Girls hoops splits final pair

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The Wildcat girls’ basketball team dropped a 48-34 decision last Tuesday at Eau Claire Memorial before defeating Menomonie, 59-46, the night of Thursday, Feb. 21 on the Mustangs home court in its final two games of the regular season.

The Cats, the No. 8 seed in the 11-team WIAA sectional bracket, hosted ninth-seeded New Richmond in a regional quarterfinal game this past Tuesday, Feb. 26 and lost 36-33 in OT.

Last Thursday in Menomonie, the Wildcats jumped out to a 21-11 first quarter lead and never looked back in their 13-point win over the Mustangs.

Lexi Knotek led the way with 22 points, including four three-pointers, while Karly Murphy finished with 19. Joellen Turner contributed five points in the victory and McKenna Hage scored four while Abby James had a three-pointer and Amelia Kjos, Amanda Rohl and Breanna Weiss scored two points each.

The victory left the Wildcats and Mustangs tied for last place in the Big Rivers Conference with records of 2-10.

Last Tuesday night in Eau Claire, Knotek had four three-pointers and led the Wildcats with 16 points but the Old Abes broke open a close game with a 21-7 second quarter run on their way to a 14-point victory.

The Cats trailed by just one, 12-11, after one quarter of play but fell behind 33-18 by halftime and couldn’t recover.

Murphy had eight points in the loss and Turner and Rohl scored four points each while Hage finished with two.

The Wildcats finished the season with an overall record of 7-15.

Tags: sports, basketball, prep, wildcats