ELY — The Ely girls basketball team got a lesson in the saying “what goes around comes around” on Tuesday, with Duluth Marshall dominating the Wolves 84-37 at the Memorial High School gym.
A week earlier, the Wolves completely destroyed Fond du Lac 95-15 and humbled Greenway/Nashwauk-Keewatin 60-38, outscoring those opponents by a combined 102 points.
But the tables were turned on Tuesday as the Class AA Hilltoppers took on their first Class A squad of the season and wasted little time setting the tone. Hot from three-point range and feeding off an aggressive press, Duluth Marshall quickly raced to a 23-6 lead just four minutes into the contest. Three triples by Ruby Lowe were the only points the Wolves had from the field for the first nine-and-a-half minutes until Lydia Shultz connected on a cutter down the lane to make the score 36-13. By then the handwriting was on the wall as the Hilltoppers surged to a 59-20 halftime lead. The second half was more competitive as benches for both squads got in playing time, with Duluth Marshall holding just a 25-18 advantage en route to the 47-point win. Lowe was the only player scoring in double figures for the Wolves with four treys and 14 points.
Hill City-Northland
A Saturday road game against Hill City-Northland was a much different story, a nail-biter that saw Ely pull out a last-second 61-59 win.
Three-point lovers got a feast in this one, as the Wolves took and made more shots from beyond the arc than inside it, and the Storm was making plenty of threes as well. With both teams dialed in from long range early, no lead was comfortable. Lowe, Zoe Mackenzie, and Lydia Shultz dropped in three pointers to spark an opening 13-5 run, but an HCN trey narrowed the lead to 20-17. Shultz gave the Wolves their first double-digit lead of the contest at 30-20 with a trifecta and a traditional bucket-and-one three-point play with 6:11 remaining in the half, and a three-pointer by Lillie O’Neill sent the Wolves to the locker room with a 36-27 halftime edge.
The Storm had the sharper shooting eyes opening the second half, going on a 14-4 roll to take a 41-40 lead. Lowe immediately struck back with a trey to put the Wolves back on top, but it was a slugfest the rest of the way, with HCN poised for victory with 12.4 seconds left to play, possession of the ball, and a 59-58 lead.
But Penke swooped in to tie up an HCN player on the inbounds pass, with the possession arrow favoring Ely. With 10.9 seconds left, O’Neill set a screen and then rolled to the top of the key, taking the sideline inbounds pass from Gretta Lowe and draining a wide-open three-pointer with 8.9 seconds remaining. The Storm took a time-out with six seconds left, but the Wolves stole the inbound pass and ran out the clock for the win.
Ely took 34 shots from three-point-land and drained 13, a lofty 38-percent average. Lowe had six of those and led the Wolves with 19 points. Shultz scored 15, O’Neill cashed in 14, and Penke had a double-double with ten points and 14 rebounds.