Bigfork v. Cotton Photos are Downloaded on New Site

The photos from last night's JV and Varsity game against the Cotton Cardinals have been downloaded and are ready for viewing and purchasing at jgoblephotography.photostockplus.com

The JV won their first game of the season with the final score being 37-12. Lots of girls got to play, including four eighth graders. They all played well and will be fun to watch as the season progresses.

The Varsity started off a little rusty but shook it off pretty easily once they got into the flow of the game. No one was in foul trouble for a change and lots of girls got to play in the varsity game as well. The score at half-time was 63-13 so the starters only played two minutes once the second half began. Andi and one of the players from Cotton went after a loose ball and Andi happened to roll over her as they went for the ball....she ended up bleeding profusely so the game had to be stopped and she was sent to the ER and received 5 stitches under her chin. A little bit later Shelby and another Cotton player were fighting for possession of the ball and that girl ended up with a bloody nose...Lise did a flip on the floor going after a loose ball and ended up with floor burn on her shoulder....so with Megan hitting her 1,000 points and the action on the court, it was an eventful night!

The girls were hoping to hit the century mark but it will have to come another time as the girls off the bench tried their hardest and came close, but couldn't quite get there. They did a good job of holding Cotton to only 11 points in the second half though!

Here are some more pictures from the game that you can see on the other site also.

Megan Powell Hits 1,000 Milestone as Junior

What a memorable night December 2, 2008 will be for junior Megan Powell and her family! A huge win over Cotton to start the season and hitting her 1,000 point milestone....I think she had her own cheering section as the Powell family is pretty big and very close. I think the girls were a little nervous to start and started off playing a little rusty but certainly came out of that mode pretty quick. They have a knack for staying calm and getting the job done.

Megan hit her 1,000 on a layup near the end of the first half....she did sit the bench a little bit because she had two fouls so it seemed like it took forever for her to hit that mark! Everytime she missed a shot the crowd replied with an "awwww". It was very touching to see her reaction after the shot and the response from her teammates, the head coach and of course from her father who was also on the bench taking stats...it was a magical night in many ways!

So for her anxiously awaiting big brother at college in Bowling Green, Ohio, here is a shot of your baby sister hitting her 1,000 point shot and a few others....

Minnesota Basketball News November Issue

Maybe I'm just impatient this year because Shelby is a senior, but it seems like everything is being mailed later this year! The Breakdown, first issue of Minnesota Basketball News and still waiting for Kevin Anderson's Minnesota Yearbook to become available! That's my favorite one too! Oh well, something to look forward to....

And the first issue of Minnesota Basketball News came on my birthday and I won a sweepstakes on my birthday too, so not a bad day!

So....onto the current MBN issue. Here is what is in it that pertains to Bigfork this year:

Minnesota Basketball News' Girls' Polls

Class 1A

1. Ada-Borup
2. Barnum
3. New Life Academy
4. Adrian
5. New Ulm Cathedral
6. Murray County Central
7. BIGFORK
8. Brandon-Evansville
9. Ashby
10. Red Lake County Central
11. Cedar Mountain-Comfrey
12. Granada-Huntley-EC
13. Sebeka
14. Rushford-Peterson
15. Grand Meadow
16. Red Rock Central
17. Fulda
18. Hancock
19. Nashwauk-Keewatin (Section 7A)
20. Parkers Prairie

The Top 100 - State's Elite on the Court

They have 24 Centers, 23 Forwards and 53 Guards

There are only two from Section 7A-

Shelby Goble, Bigfork (5-6 Sr.) Will move to point guard this year. and
Charlotte Overbye, Mountain Iron-Buhl (5-8 So.) Emerged as a big scorer.

Wrenshalls' Andrea Gould is one of the Centers
Barnum's Katrina Newman is another Guard

On the preview page of Class 1A - Section 7 they have the following

The Starting 5

Teams- 1. BIGFORK 2. Nashwauk-Keewatin 3. Mountain Iron-Buhl 4. Floodwood 5. Chisholm
Players- Shelby Goble, Bigfork, Andrea Gould, Wrenshall, Essa Jacobsen, Cook County, Charlotte Overbye, Mountain Iron-Buhl and Risa Valentini, Chisholm

Coaches:

M. Ciochetto, Chisholm 512-233
G. Powell, BIGFORK 261-160
R. Scheuring, Cook 198-138
D. Battaglia, Carlton 163-128
J. Buffeta, MIB 155-92

They also have an action shot of Shelby on the page under the caption: "Top Teams have strong junior group"

Greg's Coaching Outlook: "We are looking for another successful year with four returning starters who averaged double figures in scoring. We should have good quickness and shooting. We have played good defense in the past and expect it to continue. We will need to develop depth, but we have some good young girls coming up." - Greg Powell

Quote: "This section should be led by Bigfork, Nashwauk-Keewatin and Floodwood. They return the nucleus of last year's team, which made it to the semifinals." Jeff Buffeta, Mountain Iron-Buhl

Minnesota FURY AAU Club Girls Power Rankings

The Minnesota Fury AAU club has listed their Power Rankings for all classes and have Bigfork ranked as #7 in their top 15. There are no other Section 7A teams listed in their top 15. Way to go Lady Huskies!

Bigfork Lady Huskies 2008-2009 Schedule

This is the girls' schedule for the 2008-2009 season:

* Section 7A game
** Northern Lakes Conference game

Dec. 2 - v. Cotton*
Dec. 4 - at Tower-Soudan*
Dec. 8 - at Littlefork**
Dec. 11- v. Chisholm*
Dec. 15- v. Orr*
Dec. 18- v. Cherry*
Dec. 29-31 - Hibbing Holiday Tournament
Jan. 5 - at Cook*
Jan. 8 - at Northland Remer**
Jan. 12- v. Northome-Kelliher*
Jan. 15- v. Deer River**
Jan. 19- at Nashwauk-Keewatin**
Jan. 22- at Blackduck
Jan. 26- at Babbitt-Embarrass*
Jan. 29- v. Northland Remer**
Feb. 5 - at Greenway**
Feb. 9 - at Deer River**
Feb. 12- at Hill City**
Feb. 16- v. Nashwauk-Keewatin**
Feb. 19- v. Littlefork**
Feb. 23- v. Ely* (Parent's Night)
Feb. 26- at Mountain Iron-Buhl*

Good Luck Lady Huskies!!!

Andi & Shelby with "The Jaguars"

Another fun picture that Shelby and Andi loved! They were both playing together for their AAU team the Gym Rats and we were in Menomonie, WI for the Great Lakes Shootout. The girls from this team were from the Chicago area and their rooms were right next to ours at the hotel. Of course Shelby, not being afraid to introduce herselve, had a blast talking and visiting with the girls in their rooms and listening and dancing to some really "cool" new rap music. I remember one was Mike Jonesssss....or something like that. Anyway, they had a blast and is a memory they will never forget....there was only one white girl on the team and her name was Katy...she would just take her time down the court not playing much defense at all and when she got her hands on the ball would shoot a "3" like it was nothing! She was quite the character!

This other picture of Shelby and Andi (taken the same weekend) is one of my favorites of them together...you can tell it was summer time because they both are nice and tan! Shelby's freckles come out and Andi's cheeks are a little red from working hard at the resort everyday...

Going Through Old Pictures

We have been sorting through a TON of old pictures so Shelby can make her senior page for next year's Annual. Of course many of them have to do with basketball and it brings back so many memories of fun times and it is so fun to look back at those little chubby cheeks and braces that most of them had...I'm glad I found this picture because I wanted to take a picture of the four girls during their last season of basketball together and have the two at Shelby's grad party.

This picture was taken after the Region 7 Pacesetter tournament in Eveleth. It was the 8th Grade tournament as Shelby was in 8th grade and of course everyone else on the team was in 7th grade. They had been in these tournaments since 5th grade and after many, many of them, finally took the Championship and were headed to the State Championship tournament in St. Cloud that summer. It was a fun time and one that they had worked so hard for over the years.

New Site to Purchase JAG Action Shots

As many of you know, I take a ton of action shots during the girls and boys' basketball games. You will see me all over the place with my camera in hand trying to get good action shots. I don't necessarily try and focus on any certain individuals (well sometimes I have to focus on my kid), but try to get good, close-up action shots of any athlete that is playing on the floor! Of course I am partial to Bigfork athletes, but there have been times when I have gotten a really good shot of an opposing team's athlete and no one to show it too!

I decided that this year I will post action shots from EVERY one of the girls and boys' games that I attend this year, including away games AND including the C-squad teams from Bigfork. I am usually at many of the tournaments of the younger kids and will post those also.

If you are interested in purchasing action shots from your athlete's games, then please visit the following site and look for the appropriate folder....there will be a main Girls Basketball folder with sub-folders of each game and the same with the boys, Boys Basketball with sub-folders from the games that I attend.

The site is: jgoblephotography.photostockplus.com

Please pass along the site to your family and friends that don't live close enough to attend the games...hopefully they will enjoy seeing photos of your child in action!

A Great Book to Pass Along

I read a coach's profile on Kevin J. Anderson's Girls Basketball Recruit site a couple of weeks ago and the coach said his favorite book was "Blind Your Ponies" by Stanley Gordon West. Of course me being the curious one, went to Amazon's site and found the book, read the ratings, and ordered it right on the spot!

I received it in the mail on a Saturday at noon and finished reading the 574 page book early Monday morning....it was wonderful! Could be about any VERY small town in rural America with a struggling basketball program with small numbers. A heartwarming story that any basketball junkie should read... even has a little romance going on! You don't want to stop turning the pages to see what happens and you don't want it to end.

It would be a nice Christmas present to anyone that loves basketball and loves to read!

The Breakdown's Preseason Rankings

The 2008 Volume #7 of The Breakdown found it's way to my mailbox today! I quickly paged through to their Team Profiles and Section previews and of course to see who was on their Fab 15 List for Class A Girls Basketball in the State of Minnesota.

Fab 15 Team Rankings

1. Ada-Borup (won state championship game last year against Barnum)
2. New Life Academy (made the state tournament last year and lost to Barnum in semi's)
3. Barnum (took second last year at state tournament)
4. Cedar/Mtn. Comfrey
5. BIGFORK!!!!
6. Fulda (won state championship in 2006)
7. Hancock (took second place in state in 2006)
8. Adrian
9. Brandon-Evansville
10. Sebeka
11. Rushford-Peterson
12. New Ulm Cathedral
13. Murray Co. Central
14. Nashwauk-Keewatin (our friendly neighbors and rivals)
15. Mountain Iron Buhl (another Section 7A rival)

Section 7A Preview

1. BIGFORK
2. Mountain Iron Buhl
3. Nashwauk Keewatin
4. Floodwood
5. Cook

Top Players in Section 7A

Charlotte Overbye, MIB
Shelby Goble, Bigfork
Megan Powell, Bigfork
Essa Jacobson, Cook County
Emily Youngstrom, Cook
Alissa Autio, Floodwood
Lindsey Kingsbury, Nashwauk

The Skinny: Bigfork is looking for its first section title and they seem to have everything it would take to get it done this year. They have four returning starters who all had several double-figure scoring games last year: Shelby Goble, Annalise Klamm, Adrianna Ivanovic and Megan Powell.

It's the Overbye show in Mt. Iron-Buhl, as three (and possibly even four) sisters contribute mightily to the Rangers. Sophomore Charlotte Overbye led the conference in scoring (23.9 ppg) and was honorable mention All-State, Senior McKenzie Overbye and Junior Ashley Overbye combined to average double-digits.

Nashwauk has a talentd group of juniors who made a run to the section semi-finals last year and come back with more experience. Floodwood also has its entire starting lineup back from a section semifinal visit.

Bigfork defeated Nashwauk three times last year (67-49, 46-35 & 53-47) and MIB twice, defeating them in the quarter-final game by 24 points. The girls were able to keep their top scorer, Charlotte Overbye, to 10 points in the game.

Let's get started already!

Update

The girls are anxiously awaiting their first practice on November 17th and are very excited about this year's season! We lost one starter in Jenna Beckner and it looks like that spot will be filled with Theresa Stewart, as she did very well in that spot in tournaments and summer league this past summer. We also lost sixth person off the bench Rachel Kacon who had a knack for hitting the 3. Both went off to college this Fall and Jenna is currently playing ball for Mesabi Range College in Virginia. We wish them both the best and are sure Jenna will represent Bigfork well on the college basketball court! Go get em' Jenna!

That would make the starting five: Sr. Shelby Goble, Jr. Megan Powell, Jr. Adrianna Ivanovic, Jr. Annalise Klamm and Jr. Theresa Stewart. The only other senior is Brittany Stewart. There are plenty of girls to come off the bench again this year but it will be interesting to see who will be the sixth and seventh person off the bench. It will be weird to actually see an "older" lineup this year as Bigfork has had such a young lineup for years....

The girls have new uniforms, new warmups and will have new shooting shirts for this year too! It will be exciting to see them run out the first game with everything new on. The girls love the new uniforms and the material is different that they have had in the past, it is like the collegiate uniforms.

I'm also anxiously awaiting the new Breakdown issue, Minnesota Basketball News first issue and Kevin Anderson's Minnesota Yearbook to see where the girls are ranked and the preseason picks for section favorites and top players. That will be interesting to see. The girls have only lost 6 games the last two years and their QRF on Minnesota Scores was pretty high last year. I should receive the Breakdown by Monday hopefully as they are being mailed out tomorrow....

I don't want to put a photo up of the new uniforms until they run out from their first game but will the day after that. Their first game will be December 2, 2008 against Cotton. Megan Powell only needs 11 points to hit her 1,000 points and I think she will easily accomplish that milestone on the 2nd! That will be a great way to start off the new season! I'll be sure and post pictures of that also.

Once I receive the issues that I described above, I will post the info as it pertains to the 2008-2009 Lady Huskies basketball team!!! Can't wait for the season to begin!

Sweet 16 Bracket

Pacesetter finally put up the brackets for this weekends' Sweet 16 tournament. Bigfork will be playing Becker which was ranked No. 2 in AAA last year and won the AAA state championship the year prior. However, they lost the Mastey twins to graduation and they both will be playing for UofM next Fall. In total they lost 7 seniors of which four were starters that I know of.....don't know who the fifth starter was. Other key losses were Shelly Stemper and Chelsea Lieser. Looks like two of their seniors this year will be 6' an 6'1" tall.
The bracket is as follows:

Woodbury v. New Prague at 11:30
Cedar Mtn/Comfrey v. Eden Valley-Watkins at 11:30
Hayfield v. Princeton at 1:00
New Life Academy v. Centennial at 1:00
Howard Lake-W-W v. DeLaSalle at 1:00
Lakeville North v. Adrian at 1:00
Bloomington Kennedy v. New London-Spicer at 1:00
Bigfork v. Becker at 2:30

Bigfork, Adrian, Hayfield and New Life Academy are the single A schools this year. The girls had practice tonight with Shelby playing for the first time since her surgery. Hopefully she will be near full strength by this weekend! It will be her last tournament at St. Ben's in St. Cloud...I can't even start to count how many times this group of girls has played at St. Ben's! This will be the first of many endings for Shelby this year....or I guess I could be more positive and say the first of many great things to come her senior year!!!

Pacesetter Sweet 16 Here We Come!!!

Coach Powell received a call from the Pacesetter offices today inviting Bigfork to the prestigious Sweet 16 tournament in early August.....they invite four teams from all four classes. This year the original invites for single A were Ada-Borup, Adrian, Barnum and New Life Academy. One of the teams must have dropped out and Bigfork was invited.

The girls were actually invited last year and played in the Sweet 16 tournament last August. It was a very tough tournament but a good experience for the girls. The way I understand it, they invite the teams that Pacesetter believes will be the top four teams in each class next season with a good shot at making it to the State tournament....either way, it is an honor for Bigfork to be invited!

Congratulations to the Lady Huskies team and coaching staff!

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.

Huskies Trounce the Rangers in Second Tournament Game

Well, well, well.....so the Rangers thought they were going to just come in and kick some Huskie fannies? I DON'T THINK SO!!!! Rumors were out there from a parent of one of their players that they were going to do that and well, it just didn't happen! I think you can see by the pictures whose fannies got kicked....

The girls came out hungry and determined and took it to the Rangers on defense! Wow was it a fun game to watch and THE best game of the day. Well, we didn't see the Nashwauk/Ely game but it was the best one after that! Another balanced scoring attack by the Huskies and great passing and rebounding...Adrianna was a rebounding fool! She was possessed!! What great communication between them all with great TEAM play! They are just so much fun to watch and it's fun to hear comments from spectator's after....OMG they are fast, WOW, they are good, and on and on...people shaking their heads after some of their plays....

I think Floodwood just might be a little nervous about Thursday night's game! Megan was top scorer tonight with 15 (and a jammed finger to boot), Adrianna and Jenna both had 13, Shelby had 10, Lise 8 and Rachel 6 with two KEY three-pointers.

You can see by the pictures how relaxed they were before the game and how intense they played during....they kept MIB's top scorer Charlotte Overbye to 6 points at the half and I think she only ended up with 10 on the night. Will have to check the box scores if any newspaper will decide to cover them! The crowd and girls got a laugh before the game when Lise went to shake the MIB coach's hand, then the refs and then her own coach Greg! She realized what she did as she was shaking his hand! It was funny and lightened up any tension the girls might have had...

The girls will now play Floodwood at UMD next Thursday at 7:45pm right after the Nashwauk/Wrenshall game at 6:00pm. That game should be an interesting game to watch also. I think Nashwauk will give Wrenshall a game....we'll see.

Hope to see many more fans in the crowd next Thursday! Great job girls! AGAIN!!