FIELD TWP- The North Woods girls sandwiched a pair of beatdowns around a hard-fought loss in this week’s hoops action.
A road trip to play Fond du Lac last Friday gave the Grizzlies the opportunity to try out everything in their playbook and then some against the overmatched Ogichidaag, scoring an 86-22 win. North Woods dominated from the opening tip, as Fond du Lac didn’t have the personnel to match the Grizzlies in height, speed, or talent. North Woods led this one 52-7 at the half.
Nine Grizzlies scored on the night, led by Brynn Chosa’s 19 points. Hannah Kinsey had 18, followed by Kiana LaRoque with 13.
The Giants of Mesabi East presented a much greater challenge on Monday, although neither team experienced much success in a first half full of turnovers and missed shots. The Grizzlies trailed early but came back to take the lead on a trey by Chosa, 16-15. But Mesabi East recovered and ended the half on a 12-4 run to take a 27-20 lead at the half.
North Woods came out fast in the second stanza, getting a pair of free throws from Kinsey, a trey from River Cheney, and a deuce from Helen Koch to narrow the gap to 29-27, and a Kinsey pull-up jumper at the 13:40 mark gave the Grizzlies a 32-31 lead. Kinsey picked up her fourth foul with 11:20 and went to the bench a short time later, taking away the team’s tallest defensive weapon against the Giants’ inside game. But the Grizzlies responded well with Kinsey out of the game, and still held the lead when she came back in with 5:56 remaining. Kinsey’s stay was a short one, as she fouled out just 16 seconds later.
With that, the Giants repeatedly dumped the ball down to 6’0” Marta Forsline, who scored nine of her game-high 31 points down the stretch as the Grizzlies’ scoring machine stalled. Mesabi East pulled away in the closing minutes for a 65-53 win.
Koch led the Grizzlies in scoring with 16, followed by Kinsey with 12 and Cheney with 10.
The Grizzlies were on the home court again on Tuesday against Greenway, and North Woods played a solid all-around game to come away with a 67-51 win. Game stats were not available as of press time.
The Grizzlies were scheduled to travel to Ely on Thursday for a rematch against the Wolves, who squeaked out a 64-61 win in their Jan. 5 game. The Grizzlies will wrap up the regular season next week with a home game Tuesday against Littlefork-Big Falls and a Friday road game at Floodwood.