For the second time in as many seasons, the annual non-conference rivalry game between Ellsworth and River Falls came down to the final possession.

Last year, it was River Falls’ then-junior Ella Peters who hit a buzzer-beater to seal the victory for the Wildcats. This season, it was Ellsworth junior Molly Janke who made a pair of late free throws to secure the season- opening victory over the Wildcats on Tuesday, Nov. 15.

With just under 11 seconds remaining in regulation in the home opener, the Ellsworth Panthers trailed 40-39. That’s when the aforementioned Janke went coast-to-coast and got fouled driving into the lane. Janke went to the line and sank both free throws to give the Panthers a 41-40 lead with six seconds to play. Ellsworth remained stout defensively and forced an errant shot on the ensuing possession which secured the Panthers’ victory over the Wildcats.

“Give the kids credit, they gutted it out down a couple of points there with a couple of minutes to go,” Ellsworth head coach Jason Janke said after the game. “This group has (overcome adversity) in spurts in the past. (The girls) talked about being inconsistent with poise in the past and they were poised tonight.”

Although River Falls trailed nearly the entire game, the Wildcats managed to remain within striking distance. However, ill-advised fouls while in the bonus, having a player foul out and turning the ball over late resulted in Ellsworth’s last-second victory.

It wasn’t just River Falls that struggled with turnovers and fouls. Ellsworth made some costly mistakes late in the ballgame, but the Panthers ultimately made just enough plays to scrape by with the victory. River Falls head coach Ian Sticht spoke about the costly mistakes that led to the loss.

“It was early season basketball. I think we made some mistakes with fouls, and then we had two possessions in a row where we were up two and threw the ball right into their hands,” Sticht said. “It’s early season mistakes that you can’t make and you won’t survive, at any time in the season.”

Molly Janke took advantage of River Falls’ early mistakes. Throughout the first half, she regularly got to the charity stripe, got downhill attacking the bucket and even hit a corner three-pointer shortly before halftime. Her 12-point first half helped give the Panthers a 21-19 lead going into the intermission.

While Molly Janke went to the bench sparingly in the second half, the Panthers’ depth helped keep Ellsworth competitive while its best player got a breather. Head coach Jason Janke has never had as much depth as he does this season in the form of sophomore Morgan Halverson, junior Jillian Griggs and senior Ashlyn Townsend.

“We have those sixth, seventh, and eighth kids that can compete,” Jason Janke said. “We just never had that in the nine years I’ve been here overall. It’s really nice, we put Townsend in at the end of the game a little bit cold, but we trust her. The kids talked about it in the locker room, they talked about trusting each other all night and that’s kind of new for Ellsworth basketball.”

River Falls’ bench unit didn’t have as much success on Tuesday. After a strong first couple of minutes of regulation, junior starting forward Jordan Schwantz got into foul trouble and spent time on the bench. Without her in the game, the Wildcats lost a strong interior presence that is critical to any potential River Falls success.

“Ella (Peters) is good, but Jordan (Schwantz) is probably the best if we can get her the ball at the high post,” Sticht said. “Without (Schwantz), it’s hard. She had a really good start to the game, but then picked up a bad foul and got frustrated with herself, so that was hard.”

River Falls junior Keyah Strop led the Cats in scoring with 16 points on 4-11 shooting while going 7-10 at the free throw line. Peters had four points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two blocks while anchoring the River Falls defense throughout the evening.

Ellsworth’s Molly Janke finished with 17 points and led all scorers for the night. With the win, Ellsworth improved to 1-0 for the season and River Falls dropped to 0-1. Ellsworth had a quick turnaround and played another non-conference game on Thursday night on the road against a tough Osseo-Fairchild squad.

Osseo-Fairchild finished last season with a 23-3 overall record and is expected to be strong again this season. Osseo-Fairchild defeated Ellsworth 62-57, which dropped the Panthers’ overall record to 1-1 for the 202223 campaign.

Ellsworth begins its Middle Border Conference schedule on the road against Altoona on Tuesday, Nov. 22, at 7 p.m. River Falls will play its second game of the season in a non-conference matchup with Holmen on Tuesday, Nov. 22, at 7:15 p.m.

Ellsworth senior Ashlyn Townsend leaps into the arms of head coach Jason Janke while the rest of the Panthers’ roster celebrates moments after the final buzzer sounded against River Falls.Photo by Reagan Hoverman