PATCH GROVE — Junior guard Amber Udelhoven picked a great night to have her best game in a Potosi uniform.
Udelhoven, who transferred from Fennimore this year, drilled four 3-pointers and scored a season-high 18 points in Potosi’s key Six Rivers West victory at previously unbeaten River Ridge last Thursday night.
Fellow junior Hannah Udelhoven hit a pair of triples late in the second half as Potosi connected on six 3-pointers in the win.
The Udelhovens’ long-distance accuracy helped pick up the slack for a struggling Abby Kaiser, who entered the game averaging a league-high 29 points per game.
The stingy River Ridge defense harassed Kaiser, who has verbally committed to UW–Oshkosh, anytime she drove and held the high-scoring guard to just 10 points on 3 of 12 shooting in the first 32 minutes, before Kaiser came up clutch down the stretch.
Potosi’s defense was equally impressive holding River Ridge standouts Skylar White and Taylor Langmeier, the Wolves’ leading scorers, to just 17 points until the closing seconds, when each hit meaningless 3-pointers after the outcome had been decided.
Coach Brad Bierman’s Chieftains improved to 5–1 overall and took over sole possession of first place in the Six Rivers West at 3–0 in league play.
Meanwhile, the Timberwolves fell to 6–1 and 1–1 after suffering their first loss.
After a low-scoring first half, Kaiser hit a long two-pointer early in the second half to give Potosi an 18–17 lead.
Ridge answered with a basket by Allison Ploessl and a 3-pointer by White to regain a 22–18 with just under 15 minutes left.
Amber Udelhoven buried back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game at 24–24 with 13:21 left, then had back-to-back steals and breakaway layps to make it 29–26 with 10 minutes left.
Hannah Udelhoven buried a triple to make it 32–27, then after Rachael Herrick answered with a 3-pointer of her own buried another trey from the left corner to extend Potosi’s lead to 25–20 with 6:30 left.
Kaiser ended a personal eight-minute scoring drought with layup on an inbound play with minutes to play, but White again had the answer to trim the Potosi advantage to two points at 37–35, but Amber Udelhoven stepped up again.
She buried her fourth 3-pointer of the night moments later to make it 40–35.
Ridge was forced to start fouling and Kaiser scored eight points in the final 2:50 on 6 of 8 from the line and a layup.
Kaiser finished with a game-high 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Amber Udelhoven had 18 points, three rebounds and two steals, and Hannah Udelhoven added six points and four rebounds.
White scored a team-high 15 points to lead River Ridge. Langmeier added eight points, including a 3-pointer at the final buzzer.
Potosi will host Highland Friday night and will then have a two-week holiday break before traveling to Benton on Jan. 5.
Potosi 50, River Ridge 44
(from Thursday, Dec. 14 @ Patch Grove)
Potosi 16 34 — 50
River Ridge 17 27 — 44
Potosi (5–1, 3–0) — Abby Kaiser 20, Justice Udelhofen 4, Amber Udelhoven 18, Sophie Langkamp 2, Hannah Udelhoven 6. Totals — 14 16-21 50.
River Ridge (6–1, 1–1) — Faith Schier 2, Skylar White 15, Taylor Langmeier 8, Allison Ploessl 6, Rachel Herrick 5, Maria Breuer 6, McKenzie Graf 2. Totals – 16 9-16 44.
3-point goals — P: 6 (A. Udelhoven 4, H. Udelhoven 2); RR: 5 (White 2, Langmeier 2, Herrick 1). Team fouls — P: 16; RR: 17 Fouled out — none.
