FIELD TWP- The North Woods Grizzlies girls basketball team is off to a rough start this season, dropping their home debut against Chisholm last week and road games to Bigfork and Barum this week.
Without a bona fide big in the post this year, Head Coach Liz Cheney’s team is having to adapt to a guard-driven style of play, a style that will apparently take some time to gel, as the Grizzlies have been topped by double-digit margins in all three games they’ve played so far.
Turnover and poor shooting plagued the Grizzlies against Chisholm on Nov. 26. The Bluestreaks built a 14-0 lead before senior Tatum Barto finally converted on a corner trey on the Grizzlies’ 15th possession of the game to get on the scoreboard. With the cap off the basket North Woods steadily fought back, getting an old-fashioned bucket-and-one three-point play and a trifecta from the top of the key by senior Addison Burckhardt, a pair of hoops by sophomore Corra Brodeen and a baseline drive by junior Isabelle Koch to pull within four at 19-15. North Woods drew even at 21-21 on a shot by Barto, then took their only lead of the night on a three-ball by junior Brynn Chosa. A 6-1 run by Chisholm to end the half gave the Bluestreaks a 28-25 lead at the break.
Whatever magic got the Grizzlies back into the game in the first half eluded them in the second, as Chisholm immediately reeled off a 22-2 scoring streak to effectively put the game out of reach at 50-27 with 14 minutes left to play. Chisholm kept up the pressure defensively, forcing the Grizzlies into turnovers and tough shots that wouldn’t drop. North Woods scored only 13 points in the half as the Bluestreaks claimed a dominant 37-point win, 75-38.
On a frustrating night offensively, the Grizzlies hit just 28 percent of their shots and limited their scoring opportunities by turning the ball over 32 times, leading to 37 Chisholm points.
The Grizzlies spread their scoring across the lineup, with Burckhardt and Brodeen topping the chart with eight each, followed by Chosa and Barto with seven each.
“We have played for so many years with our bigs and relied on that under the basket, and we don’t have that this year,” Cheney said. “We can’t rely on our tall folks like we have for years. Now we have just the five guards. We have to crash the boards; we have to go for the rebound. We were just getting one shot and that was it.”
“We’ve got some new kids that haven’t played together before, so we’re working on that chemistry,” Cheney continued. “So, it’s not what we wanted for the first game – we’ve got work to do. But it’s there. We just have to pull it together.”
Bigfork
The Grizzlies’ road trip on Monday to Bigfork found them on the short end of a 57-35 loss, but in a positive development, North Woods won the turnover battle this time, forcing 26 while giving up only 15. The challenge came in converting those Bigfork miscues into points, as the Grizzlies had another tough shooting night, hitting just 20 percent of their shots. Three-point shooting dragged the average down considerably, as the Grizzlies made just two of 29 shots from behind the arc. Bigfork’s play in the paint, where they mopped up on rebounds and scored 38 of their points, was the main difference maker in the game.
For North Woods, seniors Sierra Schuster Barto led the offensive attack, with Schuster tallying a team-high 15 points and Barto cashing in a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Barto also led the team in assists, four, and steals, five.
Barnum
The Grizzlies suffered their third setback of the season on Tuesday with an 82-52 road loss to the Barnum Bombers.
Barto was the only North Woods player to score in double digits, knocking down 22 to lead all scorers in the game. But Barnum was active under the basket, scoring 46 points in the lane and drawing 30 fouls on the Grizzlies that they converted into 25 charities on the night. The Bombers cashed in on 53 percent of their shots from the field, while North Woods was held to 25 percent.
The Grizzlies were scheduled for their third consecutive road trip on Thursday at Carlton, with another away game on Monday at Floodwood. The Grizzlies will be back on their home court on Thursday, Dec. 12 to take on Two Harbors.