By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
PITTSVILLE – On Jan. 12, the Auburndale girls basketball team had a 4-4 record and found itself in a spot where its season could have gone either way.
The Apaches, who start five underclassmen and only have two seniors on the roster, found a way to turn their season around and continued their hot play with a 42-33 victory over Pittsville on Tuesday at Pittsville High School.
The victory is Auburndale’s 10th in its last 12 games and improves its record to 14-6 overall and 9-4 in the Marawood Conference South Division. Pittsville falls to 9-11, 4-9 in the Marawood South.
“I think we’re playing at a high level,” Auburndale coach Corey Manlick said. “Teams are starting to come after us. We have a target on our back. We played well against Greenwood last Tuesday, then that loss to (Wausau) Newman on Thursday. It’s kind of heartbreaking because you always want to beat the top team in the conference. Tonight, we came out a little sluggish, but we were able to control the game and staying patient against a 2-3 zone.”
Manlick said he thinks the Apaches are heading toward a No. 1 seed in their regional when the brackets are announced Sunday. The WIAA playoffs begin March 9.
Tuesday’s win was another example of the Apaches’ efficient play during their run over the past six weeks. Auburndale trailed 14-10 after the first quarter, but made 10 of 17 shots from the field and 11 of 15 free throws over the final three quarters to pull away as the game progressed.
Kayla Nikolay, Sam Karl and Kelly Tomfohrde scored on consecutive possessions for Auburndale in the second quarter as the Apaches took the lead for good.
Liz Breu led the way for the Apaches, scoring 11 points and grabbing rebounds.
Nikolay scored four points in a 7-2 run to start the third quarter and push Auburndale’s lead to 28-21.
Pittsville closed to within three on a basket by Carli Kronsteadt, but the Apaches scored the next eight points and held the Panthers scoreless for 7 minutes to build a double-digit lead. Auburndale made six of eight free throws in the final 1:06 to keep Pittsville at bay.
“At times we got a little uncharacteristic taking care of the ball, we kind of started forcing the issue,” Manlick said. “But we were patient on offense, got some good looks and when got down low we did a great job of finishing.
“On defense, our defensive controlled things to some extent.”
Auburndale wraps up its Marawood South schedule Thursday at home against Marathon and finishes its regular season with a Marawood North-South crossover game on Monday.
Apaches 42, Panthers 33
Auburndale 10 11 9 12 – 42
Pittsville 14 5 11 8 – 33
AUBURNDALE (43): Kayleigh Kundinger 0-0 0-0 0, Kayla Nikolay 3-4 1-2 7, Kelly Tomfohrde 2-7 4-4 9, Sam Karl 1-1 1-2 4, Katie Willfahrt 0-0 0-0 0, Lindsay Gotz 2-3 0-0 4, Kayla Leibl 1-1 2-2 4, Melissa Hartle 0-1 3-4 3, Liz Breu 4-7 3-6 11. FG: 13-24. FT: 15-20. 3-pointers: 2-6 (Tomfohrde 1-3, Karl 1-1, Nikolay 0-1, Gotz 0-1). Rebounds: 19 (Breu 5). Turnovers: 12. Total fouls: 7. Fouled out: none. Record: 14-6, 9-4 Marawood South.
PITTSVILLE (33): Margo Rosandick 3-7 0-0 6, Carli Kronsteadt 3-11 0-1 7, Heather Adrian 2-7 0-0 4, Michaela Wolf 2-5 0-0 6, Marissa Ortner 0-0 0-0 0, Janine Wegner 2-7 4-8 8, Amber Wegner 1-3 0-0 2. FG: 13-40. FT: 4-9. 3-pointers: 3-11 (Wolf 2-5, Kronsteadt 1-6). Rebounds: 17 (J. Wegner 7). Turnovers: 8. Total fouls: 13. Fouled out: Ortner. Record: 9-11, 4-9 Marawood South.
