Red Hawk girls split pair of Coulee games, earn fourth win

A tough second half that led to a conference loss against Luther was balanced with a conference win over Black River Falls for the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau girls basketball team last week.

The Red Hawks downed Black River Falls to earn their fourth win of the season on Monday before Thursday’s loss to Luther.

Familiar opponent Arcadia (8-16, 6-6) hosts G-E-T this Tuesday for a WIAA regional playoff game, and coach Louis Hurd and his group know they will have to shut down two strong offensive pieces in senior Breah Golden and junior Casidi Pehler.

“I liked what we did in both games we played them. ... I know that we’ll be prepared,” Hurd said. “We’ll have a game plan, and it’s just gonna be up to us to execute it.”

Luther 61 G-E-T 24

At halftime of last Thursday’s Coulee Conference girls basketball game at Luther High School, G-E-T coach Louis Hurd and the Red Hawks were within striking distance of one of the top teams in the conference.

The Red Hawks had taken an early lead and were trading scores with the Knights (11-13, 8-4) all the way to the final whistle before Luther took a slight three-point advantage into the half. Thursday’s game plan was working well in the first half, Hurd said.

“I loved our game plan. I felt like the kids were very prepared. We knew exactly what they were going to do, and I thought we countered beautifully,” G-E-T coach Louis Hurd said.

But Luther found their game in the second half, turning a 22-19 lead into a big advantage—the hosts outscored G-E-T 39-2 in the second half to take the win.

Hurd told his team at halftime that with a team as talented as Luther the pushback was coming.

Fatigue and straying from that game plan that had worked so well in the first half hurt the Red Hawks down the stretch.

Luther’s top scorer in Hannah Matzke had a big showing for Luther, scoring a game-high 23 points two days after hitting 1,000 career points against Arcadia.

“We knew they were going to try to play at even a higher pace, and I think they did. And we got tired, I think we got a little sloppy. … we just kind of gave in to some of those pressure and gave into a little frustration, and once you do that for even two to three minutes, the doors blew off,” Hurd said.

Macie Neumeister added 16 points for Luther. Other statistics from the game were not reported to the Times.

G-E-T 40 BRF 33

The Red Hawks earned their fourth win of the season on senior night last Monday, and it was a pair of seniors that led the way.

Shayna Kirkey paced all players with a 17-point night, and classmate Navaeh Becker scored 11 of her own to help the Red Hawks to the win.

“We fought and scrapped in that one,” Hurd said. “That was not the cleanest game by us by any means, but we found a way to win and made some adjustments in the second half of that game and I think we did a lot better.”

Emma Blount led the Tigers (1-22 overall, 1-11 Coulee Conference) with 13 points.

G-E-T (field goals-free throws/attempts-fouls-points)—Brantner 1-0/0-0-2; Kirkey 4-7/8-2-17; DeJager 1-0/1-1-2; Olson 0-0/0-5-0;  Becker 4-1/4-1-11; Kokott 2-1/2-4-6; Simmons 1-0/0-4-2.