Girls’ hoops top Rice Lake 56-48 for first BRC win

• Kindra Witthus (22) hits a twisting layup

Hudson junior Kindra Witthus (22) hits a twisting layup in the third quarter of the Raiders’ 51-38 loss at River Falls last Thursday. Hudson bounced back to post a 56-48 victory over Rice lake Saturday night at home. Photo by Bob Burrows

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After coming up one basket short in a one-point loss at Rice Lake back on Jan. 7, last Saturday’s rematch between the Raider and Warrior girls basketball teams was all Hudson.

The Raiders jumped out to a 28-14 halftime lead on their home court and made their shots down the stretch on their way to defeating Rice Lake, 56-48, for their first Big Rivers Conference win of the season.

“It’s been a long time coming,” head coach Ed Johnson said. “We were able to put everything together and played a complete game. Rice Lake made a little run at us in the fourth quarter but the girls were able to keep their composure and made some free throws down the stretch.”

Hudson led 14-5 at the end of one and by 14 at the break before the Warriors trimmed the gap to 43-33 at the end of the third quarter. But the Raiders took advantage of 36 trips to the free throw line and outscored Rice Lake 23-10 from the charity stripe to improve to 1-8 in the BRC, 4-12 overall.

Rice Lake, who defeated Hudson 48-47 in the teams’ first matchup this season, fell to 5-4 in conference play, 10-7 overall.

“It’s nice to beat a team with a winning conference record and a winning record overall,” Johnson said. “I think it’s good for their confidence in what we’re trying to do; keep putting ourselves in that position and keep learning. Also, it gives us confidence that we can play with the better teams in the conference; not only compete but come away with a victory.”

Kindra Witthus led a balanced Hudson attack that featured three players in double figures with 13 points. Sarah Krier and Ellie Whitacre added 11 points each while Jessie Kirkwood finished just short of double digits with nine points. Maggie Koehler contributed seven in the victory and Katy Fox had three while Maddie Drewiske finished with two.

Krier, Whitacre and Kirkwood hit two three-pointers each in the win while Koehler had one.

Earlier in the week at River Falls, the Raiders played River Falls even for three-plus quarters before the Wildcats pulled away for a 51-38 victory.

Neither team led by more than a point in the third quarter before the Cats hit a bucket with 30 seconds left to take a three-point lead, 30-27. A three-pointer by Kirkwood to open the fourth quarter tied the score, and a layup by Kirkwood kept the score tied, 32-32, with six minutes remaining.

River Falls went on an 8-0 run to open up a 40-32 lead midway through the quarter before Hudson pulled back to within five, 40-35 on a three-pointer by Whitacre. The gap was still five, 42-37, with 1:50 remaining but the Wildcats closed the game with a 9-1 run to pull out the victory.

“It was a back-and-forth game for about three-and-a-half quarters, but give River Falls credit, they made their shots down the stretch,” Johnson said. “I thought the girls really believed they would pull it out, unfortunately we were not able to make the plays when we had to.

Kirkwood hit three three-pointers and led the Raiders with 13 points while Witthus finished with nine and Whitacre had seven. Drewiske finished with five points in the loss while Fox and Krier each scored two.

Hudson travels to Eau Claire North this Friday, Feb. 17, before hosting La Crosse Logan in a nonconference game Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

Tags: sports, basketball, raiders, prep