FIELD TWP- The North Woods girls basketball team has worked hard this past week to earn the title of “comeback kids,” slashing big double-digit second-half deficits in two games down to single digits, but they still have work to do to claim the label after dropping all three games.
Tuesday night’s contest at Cherry was one of those comeback attempts. The Tigers came into the game having had a five-game winning streak snapped by state-ranked Mt. Iron-Buhl last week and were looking to return to the winner’s column against the Grizzlies, losers in six straight games.
The Tigers raced out to a 9-1 lead before Corra Brodeen knocked down a three for the Grizzlies’ first field goal. Nevada Gauthier kept the Grizzlies close with a bucket to make the score 17-13, and a layup by Tatum Barto and a free throw by Sierra Schuster kept the deficit to four at 23-19. But a late-half surge by the Tigers put Cherry up 33-22 at the break.
The Tigers stayed on a roll going into the second half, increasing their lead to 19 at 47-28 with about 11 minutes remaining. A deuce by Brodeen and a triple by Brynn Chosa gave the Grizzlies a brief glimmer of hope, and the Grizzlies slowly chipped away at the lead until a trey by Barto with 4:23 to play cut the deficit to just nine, 59-50. Barto canned two more threes in the final minutes, but by then Cherry had regained control and closed out the 71-58 victory.
Barto led North Woods with 19 points, and Chosa added 12.
Hill City-Northland
The Hill City-Northland Storm was the odd team out in the comeback equation, as they handily defeated the Grizzlies on their home court on Friday, 73-36.
The taller Storm stymied the Grizzlies from the field in the first half, building a 22-2 lead after a Brodeen basket tied the score early at 2-2. Chosa broke a nearly 12-minute scoring drought with a pair of free throws at the 3:41 mark, but the Grizzlies trailed 28-6 going into the half.
A pair of threes by Chosa on consecutive possessions cut the HC-N lead to 33-18, but with just under nine minutes to play the Storm had doubled their advantage to 30, 54-24, and the Grizzlies had no answers the rest of the way, losing by 37.
Chosa led North Woods scorers with 14, followed by Barto with 11.
Deer River
Grizzlies Head Coach Liz Cheney has praised her team for maintaining their competitive spirit right through to the end of games, even those out of reach, and that spirit was on full display in the second half at Deer River on Thursday.
The Warriors got out to a 6-0 lead before Barto put the Grizzlies on the scoreboard with a banked three-ball from the top of the key, and a pair of Barto free throws later knotted the score at 16-16 as North Woods worked to keep pace. Barto then stepped up with a driving layup to give the Grizzlies the lead at 18-16, but the Warriors would come back to take a 30-25 edge at the break.
The battle remained heated in the second half, with the Warriors holding a slim 43-42 edge with about nine minutes remaining. But Deer River put together an 11-3 run to stretch the lead to 54-44, and North Woods trailed 62-49 with just under three minutes remaining. But the Grizzlies refused to lay down, getting a putback by Chosa and a pair of charities by Barto to cut the lead to nine, 62-53. Brodeen scored down low, then Barto hit the front end of a one-and-one after a North Woods steal in the backcourt. On the Warriors’ next possession, Barto stripped the ball and raced the length of the court to make a contested layup and pull the Grizzlies to within 62-58. With less than 40 seconds remaining Brodeen hit another shot to make the score 62-60. But the Warriors drew a shooting foul with 18 seconds left and made both free throws for a 64-60 cushion. North Woods got off two shots in the closing second but didn’t connect on either as their spirited rally fell four points short.
Barto had a monster game, scoring 31 of the Grizzlies’ 60 points. Chosa was the only other player in double figures for North Woods with 12.
The Grizzlies were scheduled to be back on the road for games against Fond du Lac on Thursday and Chisholm on Friday, with home games on Monday against Mesabi East and Tuesday against Greenway.