Girls basketball: Rice Lake pulls away in regional semifinal win over Medford

A spark to start the second half ignited the offense for the Rice Lake girls basketball team in a 57-34 win over Medford in Friday's Division 2 regional semifinal contest at Ole Olsen Gym.

The third-seeded Warriors (18-7) now travel to No. 2 Lakeland on Saturday for a regional championship game. The Thunderbirds defeated No. 7 Merrill 74-26 on Friday.

In the Warriors' win they had a 21-18 advantage at the break, but seven quick points in a little more than a minute of play in the second half got the offense started. Eliana Sheplee found Addison Schmidt on a pick and roll on Rice Lake's first possession after the break. Adaline Sheplee then scored on a reverse layup and she followed that up with a three-pointer on the next trip down the floor as Rice Lake got in front by 10 just 1 minute, and 4 seconds into the second half.

The Warriors made seven of their first eight shots from the field after halftime. Rice Lake made 51.8% of its shots from the floor in the second half as its 36 points after the break exceeded sixth-seeded Medford's total for the game. With 8 minutes left in the contest the Warriors were up 50-28.

The Rice Lake defense held the Raiders (13-13) to 29.3% shooting and forced 23 turnovers. Kayla Baumgartner led Medford with 14 points.

Eight different players scored for Rice Lake, led by 16 from Eliana Sheplee. Both Schmidt and Adaline Sheplee added 11, while Emily Kalina chipped in seven. Seniors Sydney Gay and Emily Scheu also got in the scoring column in the final 2 minutes in their last game at Ole Olsen Gym.

Eliana Sheplee also added 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals, while Schmidt pulled down eight boards and blocked five shots. Kalina secured six boards and had two steals.

Rice Lake now heads to Minoqua to take on the Thunderbirds on Saturday night in search of a regional title. In a regular season matchup between the two teams on Feb. 13 in Rice Lake, Lakeland won 58-55. The Thunderbirds are 23-2 this season.