Cloquet Girls Lose Nail-Biter Against Blake

Dec 30

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

CLOQUET- Abby Sill of the Blake Bears connected on a field goal with seven seconds remaining in the second half to give the Bears the victory Wednesday night over the Cloquet Lumberjacks in the 2010 Wood City Classic. Sill only scored three baskets in the entire game, but this one was the most important as it gave the Bears the one point win at 40-39.

Sill, the senior forward for the Bears hit the game winning shot after Cloquet had a chance to go up by three points from the free throw line. However, missed free throws and a defensive rebound with 19 seconds left allowed the Bears a chance to pull out the win, which they did in dramatic fashion.

The Bears opened the first half by taking the lead and holding a lead until a little over two minutes left in the first half when Annabel Morrisroe put Cloquet ahead by a score of 15-13. The Lumberjacks held on to the lead heading into halftime, with a two point 17-15 lead.

The second half saw the Lumberjacks, much like the Bears did in the first half control the scoreboard leading anywhere from two to six points. Cloquet was leading 38-33 with 4:16 remaining when Natalie Sill buried a three pointer to cut the lead to two points at 38-36. Cloquet extended the lead back to three points on a free throw from Krista Schmitz at the 1:09 mark.

Sarah Waldfogel connected on a shot which cut Cloquet’s lead to one point at 39-38. The Bears then fouled sending Cloquet to the line, but when Cloquet was unable to convert from the charity strip, it was the Bears making the most of the final trip down the floor as the pull out the win, finishing 1-1 in the Wood City Classic.

Morrisroe led the Lumberjacks in scoring with 11 points in the loss. She was followed by Kenzie Rathe who added 9; Rathe also had a huge game on the boards collecting 11 rebounds. Sarah McMillen and Carri Zeadow each scored 4 points; Schmitz scored 3 points, Shaina Paulson, Mary Keller, Amy Campbell & Felicia Hraban all scored 2 points in the loss.

Cloquet falls to 3-6 overall on the season; they will be in action again on Tuesday night when they face the Trojans of Duluth Central, at Duluth Central High School. The game against Central will start a four game road stretch, where the Jacks will not be back at home until Thursday January 20th.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at Dwight@northlandsportsonline.com