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The Northland Lady Eagles returned to the hardwood with three returning starters adding valuable experience to the team along with the leadership of long-time head coach Jenny Kovall. What will be missed is the ball handling and defense of Sierra Likens who graduated last spring.

The ladies got their 2011-'12 season underway Tuesday night as they traveled to Blackduck to take on the Drakes in a non-conference match-up.

The girls battled hard for the entire 36 minutes, closing the gap in the second half to only a pair of buckets. Poor shooting at the charity stripe and in the paint was the tale of the tape and at the final buzzer the girls were just shy of a win at 57-61.

"We have a lot of room to grow with such a young group, I see potential, it is just going to take us a little time to put all the pieces together," commented Coach Kovall.

Kori Dunham led the Lady Eagle offense with 24 points and seven steals. Lizzie Procopio followed with 13 points, eight rebounds and a pair of takeaways. Abby Burch came away with double-double effort of 10 points and 10 rebounds. Chloe Wolske led the defense with eight steals.

Thursday night marked the home opener for the Lady Eagles as they hosted the Cromwell Cardinals. Poor inside shooting again led to the girls falling behind early leading to the final tally 35-66.

"It's hard for me to believe we missed 21 shots in the paint - to say the least we were very cold," said Coach Kovall. "We matched up well with them but could not buy a bucket."

Dunham again led the offense with 14 points. Burch carded her second double-double in as many games with a 13 point, 13 rebound effort. Procopio was busy under the boards with a team leading 14 rebounds and five takeaways.

"The girls played extremely hard, we have a short bench right now with three players out, it took a toll on the girls with Cromwell having an experienced deep bench," concluded Coach Kovall.

The Lady Eagles will be looking to put a mark in the win column and will dress those three players missed in the previous game against Cromwell. They will face their first conference opponent tonight (Tuesday) hosting Deer River in a 7:15 p.m. varsity game time.

In the third game of a four game home stand the girls host Littlefork-Big Falls on Thursday and Floodwood on Monday.

Keep track of the Lady Eagle schedule online in our calendar of events at www.pineconepresscitizen.com[[In-content Ad]]

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