland and Barron to conclude the regular season with an overall 22-2 record.
Brianna McCurdy and Lucy Belisle gave St. Croix Falls a scoring duo that posted more points than Ashland’s entire roster in a 67-45 home win on Feb. 14. McCurdy scored a game-high 28 points with five rebounds and four assists while Belisle had 20 points and 10 rebounds.
The Saints made 22 of their 32 shots from the floor with McCurdy sinking six of her 14 3-point attempts.
Kelsey Cooper added eight points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
St. Croix Falls again posted the same point total in Thursday’s road game at Barron, taking a 67-53 win in the regular season finale.
McCurdy led the Saints with 17 points; Belisle had 15 points and seven rebounds; while Cooper had 13 points and six rebounds.
Unity 34, Luck 25
Maddi Reed scored a game-high 12 points and had seven rebounds with five steals for the Eagles in their home win on Friday.
Unity overcame a slim halftime deficit by outscoring the Cardinals 20-9 in the second half.
Lola McElhone had eight points and eight rebounds for Unity.
Stella Johansen led Luck with 11 points and seven rebounds; Olivia Walters had seven points and four rebounds.
Siren 54, Shell Lake 31
The Dragons held Shell Lake to just 11 points in the first half of a road win on Friday.
Kiersen Oustigoff had a game-high 15 points for Siren, scoring 11 of those in the first half with nine coming from 3-pointers. Lindsay Liljenberg and Emma Peterson then took over the scoring in the second half with Liljenberg sinking three 3-pointers and Peterson scoring eight points.
Liljenberg finished with 14 points and Peterson had eight.
Webster 39, Frederic 37
The Tigers overcame a halftime deficit to claim a home win on Friday.
Lauren Hetfeld scored a game-high 14 points for Webster, which was held to 13 first-half points, allowing the Vikings to take a five-point lead into the break.
But the Tigers doubled their scoring output in the second half to claim the lead and the win.
Lizzy Treague had nine points for Webster. Kendall Lillehaug led the Vikings with 13 points and Grace Nelson had eight.
Grantsburg 48, Clear Lake 44
Ruby Rengo led the Pirates with 15 points and seven rebounds in their road win on Friday.
Rengo also had seven rebounds for Grantsburg while Renee Tooze had nine points and four steals and Piper Olson had seven points with nine rebounds.
New Auburn 39, Frederic 22
While the two teams combined for just 19 first-half points, New Auburn outscored Frederic 29-13 in the second half of its road win on Thursday.
After falling behind 10-3, the Vikings scored the final six points to pull within a point before halftime. They also tied the game twice early in the second half and then took a one-point lead before New Auburn went on an 11-0 run that gave it the lead for good.
Ripplee Dunlavey led Frederic with nine points and six rebounds; Allie Swanson added five points and Kendall Lillehaug had four points with seven rebounds.
Grantsburg 57, Unity 32
The Pirates sank nearly double the amount of shots from the floor in their home win on Feb. 14.
Piper Olson led Grantsburg with a game-high 18 points and had eight rebounds while Ruby Rengo had 14 points and six rebounds. Whitney Myers added eight points and five assists.
Lola McElhone and Sloan Horgan led the Eagles with seven points each; McElhone also had four steals while Horgan had eight rebounds. Maddi Reed had six points.
Siren 50, Webster 41
The Dragons managed to claim a home win on Feb. 14 despite the efforts of Lauren Hetfeld.
Hetfeld scored a game-high 26 points for the Tigers, but Siren’s scoring duo of Emma Peterson and Kylee Lindquist helped the Dragons take a lead into halftime and the eventual win.
Peterson led Siren with 20 points while Lindquist had 10 and Kateri St. John added seven.
Brooke Wolf and Lizzy Treague had five points each for Webster.
Turtle Lake 65, Luck 27
Turtle Lake held Luck to just 11 points in the first half of a road win on Feb. 14.
The Lakers erased an early Cardinal lead with a 16-1 run in the first half and eventually took a 13-point lead into halftime. They also scored the first 16 points of the second half to ensure the win.
Stella Johansen led the Cardinals with 11 points and five rebounds; Abby Blechinger had seven points and 10 rebounds.
Clear Lake 56, Frederic 39
Clear Lake had four players reach double-digit point totals in a win at Frederic on Feb. 14.
The Warriors held an early lead until Lilly Hansford scored five consecutive points to put the Vikings up 16-14. However, Clear Lake later scored the final seven points of the half to take a 24-18 lead into the break.
The Warriors then scored the first five points of the second half to go up 29-18 and they held an advantage for the remainder.
Allie Swanson led Frederic with 12 points and six rebounds; Hansford had nine points and Kendall Lillehaug had seven points with six assists.
CUTLINE
ATF girls bb- Despite having knee surgery three weeks ago, the Luck and Unity girls basketball coaches made a pregame arrangement for Unity senior Sophia Crowe to enter Friday’s game and score a basket in the Eagles regular season home finale. Unity finished with the 34-25 win. - Photo submitted
