The River Falls Wildcats went 1-1 this week, losing 63-34 against Rice Lake and beating Osceola 49-34.

It was a mixed bag for the Wildcats this week who lost their conference game but won their non-conference game. You’d like to see that the other way, but it’s still early in the season.

Part of the problem in the loss against Rice Lake was simply not getting their top two scorers going, especially in the first half. Jordan Schwantz only had 12 total attempts on the night, and Haley Quinn only had nine. In an ideal game, those would have much been higher.

River Falls pulled it together and outpaced Rice Lake in the second half 26-23, but the deficit was too much to overcome.

Things got better for River Falls in their non-conference tilt against Osceola. They outscored their opponent by 16 and piled up 15 steals on defense. Offensively their numbers were much better as well, scoring on 45% of attempts from the field while also converting on an impressive 42% of three-pointers and 86% on free throws.

At the end of the day, the Wildcats are in the middle of the conference, and it’s very early in the season. There is plenty of time for them to hit their stride and make a run at the conference championship and the post season.

Head Coach Ian Sticht says in order for them to get there, they need to be more disciplined on offense.

“We had too many possessions where we only had one or two passes before shooting, and then they got the rebound and went with it. Then that doesn't help you when you get back on offensive because you feel more pressure, and it’s just kind of like that vicious cycle that kept going,” Sticht said. “We outscored them in the second half because we were more patient and disciplined, and we made them play a little bit of defense. When you make one or two passes, you hardly have any action. That means they don't have to play defense, they don't get in any foul trouble, and we don't get to the free throw line. We only got two free throws in the first half of that game, and I think there's a direct correlation between getting to the free throw line and being more successful.”

Next up for River Falls is a week of road games. First, they will play a Big Rivers Conference matchup against Chippewa Falls on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m., and then they will play against Red Wing on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Middle Border: Ellsworth

The Ellsworth Panthers went 1-1 this week in non-conference play, losing to Hastings 63-53 in Hastings and beating New Richmond at home 48-35.

As far as the all-important conference play goes, this week was sort of inconsequential for the Panthers who are 2-1 in Middle Border Conference play and currently residing in second place. That said, even though it was a loss, playing a close game against a very good and much bigger school in Hastings says a lot about this team.

Hastings took a quick lead at 4-2 to get things started, but Emma Brown showed up early in the box score, draining a three and taking a Panther lead.

With just over 9:00 to play in the first period, the score was 11-10 in favor of the Raiders, but the Panthers would take the lead after some solid defense from Morgan Halverson who had a block and a steal to get things moving in the right direction. Molly Janke added her own defensive gem taking two points off the board by breaking up a Raider fast break with a steal and sending the ball back the other way.

The game played even all the way out to 19-18 in favor of Hastings when Janke struck again, this time with the three-point variety. With 0:31 seconds left on the clock, the Panthers had a sizeable lead at 29-24, and Kayla Kressin kept it that way, lunging in front of a Raider pass to secure a steal. The Panthers ran it back and protected their lead going into halftime.

Early in the second half, Hastings shrunk that advantage to one at 35-34. The Raiders were driving towards the basket when Brown got another steal for Ellsworth, sent it back the other way and Ava Brookshaw drained a three to stake a two-score lead once again.

That’s when things went sideways as Hastings went on a 10-0 run that the Panthers were not able to overcome as that 10-point deficit carried all the way through to the end.

It was a reasonable game for auxiliary stats for Ellsworth, but the lack of efficiency in the offensive categories cost them. That formed a stark contrast to their efforts later in the week against New Richmond when they righted the ship and won by double digits.

Head Coach Jason Janke says he tips his hat to Hastings after the loss, but notes that they are already looking forward to the next challenge.

“Hastings has a very nice 6'1" post player to go with a super quick and dynamic point guard which is a heck of a combo in high school basketball. They also had four different players hit three-pointers, so you have to give credit where it's due. They played a little better game than we did,” Janke said. “We are laser-focused on Somerset this week, no doubt about that. Every team in our league is a good team with talent and are all well coached. Somerset has the confidence of having been in the sectional final last year, so we, like every week, don't look past the next game.”

That game against Somerset will be the last one before the New Year for the Panthers. Tip off is at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in Ellsworth.

Dunn-St. Croix: Spring Valley

The Spring Valley Cardinals lost to the Colfax Vikings by a score of 66-16 in Colfax on Thursday night.

The Cardinals were coming off two straight conference wins to open the Dunn-St. Croix season and entered this game in a tie for first place, albeit with a 2-5 record overall.

Colfax got out to a 4-0 lead after a couple minutes in. Spring Valley answered the call, putting up a three-pointer to pull within one. Colfax drained a three of their own to reestablish the four-point lead.

Colfax followed this up with an 8-2 run to bring the score to 12-5, and Spring Valley opted for an early timeout to try to get back on track. Unfortunately, it didn’t help. The Vikings scored 13 more points to take a commanding 25-5 lead.

That’s when things started to turn around for Spring Valley. Their defense improved, and they got back to getting some good shots off. Colfax’s scoring slowed down dramatically over this back half of the period, but they still outscored the Cardinals 9-3 and went into halftime up 34-8.

Things didn’t improve scorewise coming out of the half, though. The Vikings went on a 10-1 run to get things going, and Spring Valley took a timeout to talk things over. With a little over 6:00 left in the game, it was 61-14, and it ended shortly thereafter.

It was a tough loss against a good team, but the Cardinals will use the adversity as motivation moving forward. Spring Valley’s top player Mara Ducklow says this is a dedicated team that wants to be out there hustling every time they play.

“We started with really good practices at the beginning of the season, like really good. We have three girls who have played varsity ever since freshman year, so it's been captains and leaders stepping up and pushing the other girls,” Ducklow said. “We have a couple girls injured right now like Charli Vanasse, who is a starter for us that hasn't been there for the beginning of the season. Our goal is always just to be better than we were the year before, and I think as long as we play hard and do our best, we can do that.”

Before the game against Colfax, Spring Valley had been on a bit of a roll. After starting the season 0-5 in non-conference play, they swept their two-game set against Dunn-St. Croix teams last week to start the season at 2-0 on top of their conference.

Head Coach Sean Hoolihan says he saw a difference in his team over the last week that helped to propel them towards this great start to DSC Conference play.

“We made some shots, played better defense and rebounded a little bit better. Basketball comes down to playing defense and making shots, and we just did a better job of that those two games,” Hoolihan said. “Colfax is a really good team. We didn't play our best to give ourselves a chance tonight. We just got to have the players take care of the ball better and play better defense.”

The Cardinals will have one more game before the new year, and that will come on Tuesday at home against Mondovi. Tip off for that game is at 7:15 p.m.

Elmwood-Plum City

The Elmwood-Plum City Wolves lost to the Durand-Arkansaw Panthers by a score of 78-17 on Thursday in Elmwood.

It was a tough day on their home court for the Wolves, but these are the kind of lumps you take while young players grow into their roles. That said, there were a number of moments when Elmwood players flashed their potential.

On defense, Hailey Webb and Willow Cripe each had nice steals in the first half. Cripe also drained a beauty of a three on an assist by Aurora Sampair.

Offensively, the Wolves top scorer was Webb, which shouldn’t come as a surprise as she’s their leading scorer in most offensive categories. Cripe is currently the biggest threat from the perimeter as she showed in this game, and she currently leads the team in three-pointers, both in attempts and baskets.

Head Coach Paige Saniter says that Thursday’s game was a tough loss against a really skilled Durand team, but there were some positives that came out of the matchup. She says they improved some things in their defense that they had been working on, and the team played hard. 

“The girls are doing excellent handling getting thrown into the fire so to speak. They work so hard every day to get better. They come with a positive attitude and leave it all on the court every practice,” Saniter said. “It's definitely different being on the head coach side of things. We are slowly but surely cleaning things up. I try to focus on minor adjustments, rather than throwing everything at them at once. I am asking a lot from a lot of young girls. I don't want to overwhelm them, I just want them to improve and find joy in the game. Our program as a whole is getting a little bit better every day. I’m proud of them and of being their coach.” 

Next up for the Wolves is a Dunn-St. Croix Conference matchup when they will travel to Boyceville on Tuesday to play the Bulldogs. Tip off for that game is at 7:15 p.m.