NewsTribune girls basketball notebook: Earlville’s Madyson Olson closing in on scoring record

Earlville senior Madyson Olson has been a scoring machine for the Earlville girls basketball team during her career.

She led the area in scoring last season at 18.3 points per game, and this winter the senior is scoring more than half her team’s points per game as she’s averaging 16.5 points while the team is scoring 28.8 per contest.

All that scoring has put Olson on the doorstep of the school’s career record.

Olson needs 62 more points to pass Elizabeth Browder’s all-time scoring mark of 1,159 points that she set in 2022.

Another area player is climbing up her school’s scoring list in Fieldcrest senior Kaitlin White.

The senior guard, who is averaging an area-best 17.1 points per game, sits at 1,361 career points. She surpassed Tessa Holland for third place on the program’s career scoring list with 16 points Thursday against Deer Creek-Mackinaw.

White needs 85 points to catch former teammate Ashlyn May, a 2023 Fieldcrest graduate who ended her career with 1,446 points.

Haley Ruestman is the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,765 points.

Getting down to business

St. Bede doesn’t waste any time when it comes to practice as coach Stephanie Mickley shares the practice schedule with the players beforehand so they know what’s coming.

“The team wants to know the practice schedule ahead of time so practice runs efficiently because they know what to expect,” Mickley said.

Mickley said the Bruins also do a good job of motivating themselves.

“We have team goals written on the board before every game,” she said. “They develop unique, inspirational quotes that include comical moments in practice.”

The efficient practices and motivation are paying off for the Bruins as they sit at 14-7 overall, which gives them the second most wins in the area, and 8-1 in the Tri-County Conference.

In its first season back in the Tri-County, St. Bede is the No. 1 seed for the league tournament. The Bruins open the tournament against No. 8 Henry-Senachwine/Lowpoint-Washburn at 10 a.m. Saturday in Henry.

The semifinals are Monday with the consolation final, third-place game and championship set for Thursday.

One-two punch

Putnam County has a dynamic scoring duo in senior forward Maggie Richetta and senior guard Ava Hatton.

Richetta is fifth in the area in scoring at 14.6 points per game, while Hatton is right behind her at 14.1 per contest.

Richetta does the bulk of her scoring in the paint, while Hatton can shoot from the outside, drive to the basket or score down low.

“Ava and Maggie complement each other extremely well, so we’ve been able to get creative on how we can work them off one another along with being able to create mismatches,” PC coach Jared Sale said. “They are both really unselfish players are are looking to do what’s best for the team, so it’s just been a fun thing to see the chemistry they’ve been able to develop on the floor in such a short period of time.”

With the emergence of Richetta as a consistent scorer, Hatton hasn’t been forced to shoulder the bulk of the scoring load as she has in the past, which has allowed her to shine in other areas of her game.

Hatton is averaging an area-best 3.7 assists per game, which is up from 1.4 last year.

“Ava’s always been able to see the floor well and make correct reads, but she’s had to handle such a large chunk of our scoring in the past that her assists and really the rest of her numbers have kind of suffered because of the scoring load she had to carry.

“We still aren’t as balanced as maybe we’d like to be scoring wise, but the emergence of Maggie and our inside game and Gabby [Doyle] being able to get her feet set and knock down shots has really made her assist numbers jump compared to previous years.”

A rare double-double

Hall senior McKenna Christiansen leads her team in scoring at 11.6 points per game, but against Mendota in the Amboy Holiday Tournament on Dec. 29, Christiansen took only three shots and did not score.

However, she still made an impact on the game.

Christiansen recorded a double-double with 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Coach T.J. Orlandi said it’s the first time since he’s been involved in the program a player has had a double-double with rebounds and assists.

Hitting the glass

Hall junior Kennedy Wozniak plays guard for the Red Devils, but that hasn’t stopped her from crashing the boards this season.

Wozniak grabbed 20 rebounds against Kewanee, including nine offensive boards, and she ranks fifth in the area at 7.9 rebounds per game.

“Kennedy is never the tallest or biggest girl on the court, not even close, but she’s one of the hardest workers we’ve had in our program,” Orlandi said. “She really does a nice job battling for position and boxing out down low as well as on the perimeter.”

Stepping in

Fieldcrest lost senior post Riley Burton in the third game of the season to an ACL tear.

Sophomore Pru Mangan has helped fill the void. She’s averaging 4.8 points, four rebounds and one assist per game.

“We have seen great progress and improvement in sophomore Pru Mangan,” Fieldcrest coach Nate Ehrhardt said. “She has stepped up and really grown as a player in her development, confidence and basketball IQ to fill the role of our injured senior.”

From downtown

Fieldcrest set a school record for 3-pointers in a game earlier this season against Fisher when the Knights sank 16 from beyond the arc.

Macy Gochanour led the way as she drained 6 of 12 3-pointers, while White had four, Terilynn Timmerman and Emily Tooley each knocked down two and Mangan and Vada Timmerman hit one each.

The Knights shot 51.6% (16 of 31) from 3-point range.