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The Northland Lady Eagles hosted a pair of games prior to the Christmas break. First was a conference match-up against the Nashwauk-Keewatin Spartans. Despite taking an early lead 24-7, youthful mistakes hurt the girls and trailed by three at halftime. Poor shooting from the charity stripe cost the ladies in the end as they fell to the Spartans 53-47.

"We started strong and took a nice lead, but we occasionally lose focus and that gets frustrating," commented head coach Jenny Kovall.

Despite fouling out with eight minutes left, Abby Burch put up 20 points and brought down six rebounds. Chloe Wolske added eight points and four take-aways.

"We've lost two games already this year due to poor free throw shooting, we do well with them in practice but we're having trouble carrying that over to game situations," concluded Coach Kovall.

Thursday night found the girls playing host to a much more experienced Pine River team. The girls would put two scorers in double figures, but it was not enough and the Tigers took the game 73-39.

"They are a solid veteran team that we aren't ready for as a whole. We did some positive things, but we really need more players to step up and score. Our defense is working hard but we need more offensive threats. Lack of experience and confidence is the culprit and hopefully that will improve as we progress through the season," said Coach Kovall.

"Abby had a lot of strong moves to the basket in the paint, but couldn't get the ball to drop. Chloe got herself to the line a number of times, which is great for a point guard, we just need to improve the free throw percentage for her."

Burch led the team scoring with 14 points and added eight boards. Wolske chipped in 11 points with six steals on defense.[[In-content Ad]]

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