FIELD TWP- The North Woods Grizzlies girls took two long road trips this past week, coming home with a solid 77-50 win over Red Lake and a 63-50 loss against Barnum.
The Jan. 26 tilt against Red Lake saw Helen Koch quietly come to the fore in leading the Grizzlies to victory in a game where North Woods got rolling toward the end of the first half and continued to build momentum in the second.
“When I added up the score, Helen had 24 points. She couldn’t believe it and neither could I,” North Woods Head Coach Liz Cheney said. “It seemed like such an even scoring game by all the girls, but it was cool for Helen to have such a big game. It wasn’t something that stood out for a minute.”
Cheney credited Talise Goodsky and River Cheney for providing the late first-half spark that gave the Grizzlies a 41-28 edge at the half.
“They both did a great job with lots of good rebounding and good on their short shots,” Cheney said. “They were just both aggressive underneath the basket.”
Cheney tallied 11 points in the contest, while Goodsky added nine. Hannah Kinsey was the other North Woods player in double figures with 14.
North Woods has frequently found itself with a size advantage this season, but that wasn’t the case against Barnum, which features inside players that are 6’3” and 6’1” who seriously disrupted the Grizzlies offense in the first half of Monday’s contest.
“We could not get a basket to go in to save our lives, it was like there was a lid on the basket,” said Cheney. “We struggled with some offensive rebounds. Helen likes to drive, and on the first two possessions little Helen going up against 6’3” got completely stuffed. We’re used to being the ones to dominate the paint with our girls.”
Barnum took good advantage of the Grizzlies’ disarray, building up a 32-11 halftime lead. But Cheney put on a full-court press after the intermission that rattled the Bombers and shook the Grizzlies out of their scoring slump.
“Our baskets started to fall a little bit more in the second half,” Cheney said. “Talise was one of the girls who got into it, chipping in here and there with a basket. It’s good to see her being a strong contributor to the offense.”
North Woods racked up 39 points in the second half and put three players into double figures, led by Koch and Cheney with 12 each and Goodsky with 11.
Following a Thursday trip to Deer River, North Woods inserted a Friday home contest against Hill City to break up what was originally a five-game stint away from home. They’ll return to the road next Tuesday to take on Cherry.