This story is sponsored by Forward Bank
By Steve Pilz
For MarshfieldAreaSports.com
STRATFORD- The Stratford Tigers used a well-rounded attack Friday night to turn back No. 7 seed Altoona 55-42, in a WIAA Division 3 girls basketball regional semifinal at Stratford High School.
The second-seeded Tigers (15-6) will take on No. 3 Arcadia on Saturday night at 7 p.m. at home. Arcadia beat Westby 58-31 in another regional semifinal Friday night. If mother nature kicks up another snowstorm as expected, then that game could be postponed to Monday night.
The Tigers, second-place finishers in the Marawood South. showed no signs of rust after about a week off, running out to an 11-2 run after six minutes.
With the Railroaders, the second-place team in the Cloverbelt West, implementing a half-court zone trap, they made some in-roads into the lead cutting it to 3 at 15-12, at the 7:35 mark. Pushing their press to full court on certain trips, Altoona trailed by just three at the half, 27-24.
Altoona cut the lead to one at 31-30 at the 13-minute mark and the teams slugged it out for the better part of 10 minutes. The Tigers’ position was exacerbated even more when leading scorer Breanna Ackley was forced to the bench with her fourth personal foul.
That’s where the Tigers depth and experience took over. Senior Callie Lehman drilled a pair of 3-pointers inside of nine minutes in the second half that bolstered the home team.
The Railroaders came back each time, but when Ackley re-entered she salted the game away at the charity stripe making 6 of 7 down the stretch and 9 for 10 in the game for her team-high 15 points.
“All year long, we’ve rarely had the same leading scorer two nights in a row,” said Tigers coach Tammie Christopherson. “Our success comes from us working. When one person is down, someone else seems to step up. I can’t even guess who our leading scorer was tonight.
“We struggled a little bit tonight because we had a week off. And we had a little foul trouble. We finally found that little gap. I think we wore them down a little bit. We can hurt you from many different spots. This is an absolutely amazing group of young ladies and it’s been a pleasure to coach them.”
Lehman and Blaire Lindner joined Ackley in double digits with 10 pints apiece. Kayla Wiggins had 14 for Altoona (13-10). She was joined in double digits by her teammates Averie Varsho with 11 and Emma Mickelson with 10.
Tigers 55, Railroaders 42
Altoona 24 18 – 42
Stratford 27 28 – 55
ALTOONA (42): Averie Varsho 3 5-6 11, Daydrean Henrichs 1 0-3 2, Brittany Klatt 1 0-0 3, Emma Mickelson 2 5-7 10, Keelyn Marlaire 1 0-0 2, Kayla Wiggins 4 6-9 14. FG: 12-44. FT: 16-25. 3-pointers: 2-17 (Klatt, Mickelson). Turnovers: 16. Record: 13-10.
STRATFORD (55): Tanya Schillinger 2 0-0 5, Callie Lehman 4 0-0 10, Blaire Lindner 2 4-11 10, Macie Schillinger 3 0-1 6, Mariah Zawislan 3 1-2 7, Breanna Ackley 3 9-10 15, Emily Hughes 1 0-0 2. FG: 19-46. FT: 14-24. 3-pointers: 3-8 (Lehman 2, T. Schillinger). Turnovers: 12. Record: 15-6.