Indees fall to Gilmanton in last regular season game

Gilmanton took an early lead and won what could be the last game between two Dairyland Conference rivals, defeating Independence, 60-41, on Friday.

The two school districts have expanded a cooperative agreement that will combine the two teams beginning next season. That means last week’s game in Independence might have been the final time they compete against each other. 

The game was originally scheduled for Thursday, but was moved to Friday due to a snow storm that canceled school. The Indees were close early, but Gilmanton went on a couple of runs and Independence couldn’t keep up.

The loss put Independence’s final regular season record at 6-18 and its DC mark at 2-12, last in the DC-Small Division, one game behind Gilmanton. Alma/Pepin won the DC-Small with an 11-3 record. 

Independence began postseason play on Tuesday of this week. The local team received the 11th seed in its Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division Five bracket and played at (6) Loyal on Tuesday. The winner of that game will play the winner of the game between (3) Alma/Pepin and (14) Eleva-Strum on Friday. The regional final is set for Saturday with sectional games to be played next week Thursday in Neillsville and Saturday in Wisconsin Dells.

GHS 60 Independence 41

Outside shots kept the Indees within striking distance, but long cold spells helped Gilmanton take control of the game.

A 6-0 run early put the Panthers ahead by 11 before Tyler Kingsbury knocked down a three pointer. But the Indees went cold again as the Panthers finished the first half with an 11-4 run to take a 31-16 lead into halftime.

Kingsbury made four three pointers in the second half to help keep the Indees in the game. He cut the lead back to 15 with a three that made the score 35-21, that started a 10-6 run for the Indees, which ended with a Kingsbury three pointer that made the score 41-31 with about nine minutes left in the game.

But then the Indees went cold again. The Panthers scored 14 of the next 19 points to put the game away.

The Indees shot about 23 percent from the field, struggling from inside the three-point line, where they made 11-of-47 shots. They were also four-for-13 from the free-throw line. 

Kingsbury led the way with 23 points for the Indees, but none of his teammates had more than six. 

Independence (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-fouls-points) — Rajkowski 0/1-0/0-3-3-0 Kingsbury 9/22-0/1-8-1-23 B. Pyka 1/12-2/4-10-1-4 Sylla 3/14-0/0-6-4-6 Santillian 1/6-0/0-0-2-2 Montalvo 0/3-0/0-5-1-0 Mendoza 0/6-0/0-5-2-0 Pfaff 1/2-0/2-1-0-2 N. Pyka 0/1-2/4-5-3-2 Olson 0/1-0/0-1-0-0 Flores 1/2-0/2-4-4-2