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MCDONALD'S SWNEWS4U CO-GAME OF THE WEEK (SRW Girls Basketball): #8 Shullsburg 49, #6 Belmont 48
#8 Miners pull out one-point win at #6 Belmont
stella spillane
Stella Spillane scores two of her 11 points in #8 Shullsburg's 49–48 Six Rivers West victory last Thursday night. - photo by Casey Lindecrantz

MCDONALD'S SWNEWS4U.COM GAME OF THE WEEK (Jan. 7–14)
SIX RIVERS WEST GIRLS BASKETBALL: #8 Shullsburg 49, #6 Belmont 48

By Casey Lindecrantz, Republican Journal, Tri-County Press

Shullsburg takes over first place in the Six Rivers West

BELMONT — The two top teams in the Six Rivers West clashed Thursday night in Belmont as the D5 #6-ranked Braves hosted #8  Shullsburg in a 49–48 win for the Miners. 

Had it not been for a stray free throw attempt in the final second, we’d be discussing an overtime matchup.

Like any good head coach, Belmont head coach Kaleen McGettigan did her homework coming into the game.

“Shullsburg is a good team with a lot of offensive weapons and we knew that coming in,” she said. “I thought we did a pretty good job defensively of knowing our scout, but we just weren’t able to force turnovers like we have in past games this year.”

The Braves’ (6–2, 3–2 SRC) defense has been a point of contention for almost every team its faced, and while they held the Miners (10–3, 4–2) to their then-second-lowest winning total of the year, Belmont struggled to generate turnovers — a trend in its three losses this season. 

The first points of the game came via a pair of free throws from Morgan Freeman 2:25 into the contest after both teams missed a combined six field goal attempts. Shullsburg finally got on the board on its ensuing possession, but it wasn’t until beyond the 12-minute mark that either team notched a double-digit total on the scoreboard — a 10-4 advantage favoring the Miners.

Shullsburg finally got on the board on its ensuing possession, but it wasn’t until beyond the 12-minute mark that either team notched a double-digit total on the scoreboard — a 10–4 advantage favoring the Miners.

“I thought we didn’t come out as aggressive as we normally do,” McGettigan said. “We looked nervous, which isn’t like us.”

For Shullsburg head coach Nathan Russell, he was proud of how his defense handled the Braves early and down the stretch.

“I though that our defense the first eight minutes of the game and the last eight minutes was very good,” he said. “I also thought our kids did a great job of riding the waves of emotion that showed up throughout the game. We had good spurts and bad, but were resilient during the bad ones.”

Russell’s approach coming into the matchup was to not flood one player. 

“Coming into the game, we felt that Belmont was very balanced as a team, which would present a matchup problem as they can get scoring from a variety of players,” said Russell. “We had to really focus on our defensive keys as we knew that we could not flood to just one player as then the others would be problems.”

The teams slogged through the opening half to a 13-12 score favoring the Braves as Freeman downed a free throw, followed by a two from Lexi Riechers to push the lead to three points. The Miners fought back, and traded blows with Belmont, reclaiming the lead for the final time in the first half with a corner three by Stella Spillane with 15 seconds to play. Time expired with neither team scoring a bucket, a 22-20 score on the board.

“It was a back-and-forth game in the second half, and both teams statistically were pretty even,” McGettigan said. “The difference down the stretch was Shullsburg made free throws and we didn’t. In a game of that level, you have to have confidence at the line and knock them down.”

Both teams enjoyed a relatively large lead halfway through the second half considering the defensive slugfest — seven points for the Miners, 29-22, then six points for Belmont, 37-32 — before the teams settled on trading slim advantages to the final buzzer. 

The Braves’ came following two’s from Carsyn Ramaker and a pair of free throws by Jaelyn Leitzinger. Shullsburg flipped its response, tallying free throws to break the first tie, and a 2-pointer to break the second.

The deciding points came with 8.1 seconds on the clock — a pair of free throws from the Miners’ McKinley Russell — though it wasn’t until exactly seven seconds rolled off the time that either team knew it.

McGettigan called a timeout to gameplan before her team could inbound the ball. 

Ramaker got the ball to Freeman just ahead of halfcourt, who turned and bolted with tight coverage. As Freeman got to the baseline, Shullsburg popped the ball free and out of bounds with 2.2 left on the clock.

Freeman inbounded the ball with a floating pass to Ramaker, who essentially shot a putback based on the angle of the pass. The ball missed, but there was enough contact to warrant a shooting foul.

Ramaker’s first shot was on the money. Her second wasn’t as fortunate. It found the back of the rim and bounced into the hands of a Miner, signaling the upset.

Ramaker led Belmont with 13 points, which also tied her for a game-high, and six rebounds. Lexi Riechers followed with 10 points, and Freeman chipped in nine points an six boards. Ramaker’s six rebounds tied her with Freeman and Kaci Riechers for the team lead.

McKinley Russell’s 13 points tied her for the game lead, ahead of Spillane (11 pts) and Alt (7 pts). Taylor Russell led all athletes on the boards with 11 rebounds that accompanied a 6-point night.

The Braves traveled to Highland Tuesday night, followed by a home date with Barneveld Friday. A home game with River Ridge awaits Belmont Monday night.

#8 Shullsburg 49, #6 Belmont 48
(from Thursday, Jan. 9 @ Belmont)
Shullsburg....22 27 — 49   
Belmont.........20 28 — 48 
Shullsburg (9–3, 4–2) — Hailey Alt 7, Olivia Brown 2, Taylor Russell 6, Courtney Thyen 5, McKinley Russell 13, Stella Spillane 11, Addy Woodworth 3, Alexis Alt 2. Totals — 15-50 13-18 49.
Belmont (6–3, 3–2) — Courtney Fritz 3, Kaci Riechers 8, Morgan Freeman 9, Jaelyn Leitzinger 5, Lexi Riechers 10, Carsyn Ramaker 13. Totals — 16-50 13-21 48.
3-point goals —S: 6-14 (Alt 1, Russell 1, Spillane 3, Woodworth 1); B: 3-19 (Fritz 1, L. Riechers 2). Team fouls — S: 15; B: 16. Fouled out — none.