Bigfork takes Championship at Walker Tournament

Bigfork took the Championship at the 12th Annual Walker Tournament for the second year in a row! I predicted Bigfork v. Bemidji, but Bemidji was missing 8 varsity girls to AAU tournaments so they ended up playing Crosby-Ironton in the title game.

Bigfork was set to play Moose Lake in the first round, but they did not show up so they ended up playing Walker. International Falls was set to play Walker but they forfeited their first game as they were late. Walker started with only 6 girls and ended the game with about 11. Bigfork took the lead right away and actually played 5 JV girls for half of the game. The JV girls played awesome and actually scored alot! It was fun to see them get to play and play well. The final score was 56-15.

Bigfork then played Frazee and won that game with a score of 38-29. They played a tough Pequot Lakes team and won that game with the final score being 50-34. Shelby was hitting from everywhere that game and she and Adrianna did not miss a free throw that whole game!

All of the girls played so well today and made it so much fun to watch! They are all so unselfish and is why I think they are so successful as a team. It will be another fun season this Fall!

The championship game was against Crosby-Ironton and the score at the half was 20-11, Bigfork. Crosby came out of the half and closed the gap by one and it was back and forth the rest of the game. However, Crosby did have a one hour rest before the title game while Bigfork had to play back to back games from the semi-final to the title game with a 10 minute break. This is actually what happened last year also. They were pretty wore out but stuck with the game and never panicked. I have to say that is one of their strengths....they always stay calm and confident. The final score of the title game ended up being 43-36, Bigfork!!! Once again the Champions of the Walker tournament.....15 teams this year because Moose Lake didn't show up. Pretty good for a single A team! Walker, Pequot and Crosby are all AA schools and have very good programs.

Here are two pictures of the girls after winning the Championship! Way to go girls!!! You are amazing to watch play!

Walker Tournament Bracket

This Saturday, June 28th, the girls will be playing in the annual Walker tournament. They took Third Place the summer of 2006 and First Place last year so it will be interesting to see how they do this year. By looking at the bracket, I think that they have a good shot at getting to the championship game again this year. My prediction is Bemidji v. Bigfork playing for the title, but you just never know what will happen!

Last year the girls drew Bemidji as their first game and Bemidji had a huge bench with very tall girls. Bigfork actually beat them by 30 points but I know they have a young girl that has been playing alot of AAU ball this summer with an elite team, North Tartan. She is raising some eyebrows so it will be interesting to see how the girls match up with her. I believe she will be a sophomore next season and her name is Kayla Hirt. I'm excited to see her play....Adrianna, Megan and Teresa will have to make her work hard!

Anyway, the bracket is as follows:

Nevis v. Crosby-Ironton at 8am
Bemidji v. Pine River-Backus at 8am
Fosston v. Park Rapids at 9am
Remer v. Lake of the Woods at 9am
Walker v. International Falls at 10am
Pequot Lakes v. Cook at 10am
Frazee v. Blackduck at 11am
Bigfork v. Moose Lake-Willow River at 11am

Good Luck girls!

Bigfork 7-1 in Summer League

Bigfork defeated Nashwauk and Deer River last night at summer league, both by 20 + pt. margin. They are continuing to play well together and the younger girls that are coming to league are getting some important playing time and are improving each week.

The girls play in the Walker tournament this coming Saturday and will play Moose Lake-Willow River at 11:00 am. It is a 16 team tournament and it looks to me that Bigfork will have another good shot at getting in the championship game. The girls took first place last year and of course hope to take first again but will probably have to get through Bemidji to win. Who knows what will happen and which teams will be at full strength though. Should be a fun tournament again!

Interestingly after last week's drama with the ref stopping the Grand Rapids/Bigfork game, Rapids did not show up last night and it sounds like they have quit the league. That is very unfortunate as they leave the other teams hanging. Greenway was kind enough to split up their team and make two so the games went on. That was very gracious of them!

Summer League Happenings

Last night was the third week of summer league and Bigfork was set to play Grand Rapids in the first game and Greenway in the second game. However, the game against Grand Rapids did not get finished because of an altercation with a couple of Grand Rapids players and the ref. They were unhappy with a call before the halftime break and at the start of the second half decided they would say something to him about another call they didn't like. Words were exchanged between a couple of girls and the ref and he called the game over at that point. Bigfork happened to be ahead 27-26 at that time so I guess Bigfork won? It was a good game up to that point anyway! I can understand being upset at calls because we certainly have been before, but I thought a couple of the girls from Rapids were disrespectful in that they wouldn't let it go and said things that shouldn't have been said. Unfortunately they did not have a coach there and that might have made a difference in that at least the game wouldn't have been called off and the girls would have gotten to play the rest of the game. That is what summer league is for, to play ball. It's not a game that is going to affect a team's record or anything....oh well. Lighten up people!

The second game against Greenway was a blow out and ended up 59-33 with many of the younger girls getting to play and doing quite well! It was fun to see them playing and enjoying the game.

The girls are 5-1 right now in summer league play, their only loss coming to Deer River by 2 points.

Next week they play Nashwauk and Deer River so it will be a couple of tough games and we will probably be without Lise as she pulled a groin muscle at the Barnum tournament and it flared up again last night. She will probably sit out next week to save up for the Walker tournament on June 28th.

Bigfork defeats the Barnum Bombers and take 2nd Place

The girls were a little disappointed when they saw the bracket and had to play Barnum in their first game of the tournament. It proved to be a GREAT game that went back and forth and Bigfork ended up winning the game by 1 point!

They then had to play their conference rival Nashwauk and came out a winner in that game by 3 points...another great game with many lead changes. The girls prevailed though and ended up having to play a very intimidating Duluth East team in the Championship game. Duluth East is a 4A school so they had a bench of 12 girls and all were big. Three seniors got to the tournament just in time for the championship game so they had the advantage to start with three girls with fresh legs.

Bigfork came out looking pretty tired and played that way the first half scoring only one three pointer! The score at the half was 17-3. They came out better the second and came to within 6 points but kept fouling and Duluth East kept shooting and making their free throws. They are are a big, fast and very aggressive team that happened to shoot well also. The final score ended up being 34-17 in favor of Duluth East. If Bigfork would have played the first half more like the second half it would have been more of a game that's for sure!

The girls were happy with their second place finish (two years in a row) but more happy that they defeated Barnum in the first game and Nashwauk in the second game to get into the championship game.

Bigfork only had 8 girls, Shelby (sr), Megan, Lise, Andi and Teresa (jrs) and Carolyn (soph) and Danielle and Corissa both (freshman). Carolyn, Danielle and Corissa have not had varsity experience which made them a little nervous to start with! They all did good though!

Congratulations girls on your second place finish!

The Past & The Future

I had to post the two teams side by side....the one is of the girls that are on Bigfork Varsity now when they played in the 6th grade tournament at St. Ben's in St. Cloud. Shelby would have been the only 6th grader and Andi, Lise, Megan, Heidi, Katie, Ashley and Bridget were all in the 5th grade. So everyone is the same age in both pictures but Shelby who would have been one year older. Same place, same school, different teams five years apart! How's that for Lady Huskie basketball! It will be interesting to see what the future brings as Shelby enters her senior year with most of the same girls and how these girls do playing their first year on the C-Squad! Ironically, Rob Powell, who is the coach in the older picture will be their coach on the C-Squad team this year... wow~ brings back good memories and hopes of more good ones to come next year for both squads!

Gotta Love It!!

I was trying to get some good action/reaction shots of Cassie and boy did I hit the jackpot! The first picture you see, MIB #14 had twisted her arm but you are just seeing Cassie's reaction and immediately after her reaction and the ANGER on her face is just priceless! She was so mad she ended up elbowing her a little too hard and got a foul....oops! I just had to post these because they just crack me up....enjoy! Way to go Cassie!

5th Graders Pacesetters Experience a Fun One

Our little Lady Huskies made their first trek down to the St. Cloud Pacesetter tournament and had a fun experience....their first game was against top-seeded Crookston. Everyone knows they have a good basketball program there and had some very tall girls to boot!

The girls were a little intimidated and nervous in the big arena but played their hearts out. They lost to Crookston and then went on to play Staples-Motley in their second game of the day. They played much more confident and with more determination and it showed as it was a low scoring affair on both ends. They ended up losing 10-6 and then went on to play a Bigfork rival in Mountain Iron-Buhl. Unfortunately they lost that game but it was a closer game also and they played better as each game went on.

After the tournament they held their heads high and took some fun pictures that showed just how proud they were to be there in the tournament and how much fun they had...they were very proud of their new warmup suits and medals!

I'm sure this will be one of many tournaments this young group of girls will play in over the next few years.....it was very sentimental because the girls that are on the Bigfork varsity team right now were in this same tournament a few years ago and I took this group picture of the girls in pretty much the same spot as I did years ago. What fun memories we had and these girls will now have!

Here are miscellaneous pictures from the tournament....with more to come later in the day!!! Congratulations Little Lady Huskies on your accomplishments so far!!!

Bigfork 5th Grade Girls to play in Pacesetter State Tournament

The Bigfork 5th grade team will be playing in the Pacesetter State tournament in St. Cloud this Sunday with their first game against Crookston at 11:20. They qualified by winning the Section 7 Region tournament earlier this spring in Eveleth. I will be riding along with Doreen and Adrianna as their niece will be playing and will get some photos to post when I get home....

Good Luck to our Little Lady Huskies!

Summer League Is Here...but where is Summer?

Deer River started it's summer league last night with 6 teams this year. They are Deer River, Grand Rapids, Bigfork, Nashwauk-Keewatin, Northland-Remer and Greenway. Bigfork fared well as they won both games handily against Greenway by a 30 point margin and rival Nashwauk by 19 points. Greenway had a huge bench with 13 girls and Nashwauk had all their starters for next year. We were a little worried that we would even have 5 players but ended up with 8. Only three starters from last year were there as two key players were missing in action as they were either on vacation or attending family functions. All turned out well though and the younger girls got some good playing time! Things were a little rusty to start and lots of heavy breathing going on but the girls were still able to pull off two wins.

The next playdate is Tuesday, June 10th at 6:00 and 7:00 against two conference rivals in Deer River and Remer. I don't know how the other teams fared except that Grand Rapids was ahead of Deer River by about 16 only to have Deer River come from behind and only lose by 2 points!

I will keep the blog updated after each playdate....

A Northern Lights Birthday Weekend

Shelby and Adrianna had their first AAU tournament this weekend with the Northern Lights team out of Duluth. The tournament was held in St. Cloud and put on by the Comets AAU group.

There were eight teams and the girls ended up taking third place against some good competition. They won their first game against the Minneapolis Lady Lakers by 30 points, then lost to the MN Stars team by about 15, then beat an X-Factor team by 4 points to take third place.

They had 10 girls for the two games on Saturday evening and 8 girls for Sundays early game...Shelby and Andi were not too thrilled about the 8:00 am game, but they were troopers and were glad to be able to get on the road sooner.

I forgot my camera in the room the first night so only got a few pictures of the last game....don't know why I like the one picture with the girl in the way and Shelby in the background, but I do!

Shelby's 17th birthday was Sunday also and she got to see one of the best friends she's made through AAU ball at the tournament so she was thrilled about that! Their birthdays are one day apart so Chelsea's birthday was on Monday....here's are picture of the two acting like they've never been apart....they are so much alike it is scary!

Fun tournament and Shelby said she loved playing point guard again...got to play with one of the girls from the Wrenshall team that beat Bigfork in the section championship game and another girl that is on their rival team, Deer River. Everyone played well together and got along great! That's what I love about AAU!

Northern Lakes All Conference

Northern Lakes All Conference honors go to:

Bigfork: Jenna Beckner, Shelby Goble & Megan Powell, Hon. Mention: Adrianna Ivanovic and Annalise Klamm

Deer River: Lulu Seelye, Allie Benham, Chelsi Plate

Northland Remer: Lexi Putnam-Daniels, Kayla Heisler

Nashwauk-Keewatin: Lindsey Kingsbury, Elizabeth Sletton

Littlefork-Big Falls: Kelly Hams

Hill City: Hope VanZinderen

Congratulations girls!!

Beckner, Goble Make Mesabi Range Daily News All Area Team

Jenna Beckner and Shelby Goble both made the All Area Team for the Mesabi Range Daily News. Tomi McDonald, Sr., from Ely, MN was the Player of the Year.

Congratulations to both girls!

Mesabi East 8th Grade Tournament

The girls shocked everyone and took first place at the Mesabi East tournament in 2003. They demolished Indus, beat Mesabi East and then stunned Esko in the championship game!!! Nicolle and Jordan were in 8th grade at the time, Jenna 7th, Shelby 6th and Megan and Lise in 5th.

I remember a mother and a grandmother coming up to us after the tournament asking "Where IS Bigfork?" They couldn't believe they lost to Bigfork!!

McDonald's Hoops Camp

All four girls attended the McDonald's Hoops Camp at Vermillion College in Ely, MN in 2003. All came away with a ton of ribbons and three of the four main trophy awards. Shelby took the Playmaker Trophy, Lise the Hustle Trophy and Megan the Defense Trophy. This is a picture of Shelby, Paul McDonald (camp director), Lise, Adrianna and Megan. They had lots of fun!!

Chillin' after Saturday Ball

Saturday Ball for K-6 grade is a tradition at Bigfork...this is a picture of Shelby, Megan and Annalise after a "tough" Saturday practice!!! Shelby is in 5th, Megan and Annalise in 4th grade.

When They Were Young....

Here is an OLD picture of when Shelby was in 5th grade. This is the first tournament that this group of girls won first place in and was in Nashwauk. I remember the girls beating Nashwauk and another team handily and stunned Chisholm. They of course were crying after they lost to Bigfork, but our girls have had their share of tears also!! Especially at that young age. I plan on going through a ton of pictures amd posting many showing how these girls have progressed as a team since this little tournament that started it all. There are three girls in the picture that are not playing now. The girls in the picture are:

Top Row: Anne Boessel and Bridget Ferrier (each not playing anymore)
Middle: Coach Rob Powell (Megan's dad), Katie Lawrence (not playing), Annalise Klamm, Ashley Koppelmann and Adriana Ivanovic
Bottom: Megan Powell, Shelby Goble & Brittany Hoyt

I remember leaving this tournament feeling very proud of the girls and actually amazed at how well they played at that age. Also the fact that this was a 5th grade tournament and most of the girls were in 4th grade except for Shelby and Anne. Anne only played in a few tournaments and decided basketball wasn't for her. Because Shelby was the only girl in her grade that played ball this team always had to play at her grade so the majority of the team was playing up in every tournament that they entered. After this tournament a few parents got together and decided to form a little traveling team so they could enter tournaments over the spring and into the summer. They played for three years on this team. Many fun times were had by the girls and their parents over the next few years......more to come later....

Lady Huskies Lose to Wrenshall in Title Game

A disappointing ending to a game that everyone had been waiting for all year long...ever since their loss in the Section 7A Championship game last year to Chisholm. It was a good game and in fact the Huskies took a quick lead at 12-3 until they started getting saddled with foul trouble. Adrianna ended up with 3 early on and that hurt as she had to sit. Megan and Jenna also ended up with a couple each early on...

Wrenshall came back and had Bigfork down by 2 points at the halftime mark. The game was back and forth for quite a while until Adrianna had four fouls....she came back into the game and stole the ball to run in for the open layup and was called for carrying the ball!!!! A basket that could have changed the whole momentum of the game. Bigfork could not get a break and baskets would not go in as they had to start fouling Wrenshall and they went to the line. Wrenshall made their last 8 points on free throws to win the game 61-49. The game was a lot closer than the score eluded to.

The girls ended up with a season record of 26-3, almost identical to last year's 27-3. Indus did not have enough players this year to form a team so that game was cancelled, otherwise the record would have been 27-3 again this year.

The girls will still have a strong team next year as they will lose two seniors in starter, Jenna Beckner and Rachel Kacon, a three point specialist. Jenna was averaging over 14 ppg so her shoes will be tough to fill, but there are some talented younger girls that will work hard over the summer to get that position.

Megan Powell ended the year 11 points short of hitting her 1,000 points! That will be something to look forward to in the first game of the season next at home against Cotton. We will have ANOTHER 1,000 point club member within a span of 3 years making her the fourth girl from this present squad to make the club. That is quite an accomplishment for the team to boast about.

The girls ended up #7 on the final QRF for this season. It will be fun to keep up with the girls over the spring and summer and I will post any news and schedules regarding AAU tournaments, summer leagues, summer tournaments, etc.

Congratulations Lady Huskies to another fun and exciting year of basketball!!

Huskies Defeat Floodwood in Tourn Game #3

The girls defeated Floodwood in their third game of the Section 7A tournament games by a score of 74-57. There were four girls in double figures with Jenna 18, Adrianna 16, Shelby 14 and Teresa with 10. Lise had 9, Megan 5 and Rachel 2. The band and crowd were awesome again and added so much to the atmosphere! Thanks all!

The girls play Wrenshall for the highly anticipated Championship game!

QRF Changing Almost Daily

The Minnesota Scores website has been promptly updating the QRF rankings after each evening of games. The Lady Huskies have now moved up to the #7 spot at 131.9. Battle Lake is still in the #3 position but they lost the other night and are actually out of the tournaments now. It will be interesting to watch this week how it changes.