Although official stats have yet to be reported, River Falls girls basketball head coach Ian Sticht estimated that his team turned it over approximately 20 times during the 63-38 blowout loss on the road against Hudson on Saturday, Feb. 4.

For River Falls, it seemed like everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. It didn’t help that it happened against a Hudson Raiders team that is currently 17-3 overall and 11-0 in the Big Rivers Conference and will likely be ranked in the next wissports.com Division 1 coaches’ poll.

The Wildcats’ struggles to make shots from anywhere on the floor, paired with more turnovers than they typically have, led to the lopsided result and a feeling among the team that this is the low point of the season.

“Every season we go through a low point and we probably hit bottom tonight. We know that (Hudson) is just better than us. But I also feel like we didn’t help ourselves,” Sticht said. “When the ball doesn’t go in the basket, it’s just deflating for us and they took advantage of it.”

While Hudson was the better team on Saturday night, River Falls competed for a majority of the first half, in large part because of their successful zone defense. Nine minutes in, Hudson had just 13 points. However, River Falls’ struggling offense had scored just six points and couldn’t find a rhythm, which led to the deflating feeling Sticht spoke about.

“It’s one of those things where you get a stop and you don’t score, and then you get another stop and don’t score again – it’s just deflating,” Sticht said. “The zone was really effective and it did exactly what we wanted. It slowed them down and they made some turnovers and took some shots we wanted them to take.”

As River Falls’ offense continued to sputter throughout the first half, Hudson eventually stretched its lead to 13 points, 30-17, going into the halftime intermission. Throughout the first five minutes of the second half, Hudson went on an 11-4 run and took a commanding 41-21 lead that all but ended the contest.

Throughout the remaining 13 minutes Hudson cruised to a 63-38 win over River Falls. With the loss, the Wildcats fell to 6-11 overall and 2-8 in Big Rivers Conference games. While River Falls struggled collectively, coach Sticht felt as if a couple of his younger players stepped up when given a chance.

“I think some of our underclassmen played well, (sophomore) Kaelin Jalowitz played well. She’s coming off the bench and the other night when she came off the bench against Osceola she scored nine straight points,” Sticht said. “(Freshman) Hayley Quinn is getting better at attacking and she scored some points tonight.”

Jalowitz and junior Keyah Strop tied for a team-high in points with seven, while Quinn, senior Ella Peters and junior Jordan Torrez all had six points in the loss. River Falls struggled to contain Hudson junior Olivia Grothaus, who finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block.

Hudson dominated almost every major statistical category on Saturday night. The Raiders shot 45% from the floor compared to River Falls’ 31% and they won the battle on the glass, as they outrebounded the Wildcats 30-19.

Even with a major discrepancy in those areas, the River Falls players and coaches aren’t going to overreact to one game against the best team in the Big Rivers Conference. Just last week River Falls had a seven-point lead during the second half against a 13-5 Eau Claire Memorial squad.

Although the Old Abes ultimately won that game, it showed that River Falls can compete against some of the better teams in the league. Coach Sticht spoke about not overreacting to the loss on the road against Hudson.

“We all know that we can play better and my seniors know that they can play better than they did,” Sticht said. “We had that lead against Memorial and that’s the second-best team in our conference. We just need to move on and not let it define us – it’s not who we are.”

The Wildcats have a bit of a break before taking the floor on the road against Rice Lake on Thursday, Feb. 9. Tip-off for that contest is slated for 7:15 p.m.

River Falls senior Ella Peters looks for a cutting teammate during the Wildcats’ game on the road against Hudson on Saturday night. Photo by Reagan Hoverman