Female Area Athlete of the Week: Tulenchik’s big games get her to 1,000 points

By Conrad Engstrom

January 15, 2022 at 6:00 AM

Ramsey Tulenchik enjoyed a dominating last week.

The Pine River-Backus junior scored 26 points in the Tigers win over Laporte and then added 31 points against Cass Lake-Bena in a loss.

She needed nine points against CL-B to cross 1,000 points in her career. She did it with ease in the first half when she got fouled on a shot and hit the free throw to reach 1,000.

“It really showed that when I put in all the work I can achieve the things I’ve always wanted,” Tulenchik said. “I didn’t really think about it at all going into the game. I just wanted to beat Cass Lake.”

PRB head coach Tucker Sheley was proud to see Tulenchik get the milestone.

“She’s worked very hard and put in a lot of time to get to this point and has had a lot of good teammates around her this year and in years prior to get her to that point,” Sheley said.

For the season, Tulenchik is the Tigers’ leading scorer at 24.8 points per game. She’s averaging 9.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.

“Her footwork has proved dramatically and is able to step up and hit that mid-range shot,” Sheley said. “That makes her a little more of a dynamic offensive player.

“If she can continue to extend her range she is going to be a little more of a dynamic offensive player. She’s also improved her free throw shooting quite a bit which has helped her have another weapon in the arsenal.”

This season, Tulenchik is garnering the opposing team’s attention for most of the games

Handling that extra attention and defensive pressure is something she’s improved at as the year has progressed.

“She would get frustrated when she saw double teams and she’s gotten to the point now where she’s comfortable kicking it back out and she’s handled herself quite well on the floor,” Sheley said. “She’s a force inside, so we try to get her inside-out. When the double team comes, she’s quick to get the ball and get her teammates open shots.”

Tulenchik added: “I just have to oversee it and do what I know how to do. I feel like I’ve handled it quite well. I know sometimes I can get quite frustrated, but my teammates are there to help me out and that relieves the stress.”

Last season, Tulenchik scored 19.1 points a game on 52% shooting. She snatched 8.6 rebounds and dished 2.0 assists a game and was named to the Dispatch All-Area first team.

As a freshman, Tulenchik averaged 12.4 points a game to go with 9.1 rebounds a game.

“I feel like I’ve improved a lot since my freshman year and even last year,” Tulenchik said. “My shot has been improving and I’ve realized I’ve needed to attack more instead of being so scared. My driving and ball-handling skills have improved a lot.”

Sheley said Tulenchik is aggressive and has an edge to her.

“She has a constant motor which is really fun to coach,” he said. “She’s always bringing the intensity up in whatever drill we are using in practice and then that carries over into the game.”

Before each game, Tulenchik said she comes in with a competitive mindset and wants to win at all costs.

“We’ve lost some games we probably should have won — we haven’t played our best,” Tulenchik said. “But we also proved that we can play our best like when we went into halftime against Cass Lake up.”

As a junior and three-year starter for PRB, Tulenchik is one of the leaders for the Tigers.

“I’ve seen her develop her leadership skills by getting her teammates involved and making sure if someone is having a bad night or not playing to their potential she’s gotten better at being that good teammate to help improve them,” Sheley said.

Other notable performances:

Basketball: Maci Martini, Pequot Lakes scored 21 points against Crosby-Ironton, 20 points against Thief River Falls and 23 points against Roseau.

Ella Janzen, Aitkin, scored 20 points against East Central.

Tori Oehrlein, Crosby-Ironton, scored 39 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against Deer River and scored 33 points against Cloquet.

Olivia Peterson, Pillager, scored 20 points against Wadena-Deer Creek.

Raelene Nyberg, Aitkin, scored 21 points against Two Harbor.

Hockey: Rose Aldridge, Northern Lakes, scored a hat trick and tallied four assists against Detroit Lakes.