FIELD TWP- The North Woods girls rebounded from last Thursday’s loss to Ely in quick fashion, picking up a solid road win against International Falls on Friday and thoroughly thumping Silver Bay at home on Monday.
With two seventh-graders holding down spots in the Silver Bay lineup and winless on the season, it’s safe to say the Mariners are in a rebuilding year, and the taller, more experienced Grizzlies took full advantage of the situation on Monday. The Mariners kept it close for the first five minutes, trailing just 10-8, but the Grizzlies cranked their game into high gear and left Silver Bay in the dust with a 40-11 run the rest of the half. River Cheney and Tatum Barto each had ten points at the half and eight Grizzlies knocked down buckets as North Woods exceeded its total game output against Ely to hold a commanding 50-19 lead at intermission.
North Woods shot out of the blocks fast in the second half, feeding Talise Goodsky and River Cheney down low for easy baskets. Cheney was on fire, knocking down 18 more points for a game-high total of 28. Had Grizzlies Head Coach Liz Cheney not reached deep into her bench for long stretches of the second half, the Grizzlies would have been on pace to eclipse the century mark against the Mariners.
Cheney was pleased with the pace of play in the second half as the Grizzlies kept pouring it on.
“We talked about that at halftime, about how it would be fun to get some fast breaks and run the floor, and they came out and did that in the second half quite well,” Cheney said.
In addition to Cheney’s big game, the Grizzlies got double-digit scoring from Barto with 12, and Goodsky and Brynn Chosa with 11 each.
The Grizzlies expected and got a tougher test at I’Falls, as the Broncos came into the game having notched their first two wins of the season against Deer River and Nashwauk-Keewatin. The Grizzlies led by as many as six points in the first half and settled for a 35-32 halftime advantage. The Broncos came back to tie at 38-38 and then took the lead at 43-41, but the Grizzlies wouldn’t buckle. Ramping up the defensive intensity, North Woods turned the tide and regained the momentum, closing out the game with a 32-19 blitz to secure the 73-62 win.
Turnovers were key, as the Grizzlies forced 22 while giving up only 11. The Broncos shot a higher percentage than the Grizzlies, but North Woods took 83 shots to only 61 for the Broncos.
Helen Koch had the hot hand for North Woods, scoring 31 points with six trifectas. Koch had plenty of support in the scoring column, with Cheney hitting for 13, Barto 12, and Chosa 10.
“We redeemed ourselves against the Falls and got a really nice win,” Cheney said. “With Helen, when she’s on, when she’s confident she’ll shoot more and more. We didn’t even realize she had that many points or that many three-pointers.”