FIELD TWP — The North Woods girls basketball team bounced back in a big way from a season-opening loss against Chisholm last week by steamrolling Bigfork 77-41 on Monday at home.
The Grizzlies took control of the game early, racing out to a 29-17 lead on the strength of tough defense and turnovers that North Woods converted into points. The Grizzlies led by a comfortable 34-19 at the half.
It was more of the same in the second stanza, as the Grizzlies doubled the score on the Huskies, 47-23, on a fast break bucket by Zoey Burckhardt.
The only bright spot in an otherwise bleak outing for the Huskies came midway through the half when Kambrey Pearson scored the 1,000th point of her career. Play was stopped momentarily to recognize her accomplishment, but the pause did nothing to slow down the Grizzlies, who cruised to a 74-41 win.
Burckhardt led the Grizzlies in scoring with 21 points. Corra Brodeen had the hot hand in the first half with 14 points and tallied 20 for the game. North Woods had ten players score in the beatdown.
Head Coach Liz Cheney said she was pleased with the Grizzlies’ tempo and effort.
“I’ve been asking them to do that since the first day of practice,” Cheney said. “That’s what we need to look like this year, and against Chisholm we didn’t. We made some adjustments, and the girls responded. And I thought overall they did a really nice job.”
The Grizzlies will feed off the play of senior guards Tatum Barto and Brynn Chosa this year, two experienced leaders who can move the ball around and score.
But they have plenty of support on the offensive side, Cheney noted.
“We have Brynn and Tatum, and (junior) Emarie Gibson is coming into it, and then I have (junior) Corra who is a power forward but can step out and drop in a three-pointer at any time. And then there’s (sophomore) Zoey, so we’re just really versatile this year. I’m excited to see them progress.”

Chisholm
North Woods was on the road to open the season at Chisholm on Nov. 25, and the Bluestreaks defended their home court easily with a 66-33 win. Shooting and turnovers were the big trouble spots for the Grizzlies, as they hit only 22 percent of their shots and gave the ball away 24 times. North Woods didn’t have a double-digit scorer on the night, with Chosa tallying a team-high nine points.

Barnum
The Barnum Bombers flew into the North Woods gym on Tuesday and circled back home with a 71-49 win.
The Bombers played a swarming defense that caused Grizzlies turnovers and long scoring droughts in each half. Corra Brodeen led North Woods in scoring with 20 points, and Tatum Barto dropped in 13 in the loss.