Losing streaks over, Ellsworth girls and boys hoops teams both winners

• Ellsworth Panthers

Ellsworth Panthers

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Ellsworth High School's girls basketball team snapped a five-game losing streak by beating New Richmond Friday 47-37 while the boys' also snapped a losing skid as they upended Osceola 38-31.

The Panther girls fell behind by 12 points, 14-2, after one quarter; however, they recovered as they made up ground in the second and fourth quarters. The Panthers outscored the Tigers 16-6 in the second and 20-7 in the fourth.

"Maybe we wore them down a little bit," Panthers coach Dave Berg said.

Kayla Christopherson led Ellsworth (8-11 overall, 4-7 Middle Border Conference) with 13 points while Shannon Campbell added 11. Abbey Ristow contributed 13 rebounds and four points.

Ellsworth hopes to turn this win into an end of the season winning streak as they host Osceola Tuesday, play at Prescott Thursday and wrap-up the season the following week at home vs. Baldwin-Woodville.

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EHS' boys team held Osceola scoreless in the third quarter of Friday's game in Ellsworth.

"They just wanted to sit in the 2-3 (zone)," Ellsworth coach Cory Brathol said. "We just decided we were going to spread it out."

Ellsworth scored five points in the third but the Panthers negated Osceola's post presence thanks in part of Daigen Afdahl.

"He was an absolute beast inside for us," Brathol said. "He was a big reason why we were able to do so well in the paint."

Lincoln Howard (6-foot-6) was held to eight points while Kyle Bussewitz (6-foot-5) tallied 15. For Ellsworth, Chris Niedfeldt scored 19 points while Jimmy Miska added 14.

The win also assures the Panthers (11-8 overall, 6-6 in the Middle Border Conference) will not have a losing season, breaking a streak going all the way back to the 2000-01 campaign. They can clinch a winning season when they travel Tuesday to Prescott.

Tags: prep girls basketball, prep boys basketball, sports, prep, ellsworth