The Three Lakes-Phelps girls basketball team (1-2) kicked off the 2024-25 season with a low-scoring 37-30 home win against Northland Pines Nov. 26 before competing in a pair of games in a Rhinelander tournament Nov. 29-30 during the Thanksgiving break.
TLP fell in the two games later in the week at the Tom Kislow Invite, 59-15 to Medford and 49-31 to Lena.
Pines win
A big crowd for both teams flooded to the Three Lakes gym for a girls/boys doubleheader right before the Thanksgiving holiday. The girls kicked things off with a slower start to the first half, as both teams fought off rust early on. The Lady Jays trailed 7-6 with about 5:37 left in the first half, as Head Coach Rich Javenkoski had three things he wanted to see from his team in the opening 18 minutes.
“Play good man-to-man defense, run the offense and score,” he said.
With just seven points given up in 13 minutes of game time, the offense woke up late in the half.
Later on, a defensive stop turned into a transition 3-pointer for junior Haley Barnekow to put TLP up 14-10 with 2:30 left.
The Lady Jays ended the half on a 9-5 run and led by three, 15-12, at halftime.
Second-half adjustments translated to a second-half push by the Lady Jays.
“Other than the 3-point shooting, we held them scoreless. I think that’s the only points they scored, maybe a layup or two. We played solid defense,” said Javenkoski on the second-half effort.
TLP held Pines scoreless for more than five minutes to start the second before a few 3s dropped for Pines senior Vienna Klemett.
Her burst of offense throughout the second kept the Jays unbalanced after they also committed a handful of turnovers to keep the door open.
After eventually closing the win with Barenkow picking up a late bucket, Javenkoski hinted at improving on everything after the first game of the year.
“We just need to be a little more patient on offense and gotta take care of the ball a little better,” he explained.
In Rhinelander, the Raiders controlled most of the contest with the Jays, while the second game against the Wildcats was close at halftime with TLP trailing 16-13.
From there, Lena pressed the gas offensively and outscored the Bluejays 33-18 in the second half.
TLP played again on the road at Edgar this past Tuesday before opening Northern Lakes Conference play with a home contest versus Laona/Wabeno Thursday, Dec. 5, at 7:15 p.m.
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