ELLSWORTH — The Ellsworth Panthers led for much of their opening game against River Falls, but some missed free throws late and some huge threes down the stretch gave River Falls a 44-43 lead with 34 seconds to go and they were at the line shooting a one-and-one free throw Nov. 19. The free throw was just off the mark and sophomore Alivia Maher collected the miss, cruising down the floor. Maher dished the ball off to freshman Jenna Stoltenburg who took one dribble up on the right wing and launched a three with two defenders closing in.

River Falls pushed the pace back the other way and Stoltenburg jumped the pass to secure the steal. With 15 seconds to play, Stoltenburg missed both free throws; however, the Panthers rebounded the second miss. While attempting to dribble out the clock, the Panthers went over and back at midcourt and had one last chance with five seconds to go down a pair. Excellent coverage from Ellsworth forced a heave that was off, and Head Coach Haylee Yaeger secured her first win as Ellsworth’s head coach.

“That was exciting, very exciting,” Yaeger said. “Definitely, as my first game being a head coach, it was very nerve racking a little bit. I think we handled it well.”

The players also felt the motivation of getting Yaeger her first win, especially against a challenging River Falls team.

“It meant a lot ‘cause it was her first time coaching us and it was just really special to win for her,” Stoltenburg said.

To open the game, it was the Wildcats starting off on the right foot. The first two minutes were scoreless for both squads before a quick six points from junior Abigail Treichel helped River Falls to a 6-1 lead.

Ellsworth’s aggressive defense has been the start of the culture under Yaeger, and they used it to crawl into a 9-8 lead. They took big swipes at the ball and created chaos. A few tough jumpers from senior Morgan Halverson were key to the run.

“It’s definitely one of our strong suits. We have a very aggressive and in your face defense, which I love about these girls,” Yaeger said. “They just kind of have a nose for the basketball.”

Halverson and senior Mykenna Gaard got into some early foul trouble, but Yaeger put a lot of trust in the two.

“As soon as our posts had two [fouls] each, we were talking to our sixth and seventh man like you guys better be ready,” Yaeger said. “Kind of reassuring them play smart, play smart, play straight up, all of these things because we can’t afford to have them out of the game.”

Maher sparked the Panthers late in the half to give Ellsworth a 20-17 lead into the break, and came back out firing on all cylinders. The Panthers opened the half with four quick threes, three of which came from Maher. Maher’s defensive presence has also been big for Ellsworth.

“Her on defense man, she is killing it,” Yaeger said. “She’s long but she’s quick, she’s also fast, so she’s kind of just the perfect all-around defensive player for us.”

Despite the hot stretch, the Wildcats stuck around to keep the Ellsworth lead to 32-26 with 12 minutes to play.

Kaelin Jalowitz took control of the River Falls offense, sparking an 8-0 run with a putback layup and a three to vault her team back in front, 34-32. The teams would go back-and-forth until Stoltenburg finished the job with the winning triple.

Stoltenburg finished with 12 points, four rebounds and three assists in her first ever high school game, battling the nerves against a bigger school to bring home the win.

“It was a little scary, I was a little nervous, definitely,” Stoltenburg said.

Maher tallied 14 points and six rebounds to lead the team and was followed by junior Lexi Marks’ nine.

Ellsworth’s team is made up of a lot of young players, partially because of the large senior class a year ago. They have to grow up in a hurry as they are being relied on heavily.

Yaeger said Ellsworth is going to throw out different looks on both ends depending on their opponents, and the game against River Falls helped discover some things that work.

“Our offense, our defense is constantly a dynamic look,” Yaeger said. “It’s always going to be changing.”
For Stoltenburg, it was nice to see the team’s constant defensive focus pay off on the main stage.

“We were really prepared on defense, I think. We were running a lot of defense in practice and worked really hard on defense,” Stoltenburg said.

River Falls was led by Jalowitz with 15 points followed closely by Treichel with 13 points. River Falls also has some young players getting key minutes, and they are going to get experience rapidly as varsity contributors.