Flambeau up by 1 at the half

We’ve got a good one on our hands.

After getting over the initial shock of Flambeau’s fullcourt press, Eleva-Strum has fought and clawed its way back into this morning’s WIAA Division 4 state semifinal at the Alliant Energy Center.

Flambeau leads, 28-27, at halftime. Eleva-Strum’s Brynn Salava leads all scorers with seven points while Megan Schultz has six. Flambeau’s Lindsey Brost has six points, while Whitney Verdegan and Shelby Sterba each have five.

The Cardinals led for a moment after two free throws by Brynn Salava made it 27-26 with 1:13 left in the half. Flambeau answered with a bucket by Sterba, a freshman, and Eleva-Strum missed four shots on its last possession of the half.

Eleva-Strum got back into the game by getting to the free-throw line. The Cardinals are 11 of 12 on free throws and four Flambeau players — Susan Bischoff, Brost, Beth Alberson and Sam Zimmer each have two fouls.

The beginning couldn’t have been much worse for Eleva-Strum. Flambeau led, 6-0, the first time the Cardinals got the ball past halfcourt. It was 10-2 shortly thereafter.

But Eleva-Strum eventually calmed down and found the holes it needed to in the Falcons’ aggressive fullcourt pressure. It went on a 7-2 run and had Flambeau on its heels for a bit.

The Falcons answered by scoring five points in a 13-second span to bump the lead back to eight, but the Cardinals slowly crept back.

Other observations:

*Members of the Eleva-Strum boys basketball team are front-and-center in the student section, leading those cheers. The Flambeau student section has “The Red Man Group,” three guys that are like the Blue Man Group, only, you know, red.

*I stated my affinity for mascots in an earlier blog post. Eleva-Strum has a pretty good lookin’ Cardinal. I’m still giddy over the thought of Monroe’s mouse, however.

- John Casper Jr.