FIELD TWP- It was feast or famine for the North Woods girls this past week as they squared off against two powerhouses and a patsy, losing a pair to Mt. Iron-Buhl and South Ridge while picking up a dominant win over Littlefork-Big Falls.
Tuesday’s home tilt against South Ridge, coming in at 12-3 and on a five-game win streak, was expected to be a tough one against a tall, quick opponent. River Cheney got the Grizzlies on the board with a trey from the top of the key, matching the Panthers’ opening score. Cheney scored again from down low and Helen Koch got two on a drive to keep the Grizzzlies close at 13-7, but South Ridge picked up the pace on both ends of the court and used a 19-6 run to go up 32-13 with six minutes left in the half. The Panthers continued to bring the heat, ballooning the lead to 51-21 at the half. North Woods didn’t mount a serious threat in the second half, losing 85-38.
Cheney was the only North Woods player in double figures with 14.
Littlefork-Big Falls
In Monday’s home contest against Littlefork-Big Falls, it was the Grizzlies who lowered the hammer in a big way, routing the Vikings, 84-20. Baskets by Koch and Tatum Barto gave North Woods an early 9-2 lead, and with Cheney and Talise Goodsky getting into the act the lead quickly grew to 17-4. LBF ballhandlers were nearly helpless against the Grizzlies’ pressure defense, turning the ball over an astounding 41 times, with 32 of those being North Woods steals. With few scoring opportunities and shooting only 25 percent, the Vikings were well out of the game by halftime, 40-17. North Woods Head Coach Liz Cheney substituted in platoons of five in the second half, but the Grizzlies didn’t skip a beat. Allowing the Vikings just one basket and one free throw while piling up 44 points of their own for a huge 84-20 win.
Cheney led all scorers with 24, and Goodsky added 14 as ten Grizzlies scored points.
Mt. Iron-Buhl
Last Thursday, the Grizzlies had the unenviable task of traveling to Mt. Iron-Buhl to take on the Class A defending state champion and top-ranked Rangers, a task they were unfortunately ill-suited to handle. The Rangers took full advantage of their superior speed and athleticism to run the Grizzlies off the floor in the first half, building a whopping 84-17 lead at the intermission, With the clock running the entire second half and Mt. Iron-Buhl diving deep into its bench, the Grizzlies kept playing hard and came out ahead in the second stanza 18-16, but limped home on the short end of a 100-35 beatdown.
Koch was the only Grizzly to reach double figures with ten points.
“I feel like there are five teams that when we play them we end up beating ourselves, and you could see it tonight,” said Cheney after Monday’s loss to South Ridge. “The hesitation on the drives, the hesitation with the shooting can make all the difference in the world, so what is holding their confidence back? South Ridge, MIB, Floodwood, Chisholm and Ely, those are the five teams that are just a head game for us.”
“When we play teams like (South Ridge) it helps expose our weaknesses, what we need to work on,” Cheney said. “When we play teams like Littlefork, we have some bad passes, some turnovers, but they don’t necessarily show up as much because they may not be as bad of mistakes as the team we’re playing.”
The Grizzlies also didn’t perform up to snuff against MIB, Cheney said.
“MIB can sometimes draw the best out of us, but they did not last Thursday,” she said. “It was a pretty poor showing on our part. It was just bad.”
Something the Grizzlies have consistently shown this season in both wins and losses is the desire to battle to the final whistle. Cheney was pleased to see that same intensity against LBF in a situation where many teams will have a second-half let down when they have an insurmountable lead.
“We were able to just keep playing basketball,” Cheney said. “We didn’t have to press for a full half and we still scored 84 points. And we were able to play with different groups of kids. So it was good, it was fun.”
The Grizzlies were scheduled to play on Thursday at Nashwauk-Keewatin before the schedule gives them an 11-day break. Cheney is looking forward to an extended period of practice for the Grizzlies to hone their game before returning to the home hardwoods against Barnum on Jan. 29.