SECTIONS: St. Louis County . City of Duluth . Sports . Lake Superior College . DECC
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Looking back at recent Lake Superior Conference home games against Grand Rapids and Cloquet, Hermantown boys basketball coach Andy Fenske said he was very pleased with how three of the four halves went for his team in the two games.
“In the second half against Rapids, the boys found a spark and went out and played with a sense of urgency that we hadn't seen in a while,” he said of the 80-63 loss. “Unfortunately, it was just too little too late by then.”
That sense of urgency came out again in a 68-57 loss against Cloquet, one of the favorites in Section 7AAA, when the Hawks trailed only 32-28 at the half.
“We came out hot right out of the gates and there were so many encouraging things that we witnessed,” Fenske said of Cloquet matchup. “We ended up falling short, but the effort and intensity that we played with made it feel that we have a spark in us and are taking strides in the right direction.
“In terms of play from our guys, we're continuing to get some great things out of Alex Schott, Ben Sundland and Sawyer Senst. Those three have been a consistent rock for us in all 17 games so far. Where we've had some other highlights has been from Blake Sundland and Landon Burg these past few games. Those two guys are stepping up and helping out on the defensive end. Statistically speaking they're not the ones who are going to be at the forefront of any category, but they're going to continue to provide valuable minutes when they're out there.”
Hermantown (3-15) visits Grand Rapids on Thursday.
Hawks girls to host Grand Rapids, Duluth Marshall
Hermantown girls basketball coach Eric Borndal said he was proud of his team’s performances in a pair of games decided in the final seconds of regulation play last week.
The Hawks (12-6) lost to Superior 63-60 on Tuesday and rebounded with a 66-65 road win at Mesabi East on Thursday.
“These were very important games as we head into the late part of our season, as we learn from our mistakes and hope to make a strong push come playoff time,” said Borndal. “In both first halves we played some of our best basketball. We need to be able to put together two halves and it will be really interesting to see how good we can be.”
Borndal said it’s been fun to watch senior captains Annika Nelson, Izzy Wotjtsiak and Hope Kohanski contribute key baskets to help support the scoring of Bailey Hermanson, Olivia Johnson and Aurora Decker.
“It is clear that we play at our best when we share the ball and have multiple threats on offense,” said Borndal. “The mental toughness of our seniors was shown the past month as we have played 10 games on the road in a row.”
Hermantown will host Grand Rapids (2-18) on Thursday and high-powered Duluth Marshall (13-6) on Friday. Tip-off is at 7:15 both nights.
The Hawks are 4-1 at home.
“It will be a fun challenge, as we look forward to starting February while playing at home.” Borndal said of the back-to-back Lake Superior Conference games.
The Hilltoppers are led by freshman guard-forward Chloe Johnson, one of the top-ranked college prospects in the U.S. in the Class of 2028.
7A girls hockey semis Saturday
Top-seeded Proctor-Hermantown (18-6-1) will face No. 4-seed Moose Lake Area (11-14-0) in a Section 7A high school girls hockey semifinal at 1 p.m. Saturday in Cloquet.
No. 2 seed North Shore (20-3-2) will face No. 3 Rock Ridge (11-11-4) in the second semifinal matchup at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Cloquet.
The 7A championship game is scheduled for Feb. 12 at 7 p.m., also in Cloquet.
The Mirage and Storm skated to a 3-3 overtime tie last Thursday night at Mars Lakeview Arena in Duluth.
Proctor-Hermantown is led by team senior forward Jane Ekstrom (18-9=27), junior forward Mya Gunderson (11-16=27), freshman forward Ella Kaups (9-11=20), sophomore defenseman Avery Milbridge (5-9=14) and senior goaltender Neelah McLeod (15-6-1, 1.93 GAA, .931 SVS%, 8 shutouts).
Proctor-Hermantown is 6-1-1 in its last eight games.
Mirage Notebook – P-H has not lost two games in a row this season and has enjoyed six- and three-game winning streaks … The Mirage were 0-0-0 against 7A opponents during the regular season, defeating Moose Lake Area 4-0 on Nov. 19 in Proctor, Rock Ridge 7-0 on Nov. 26 in Virginia, Hibbing-Chisholm 9-0 on Dec. 10 in Hermantown, Cloquet-Esko-Carlton 2-1 on Dec. 21 in Proctor and 2-0 on Jan. 2 in Cloquet, and the tie against North Shore on Jan. 30 … The 29-player Mirage roster includes six seniors, 11 juniors, seven sophomores and five freshmen.
