Arcadia holds off Viroqua for road win

The Arcadia girls basketball team registered its first conference win of the new calendar year by staving off a late push from a pesky Viroqua squad.

The Raiders (7-5, 4-2 Coulee) went on the road and picked up a 46-44 win over the Blackhawks (3-7, 2-4) in their Coulee clash last Friday in Viroqua. Despite the razor-thin final margin, Arcadia led for almost the entire game.

The Raiders never trailed over the opening 18 minutes on their way to a 29-21 halftime advantage but were unable to shake the Blackhawks throughout the second half. Viroqua finally leapfrogged ahead 39-38 — its first and only lead of the night — with just under four minutes left in regulation.

However, Madison Grotjahn hit a pair of free throws on the next Arcadia possession to give her team the lead back. Sacia Boland splashed a three with 2:13 left and Chloe Schlosstein added a floater with 1:42 to go to extend the Raiders’ advantage to 45-39.

Viroqua had the ball down two with plenty of time to work with for the final possession of regulation, but excellent on-ball pressure from the Arcadia defense left the Blackhawks unable to get anything other than a desperation shot that was wildly off the mark at the buzzer.

Grotjahn and Tatum Drazkowski tallied 12 and 11 points, respectively, to lead the charge in the win for the Raiders. 

As for the Blackhawks, Allyah Schwem poured in a game-high 23 points and Emily Hubatch added eight, but the rest of the Viroqua team combined for only 13 points.

After hosting Eleva-Strum early in the week, the Raiders are back on the road to face Black River Falls on Thursday and Stanley-Boyd on Tuesday.