FIELD TWP — The North Woods girls picked up their eighth win of the season last Thursday at home against Fond du Lac, but the joy was short-lived with a string of three losses in five days to Floodwood, Mesabi East, and Greenway/Nashwauk-Keewatin.
The Grizzlies were favored over the winless Ogichida of Fond du Lac, and to their credit North Woods maintained a high level of intensity throughout a lopsided first half. They ran the floor well and executed their offense with precision as they steamrolled their way to a 36-9 lead at the half. Grizzlies Head Coach Liz Cheney cleared her bench in the second half, with 15 players getting floor time, giving Cheney the opportunity to get key reserves more experience as well as to assess upcoming younger players in a varsity contest. Scoring was more competitive, with the Grizzlies holding a 24-21 edge as they came away with a 60-29 win.
Tatum Barto led the team with 14 points, and Corra Brodeen connected for 10 as 11 players scored for North Woods.
“Everyone got to play, which was the goal for me,” Cheney said. “We had some seventh and eighth graders get their first varsity points and playing time. We could have run the score up, but why? It’s not necessary. I used this as an opportunity to put some different groups of five out there to see what those combinations looked like.”

Floodwood
Floodwood, at 12-2 on the season, presented a completely different challenge for the Grizzlies, one they didn’t have the firepower to answer, losing 81-48. Floodwood dominated the lane, outscoring North Woods 44-12 in the paint and holding a 42-35 edge in rebounding. The Grizzlies stayed close in the early going, trailing 22-17 with 9:35 left in the first half. But the Polar Bears closed out the stanza with a big 24-6 blitz to salt the game away at the half, 46-23. The onslaught continued in the second half as North Woods fell 71-45.
Brynn Chosa and Brodeen shouldered the scoring load for the Grizzlies, with Chosa hitting for 18 points and Brodeen for 16.

Mesabi East
The Grizzlies faced another formidable foe on Monday as they traveled to Aurora to take on Mesabi East and the school’s all-time leading scorer, boys and girls, Marta Forsline.
Fueled by the savvy slashing and scoring of Tatum Barto, the Grizzlies made a game of it early, trailing 24-14 with 8:40 remaining in the half. But the Giants cranked up the scoring and defense with a 28-5 run to grab a commanding 52-19 lead at the break. North Woods floundered from the field, shooting only 19 percent for the game, as Forsline scored 28 and the Giants ran away with a 71-27 win. After hitting for nine in the first half, Barto finished with 11 and was the only North Woods player who scored in double figures.

Greenway/Nashwauk-Keewatin
Playing their third consecutive game on the road, the Grizzlies came up just short against the Titans, losing 57-53 to fall to 8-14 on the season. Additional game information was not available by press time.
The Grizzlies won’t see the friendly confines of the North Woods gym again this season, as they prepare to close the regular season with a four-game stretch on the road, which began on Thursday at Ely and was scheduled Friday to continue at McGregor. They’ll travel to Littlefork-Big Falls on Tuesday before closing out the campaign with a Friday trip to Class AAA Hermantown. Currently sitting 12th in Section 7A, the Grizzlies will draw a road game for first round sectional tournament play.