By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

AUBURNDALE — Paiton Richardson had 23 points and nine rebounds, and the Auburndale girls basketball team pounded Northland Lutheran 59-14 in a Marawood Conference South Division matchup Thursday night at Auburndale High School.

Auburndale cruised out to a 21-5 lead after the first quarter and went up 45-10 by halftime in a dominating performance.

Taylor Gotz added 13 points and seven rebounds, and Shannon Yahnke had 11 points for the Apaches. Auburndale improves to 15-4 overall and finishes its Marawood South season with a 9-3 record. Northland Lutheran is now 7-13 and ends up 2-10 in the conference.

Auburndale hosts Athens in a nonconference game Tuesday and will play in the Marawood Conference third-place crossover game on Feb. 20 against an opponent yet to be determined.

(Hub City Times Sports Reporter Paul Lecker is also the publisher of MarshfieldAreaSports.com.)

Apaches 59, Wildcats 14

Northland Lutheran 5 5 2 2 – 14

Auburndale 21 24 9 5 – 59

NORTHLAND LUTHERAN (14): Beka Edelberg 0-5 2-4 2, Ashley Colby 0-4 0-0 0, Hannah Kloehn 2-6 2-6 7, Mesa Haag 0-1 0-0 0, Taylor Fenske 1-4 0-0 3, Sidney Moore 0-2 0-0 0, Halley Engelbrecht 0-6 0-0 0, Erin Gast 0-1 0-0 0, Melissa Neumann 0-2 2-2 2. FG: 3-31. FT: 6-12. 3-pointers: 2-10 (Kloehn 1-1, Fenske 1-4, Neumann 0-1, Engelbrecht 0-1, Edelberg 0-1, Colby 0-2). Rebounds: 14 (Neumann 6). Record: 7-13, 2-10 Marawood Conference South Division.

AUBURNDALE (59): Rachel Gronemeyer 0-1 0-1 0, Cassie Mitchell 0-3 0-0 0, Ashley Peplinski 0-2 1-2 1, Allison Linzmeier 3-4 0-0 6, Cheyenne Karl 0-1 0-0 0, Jenna Peplinski 0-2 2-4 2, Sylviann Momont 1-7 1-2 3, Paiton Richardson 9-15 5-6 23, Shannon Yahnke 4-7 3-4 11, Taylor Gotz 4-14 5-6 13. FG: 21-55. FT: 17-25. 3-pointers: 0-1 (A. Peplinski 0-1). Rebounds: 34 (Richardson 9). Assists: 13 (Momont 3). Record: 15-4, 9-3 Marawood Conference South Division.