CHISHOLM- While the NCAA men’s basketball tournament has made legends of No. 12 seeds upsetting No. 5s, the truth is that the higher seed wins that matchup two out of every three tries.
With the odds stacked against them, the 12th-seeded North Woods girls gave fifth-seeded Chisholm all they could handle for 31 minutes before the Bluestreaks pulled away at the end for a 71-48 home win on Thursday.
Chisholm was up 3-0 when the Grizzlies’ Tatum Barto cut down the lane for a score and was fouled. She made the free throw, and after a Chisholm trey, Sierra Schuster responded with a shot in the lane. Corra Brodeen kept the Grizzlies in the thick of the battle with a putback of a blocked shot to stay within two at 9-7. When Chisholm went up by five, Barto drained a three to get the Grizzlies back within two at 12-10. The Bluestreaks followed their fifth trey of the game with a free throw to go up 16-11, but the Grizzlies refused to buckle, getting scores from Barto and Brynn Chosa to close the gap to 16-15.
Chisholm pulled out to a 23-15 advantage with just under nine minutes left in the half, but North Woods cut the deficit to four twice before a pair of Barto free throws made the score 28-25 with a minute remaining. The Grizzlies couldn’t get any closer in the waning seconds, as Chisholm canned a trey and a two to lead 33-25 at the half.
The Bluestreaks took command with a 10-0 run to start the second half, with Brodeen finally cashing in on a ten-foot jumper to make the score 43-27. Both teams went cold from the field for an extended period of play, but the Grizzlies kept working hard and cut the lead to ten at 48-38 on a Chosa trey with 6:41 remaining. Three consecutive charities by Schuster cut the Chisholm lead to 50-43 with 5:27 remaining, and the Grizzlies were back in the hunt for the upset.
Those hopes, however, evaporated down the stretch, as Chisholm suddenly erupted with a stunning 21-5 run to advance to the next round of tourney play with the 71-48 win.
Barto carried the Grizzlies’ scoring attack with 23 points as North Woods saw its season come to an end with a record of 6-21.