Northern Lights 10th Grade Finishes 5th at AAU D II National Championships
The Northern Lights 10th grade team extended
its fine play from the spring into late July as they went 6-2 and finished as the Consolation Champions in the nineteen team Division II National Championships in Cincinnati, Ohio July 21-25. The tournament was extremely competitive and Northern Lights defeated several very good teams in route to their 5th place finish.
The girls finished 6th in the state during the Division I AAU Minnesota State Championships in May and earned the right to compete in the National Championships. Several members from that team were unable to attend for a variety of work, sports, and health related reasons. Five core members from that team Aleia Lupa (Northwestern HS), Katie Stark (Hayward HS), Lexie DeWall (Proctor HS), Kassidy Steen (Cloquet HS) and Dana Tekavec (Hinckley-Finlayson HS) were assisted by two players from the Northern Lights 9th grade team Chelsea Swatek (Cromwell HS) and Ellie Leadstrom (Superior HS). Ava Gonsorowski a 9th grader from Esko High School was also added to the roster. Sophomore Andrea Hakamaki (Cromwell HS) was unable to play due to a back and wrist injury but made the trip in support of her teammates.
The opening game of pool play on Tuesday, July 21st did not go well for the girls. They struggled putting the ball in the basket and it was clear that they were still trying to get accustomed to playing together and they fell to the Ohio Stars 36-17. Northern Lights had to find a way to shake off that opening game as they played two more games on Tuesday.
In game two against a very good Cincy Swish team Northern Lights had an excellent start to the game but found themselves in a back and forth game until the final seconds. Trailing by 2 points, Aleia Lupa hit a three point shot to give Northern Lights the lead. Clinging to that one point lead with 10 seconds remaining Lupa calmly knocked down two freethrows to push the lead to three at 40-37. The Swish were unable to get any kind of a shot up against the tough Northern Lights defense and the girls had earned their first win of the tournament.
The close win gave the girls some new found confidence and they were hitting on all cylinders versus the New Jersey Pride. Northern Lights started off the game hot and went on to win their final game of the day 60-33. All eight players contributed in a balanced scoring attack.
In their final game of pool play on Wednesday, July 22nd, Northern Lights faced a bigger, stronger and faster opponent in Florida Gulf Coast G Nation. They were led by a point guard who will likely be playing Division 1 college basketball in the Ivy League. However, Northern Lights was not intimidated and matched G Nation shot for shot in the first half. The Lights had to overcome losing forward Katie Stark to a rolled ankle for a few minutes. Stark threw on a brace and reentered the game and did not miss a beat for the remainder of the tournament. Dana Tekavec knocked down a buzzer beating three point shot as time expired in the first half to give Northern Lights a 4 point lead and all of the momentum heading into the second half. Lights pushed their lead to as much as 20 points and controlled the game over the final eight minutes by playing smart ball control offense and not shooting until the shot clock was under 10 seconds, while also playing tough man to man defense on the defensive end. Ava Gonsorowski and Chelsea Swatek took turns guarding the G Nation point guard and they both did an excellent job of limiting her impact on the offensive end. Northern Lights won the game and was able to finish pool play at 3-1 and were rewarded with the number 2 seed from the pool and had the rest of the day off before starting bracket play on Thursday.
The Lights opened up with Cincy’s Finest on Thursday morning with a trip to the National Quarterfinals on the line. Cincy’s Finest was another tall and athletic group who played a tough 2-2-1 half court trap. The Northern Lights guards all did an excellent job of using ball fakes and made excellent decisions in breaking down their trap. The Lights was able to push to a 13 point half time lead behind Lexie DeWall’s numerous steals and lay-ups and the inside presence of Kassidy Steen and Dana Tekavec. Northern Lights earned their way into the National Quarterfinals with a 52-34 win.
Four hours later, Northern Lights faced the Kentucky Lady Legends with a birth in the National Semi-finals on the line. The Lady Legends were led by a point guard who many would argue was the best player in the tournament, and was certainly the best player that Northern Lights had to compete against. Unfortunately for the Lights, the Lady Legends were playing their first game of the day, and their fresh legs helped propel them to a 61-38 win. All four teams who had to play a morning game on Thursday lost their games in the afternoon by an average score of 60-42. Northern Lights followed up a low scoring first half by scoring 29 points in the second half thanks to the hot shooting of Chelsea Swatek. The strong finish to the game helped build a little momentum heading into the final day of the tournament.
Northern Lights knew they would have two games on Friday and would either be playing for 5th or 7th place depending on the outcome of their first game versus the Southern Ohio Lady Hoopsters. The Hoopsters were another one of those teams who was longer and more athletic than Northern Lights, but the girls from Minnesota and Wisconsin again did not back down. Lights started out the game hot and jumped out to a 19-9 lead. The Hoopsters came roaring back and closed the gap to only six at the half. The Hoopsters increased their pressure in the second half and gave Northern Lights all kinds of problems on the offensive end. However, Northern Lights continued to play excellent man to man defense and clung to the lead for most of the half. When the Hoopsters caught and passed Northern Lights, their lead was never more than a single point. With under a minute remaining Kassidy Steen knocked down two freethrows to give the Lights a one point lead. The Hoopsters answered and took a one point lead of their own. Northern Lights failed to score on their next possession, but the Hoopsters missed the front end of a one and one and the Lights had the ball with a chance to win the game. After a timeout, Aleia Lupa and Katie Stark made a great read on a sideline inbounds play, but one of the Hoopsters recovered and knocked the ball out of bounds with just 3.1 seconds remaining. Northern Lights was out of timeouts, but Steen made a nice adjustment on a baseline inbounds play and Swatek made a great decision on the inbounds pass to get Steen the ball. The Hoopsters fouled Steen and she walked to the freethrow line trailing 41-42 with 2.2 seconds remaining. Steen calmly knocked down the first to tie it at 42-42. The Hoopsters called a timeout to ice Steen, but it did not work as she knocked down shot number two to give the Lights a 43-42 lead. The Hoopsters half court heave at the buzzer fell short and Northern Lights was on to the Consolation Championship game.
In the Consolation Championship Northern Lights faced the Dayton Metro Stars. The Stars had an excellent tournament and had beaten the Kentucky Lady Legends in pool play 71-47. The Legends had defeated Northern Lights by 23 points a day earlier, and everybody knew the Lights would have their hands full in the final game.
The game was tied at 10-10 until the Metro Stars hit back to back three point shots and grabbed an offensive rebound for a put back to increase their lead to 18-10. After a Northern Lights timeout, the momentum swung heavily to Northern Lights as they grabbed nearly every rebound for the rest of the game. On the offensive end the Lights were getting lay-ups, put backs, and were earning their way to the freethrow line, while the best shots Dayton could get versus the Northern Lights man to man defense were three point shots, or whatever they could get as the shot clock expired. The energy level of Northern Lights was so high they were scoring on almost every possession thanks to the solid rebounding of Katie Stark, Kassidy Steen, Dana Tekavec, Lexie DeWall, Ellie Leadstrom and Chelsea Swatek. DeWall led the team in steals for the week and she played her best game of the tournament when it mattered most. She was all over the floor on the defensive end and was a thorn in the side to the Stars for the entire game. Her steal and lay-up at the end of the first half gave Northern Lights a 29-25 lead heading to the break. Tekavec and Leadstrom were awesome in the last couple of minutes of the half and they looked like they had been playing together for years in the high/low Northern Lights offense.
Northern Lights never let up and kept command of the game behind the excellent leadership of their lead guards Aleia Lupa and Ava Gonsorowski. They handled the ball with ease versus the Dayton pressure, and Gonsorowski split the Metro Stars defenders several times for lay-ups. Lupa was the only 10th grade returning guard from the team this spring and she played her finest tournament as a member of Northern Lights. Tekavec and Steen were unstoppable inside on the offensive end and the Metro Stars had no answer for them. Northern Lights went on to win the game 57-46.
Northern Lights finished 6-2 at the tournament and finished in 5th place in the 19 team Division II bracket. The girls were excellent representatives of their home schools, communities and northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin. They won and lost with class, competed hard, and played excellent man to man defense for every possession of the tournament. Players who were unable to attend, but who were members of the team this spring were Lily Gruber-Schulz (Cook County HS), Eva Reintertsen (Lakeview Christian Academy), Jordy Thomas (Hermantown HS), Kianna Hren (Hermantown HS), Maggie Leider (Duluth East HS), Anna Fossen (Cloquet HS), Megan Aho (Floodwood HS).
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