FIELD TWP — With no seniors and little varsity experience, North Woods Head Coach Jessica Trunnell has had to build her team from the ground up, and thus far they have only two wins to show for their efforts.
And although the Grizzlies took another loss at home last Friday against Northome-Kelliher, 90-80, they gave their fans something almost as good as a win: hope. Hope that this young squad is finally pulling themselves together as a team.
It didn’t look that way at halftime, as the Mustangs bucked their way to an intimidating 58-32 lead. Earlier in the season it would have been more of the same in the second half.
Not this time.
It wasn’t a different team that took the floor after the break, but it was a more cohesive, precise and determined one. Passes were sharper, plays were crisper, shooting was better, rebounding was stronger, and defense was more tenacious. That combination led to a half in which the Grizzlies dominated the floor and mounted a comeback that had their fans cheering and stomping their feet as loud as ever.
Cedar Holman got the Grizzlies started with a putback of a missed shot, the second offensive rebound of that possession. Seven minutes later, North Woods still trailed by 26, but now they were matching the Broncos point for point, obvious improvement from the first half.
TaySean Boshey-Wilkerson slashed into the lane for a two-pointer with 11:03 remaining, and with the Grizzlies’ defense getting stops, two buckets by Holman cut the deficit to 74-54. With Holman shouldering most of the scoring load, the Grizzlies kept cutting into the lead, getting the deficit down to 15 at the 6:43 mark on a rebound and putback by Vincent Pascuzzi. A basket and a charity by Elias Sheffer whittled the lead to just 12, 77-65, with just over six minutes left. Boshey-Wilkerson found Pascuzzi open on a break and the sophomore delivered with a hoop that drew the Grizzlies within ten at 77-67.
But from there, the comeback stalled, and it took a three from Boshey-Wilkerson to keep the Grizzlies within 13 at 85-72 with only 1:28 remaining. It was only then that some of the excitement escaped from the gym as it became evident that there were too many points to score in too few seconds.
But the Grizzlies had one final run left, a pull-up triple by Boshey-Wilkerson with 23 seconds to go, followed by a Hartway putback for two, and capped by a steal by Boshey-Wilkerson and a shot launched from near half court that found the mark. The Grizzlies may not have won the game, but with eight points in 23 seconds they handily won the second half 48-32, and the mood in the gym was decidedly upbeat as players greeted fans afterward.
Trunnell said later that it was the best game the Grizzlies had played all season, and a look at the stats lends some weight to that. North Woods shot 44 percent from the field, hauled down 42 rebounds and notched 19 second-chance points, scored 62 points in the paint and committed just 18 turnovers to the Mustangs’ 20. The one standout blemish was at the free throw line, where North Woods hit only one out of ten shots. And that’s where the Mustangs won the game, with a lopsided 30 tries and 21 makes.
Four Grizzlies scored in double figures, with Holman leading the way with 18 points. Boshey-Wilkerson’s last-second trey bumped him up to second on the list with 13, followed by Rutchasky with 12 and Sheffer with 11.