Prep report: Mountain Iron-Buhl girls fend off road challenge
Dec. 22—Senior guard Hali Savela finished one assist shy of a triple-double on Friday afternoon, Dec. 22, as the Mountain Iron-Buhl Rangers handed the Northome/Kelliher Mustangs their first loss of the season, 81-70, in a matchup between two ranked teams in Kelliher, Minnesota.
Savela settled for an impressive double-double featuring 18 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists. Anna Neyens scored a team-high 21 points, while teammates Gabby Lira and Jordan Zubich each finished with 15.
Savela and Lira led the team on the defensive end with three steals and four blocks, respectively.
MIB led by only two points at halftime (42-40), before outscoring the Mustangs by a margin of 39-30 in the second half despite Zubich and Lira fouling out midway through the second half.
The Lumberjacks' unbeaten streak improved to eight on Friday, Dec. 22 with a convincing road victory over St. Francis.
Ava Carlson led the balanced attack with 16 points for Cloquet. Joining her in double figures were Lelani Fonoti (14), Carly Johnson (14), Kiley Issendorf (12) and Quinn Danielson (10). Danielson, Johnson and Issendorf combined for six of the team's eight 3-pointers. Nattie Butler and Fonoti added two more.
The winning effort didn't come easily, as Cloquet used a dominant second-half effort to blow past the Saints after leading by only one point at the half.
A red-hot shooting performance by Bailey Zagelmeyer powered Hermantown to victory on Friday, Dec. 22 over Mesabi East.
Zagelmeyer drained seven 3-pointers for a team-high 21 points in the win. Teammate Bailey Hermanson knocked down shots from long range as she poured in 13 points for the Hawks.
Mesabi East's Marta Forsline paced all scorers with 24 points in the loss, while Allie Lamppa fell just short of double figures with nine points.
The Agates snapped a six-game losing streak on Thursday night after using a second-half comeback to narrowly edge the Rebels on their home court.
Two Harbors outscored MLWR 29-19 after halftime, as Rachel Bopp helped lead the scoring surge with a team-high 22 points, while Trinity Giddings added 11.
Shannon Granquist (14) and Madison Wasche (12) led the Rebels in the back-and-forth contest.
The Bluestreaks shrugged off a slow start in their matchup against the Bluejackets on Friday before coming alive in the second half and escaping with a victory on their home court.
Tresa Baumgard was the go-to scorer for Chisholm after dropping a team-high 16 points. Avaya Fontaine and Olivia Pascuzzi added 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Jorie Anderson led the way for Hibbing with 15 points, while Tara Hertling finished with 10.
The Hawks lost on their home ice for the first time since January 2022 as the Irish scored twice in the third period to break a 1-1 tie.
After more than half the game passed scoreless, Bradford Skytta gave Hermantown the lead at the 9:03 mark of the second period, but Eli Lewis tied it for Rosemount about five minutes later and Christian Garrity gave the visitors a lead 53 seconds into the third frame.
Dane Callaway made 29 saves for Hermantown (4-1-2).
The Hawks had won 17 home games in a row since a Jan. 29, 2022 loss to Maple Grove.
Brant Tiedeman scored a pair of goals for the Wolverines and assisted one other as they downed Minneapolis on Friday at Parade Ice Garden.
Tiedeman opened the scoring at 7:49 of the second period, then assisted a Levi Flatley goal only 19 seconds later. Minneapolis pulled one back soon after, but Tiedeman and Kasey Lamppa only added to Rock Ridge's lead in the third.
Ryan Rothfork made 13 saves for Rock Ridge.
