B-T girls team loses close to C-FC, big to Onalaska

A late free throw led to the first loss of the season for the Blair-Taylor girls basketball team and its second loss came the next night.

B-T tied its game against Cochrane-Fountain City with about 15 seconds remaining, but a free throw gave the Pirates the home win on Thursday. The next night, the Wildcats went to Onalaska and had a difficult time getting going offensively in a 62-35 loss. 

The losses put B-T at 6-2 on the season before Friday’s game at Alma Center Lincoln. That will be B-T’s last game in 2025 as the team isn’t slated to play again until Jan. 6 when it hosts Eleva-Strum. 

C-FC 60 B-T 59

A free throw with 1.8 seconds remaining in the game was the difference as the Wildcats lost for the first time this season.

The game was close throughout as C-FC had a seven-point lead at halftime, but the Wildcats cut into that and led 53-50 with about four minutes remaining.

C-FC tied the game on a three-pointer by Brooklyn Pehler with 2:55 remaining. The Wildcats missed a couple of opportunities with two missed free throws and a missed basket before a couple of free throws gave C-FC a 55-53 advantage with 90 seconds left in the game. 

Kelcie Kindschy made one of two free throws then Andrea Waldera scored to make it a 57-56 C-FC lead with 35 seconds left. After two C-FC free throws, B-T’s Elissa Smetana made her first basket of the game, a three-pointer that tied it at 59 with 15 seconds remaining.

The Pirates ran time off the clock before getting the ball to Macy Hunger who was fouled on a shot attempt with 1.8 seconds left in the game. Hunger missed the first free throw, but made the second. The Wildcats tried to push the ball up the court for a last-second heave, but Andi Beck was called for double-dribbling.

B-T shot 34.4 percent from the field, including just three-of-21 on three-pointers. The team also missed half of its 24 free-throw attempts. Waldera led the team with 20 points and 14 rebounds while Kindschy added 15 and Avery Peterson finished with 11. 

B-T (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-fouls-points) — Kindschy 6/20-1/4-4-2-15 Beck 0/12-2/4-6-3-2 Peterson 5/8-1/3-7-2-11 Waldera 8/16-4/9-14-3-20 Aguilar 1/4-0/0-3-3-2 Horton 1/1-0/0-0-0-2 Lejcher 0/2-0/0-2-0-0 Smetana 1/5-4/4-2-2-7

Onalaska 62 B-T 35

A night after its first loss, the Wildcats struggled to get going.

B-T managed just 16 points in the first half as it trailed by 19 at halftime. The Wildcats continued to struggle offensively in the second half as the Hilltoppers maintained control of the game.

B-T shot 30 percent from the field, including three-of-16 on three-pointers. The team also missed seven free throws in the game and committed 19 turnovers.

Beck led the team with nine points, nobody else had more than six. 

B-T (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-fouls-points) — Kindschy 2/8-0/0-4-1-6 Beck 1/4-7/10-0-4-9 Waldera 2/8-0/0-7-2-4 Smetana 2/3-0/1-2-4-4 Aguilar 1/6-0/2-3-3-2 Horton 1/4-1/2-0-1-3 Lejcher 2/3-0/0-3-1-4 Peterson 1/3-0/0-2-0-3 Ostenson 0/0-0/0-1-1-0 Thorson 0/1-0/0-0-0-0