By Greg Aune
For MarshfieldAreaSports.com
WAUSAU – It wasn’t pretty, but Auburndale is moving on with a 34-22 win over Amherst in a WIAA Division 3 girls basketball regional final on Saturday at Wausau West High School.
Auburndale was cold from the floor, but relied on its defense to advance to a sectional semifinal in Antigo on Thursday against Gillett, which was a 34-31 winner over Peshtigo on Saturday. The sectional final is Saturday, March 20 at De Pere.
“I wish we would have come out with a little more intensity, but we did just enough to win, and I’ll take an ugly win any day,” said Auburndale coach Corey Manlick.
The teams traded baskets in the first quarter and the game went back-and-forth for much of the first half. Auburndale built an eight-point cushion heading into the break thanks to a 3-pointer from Kayla Nikolay just before the buzzer.
Both teams started the second half slowly and traded turnovers. Amherst got a bit of spark late in the quarter on a three-point play from Ashley Holden. The Falcons cut into Auburndale’s lead and entered the fourth quarter trailing 24-19.
In the fourth, the shooting struggles continued, as neither team scored during the first 5 minutes of the quarter. The Apaches’ Liz Breu finally found the bottom of the net to put Auburndale up by seven, and Amherst, which shot 1 for 13 from the floor in the final quarter, was forced to foul the rest of the way.
Auburndale gave the Falcons a little bit of hope by carrying their shooting woes over to the free-throw line (9-for-23), but Amherst was never able to solve the Apaches’ defense and Kelly Tomfohrde and Lindsay Gotz were finally able to ice the game for Auburndale.
“We didn’t shoot free throws well, which was disappointing, but our defensive pressure was excellent and we held them in check,” Manlick said. “Our free throws could have come back to bite us in the butt, but we’ll work on that this week. We played our game defensively and were able to hold them in check.”
Auburndale got 10 points from Tomfohrde, nine from Nikolay and eight from Gotz. Despite the Apaches’ tough shooting day, it paled in comparison to Amherst, which turned in an 8-for-44 performance from the floor. The Falcons were led by Ali Stratton’s game-high 11 points.
Apaches 34, Falcons 22
Auburndale 9 12 3 10 – 34
Amherst 8 5 6 3 – 22
AUBURNDALE (34): Kayleigh Kundinger 1-1 0-0 2, Kayla Niolay 4-5 0-0 9, Kelly Tomfohrde 2-7 5-9 10, Sam Karl 0-0 0-0 0, Katie Willfahrt 0-2 0-0 0, Lindsay Gotz 2-4 3-6 8, Kayla Leibl 0-1 0-0 0, Melissa Hartle 0-1 0-0 0, Lix Breu 2-10 1-8 5, Cassie Panzer 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 11-31. FT: 9-23. 3-pointers: 3-4 (Nikolay 1-1, Tomfohrde 1-1, Willfahrt 0-1, Gotz 1-1). Rebounds: 21. Turnovers: 18. Total fouls 12. Fouled out: none. Record: 19-6.
AMHERST (22): Ali Stratton 4-15 3-7 11, Emily Erickson 0-7 0-0 0, Lindsey Makuski 0-0 0-0 0, Marissa Trzebiatowski 0-3 1-2 1, Ashley Holden 2-12 1-1 5, Shelby Serafin 2-6 0-0 4, Melzy Peterson 0-1 1-2 1, Brooke Trzebiatowski 0-0 0-0 0, Kelsey Blackford 0-0 0-0 0, Ashlee Trzebiatowski 0-0 0-0 0, Katy Rutz 0-0 0-0 0, Sam Van Nuys 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 8-44. FT: 6-12. 3-pointers: 0-7 (Erickson 0-6, A. Trzebiatowksi 0-1). Rebounds: 25. Turnovers: 14. Total fouls 21. Fouled out: none. Record: 17-8.
