Arcadia girls team earns first win of the season

The Arcadia High School girls basketball team claimed its first win under coach Evan Pagel last week.

Pagel and the Raiders beat Viroqua 54-28 on Thursday to improve to 1-4 on the season and 1-1 in Coulee Conference play. The win followed a tight loss to La Crosse Logan last Monday.

“It was really nice to get one in the win column there because the first four we dropped, but … we were right on the cusp of getting victories before,” Pagel said. “So getting the win and controlling the game was a nice feeling for sure.”

Pagel said the goal is to keep improving and building on last season while being competitive. The Raiders are scheduled to visit Independence on Tuesday before traveling to Black River Falls for another conference matchup on Friday.

Logan 73 Arcadia 61

A nine-point cushion at halftime was not enough for the Raiders in their first game last week as La Crosse Logan (3-2) exploded for 45 points in the second half to overcome a 37-28 Arcadia advantage.

Golden had a game-high 33 points, and Casidi Pehler contributed 15 of her own. Logan had three players in double digit scoring, led by 28 points from Aaliyah Hamilton.

Arcadia (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-fouls-points)—Bremer 0/0-3/4-3-5-3; Slaby 2/3-1/2-1-2-5; Schank 0/3-2/2-2-4-2; Pehler 5/15-1/2-4-5-15; Golden 9/24-11/13-8-3-33; Lockington 0/0-0/0-0-1-0; Aspen 0/5-0/0-0-2-0; Kolstad 0/2-0/0-2-1-0; Sonsalla 1/8-0/1-3-3-3.

Arcadia 54 Viroqua 28

A dominant first half on the road on Thursday propelled the Raiders to their first win. Arcadia allowed the Blackhawks to score just five points in the opening segment.

Senior Breah Golden collected 22 points for the Raiders and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead all players in both categories. Golden has continued to be a leader for the Raiders, scoring at least 20 points in four of the team’s five games this season.

Golden is driving to the rim more this winter, and it showed against Viroqua with just one three and multiple assists.

“It was awesome,” Pagel said of Golden’s play. “Everybody knows what an outside threat she is, so if teams are playing her like they have been it’s cool to see her realize, ‘Okay, if you’re going to try to take this away, I can still burn you inside.’”

Eight different players recorded at least a point for the visitors, who got a 12-point night from freshman Justine Sonsalla.

Arcadia (field goals/attempts-free throws/attempts-rebounds-fouls-points)—Carvajal 0/1-1/2-1-0-1; A. Kolstad 0/2-0/2-0-0-0; Bremer 1/9-0/0-5-3-2; Slaby 1/6-0/0-8-0-0; Schank 1/4-0/0-4-1-3; Pehler 3/15-0/1-10-3-6; Golden 10/26-1/2-12-2-22; Lockington 0/1-1/2-0-0-1; Aspen 0/2-0/0-1-2-0; J. Kolstad 2/4-0/0-2-1-5; Schaffner 0/2-0/0-4-1-0; Sonsalla 4/8-0/0-5-3-12.