Second Half Run Leads Barnum Girls Over Grand Rapids

Wes Vork-NSO

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Dec 12, 2011

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

The Barnum Bombers used a strong second half to overcome a halftime deficit as they trailed 24-21, to come back and defeat the Thunderhawks by a score of 58-50 at Barnum High School on Monday evening. The win was the fourth consecutive victory the Bombers have had over the Thunderhawks.

Barnum and Grand Rapids battled evenly throughout the first portion of the game but the Bomber built up a seven point 21-14 lead late into the first half on some outside shooting. The Bombers nailed five 3 pointers in the first half to garner that lead. The Thunderhawks didn’t go away as they went on and scored the final ten points of the first half to take a three point lead into the locker room.

The Thunderhawks made it thirteen straight points as the Thunderhawks scored first in the second half on a Kenzie Kane three-pointer. Kane would go on to hit five three-pointers on the night but it wasn’t going to be enough. After giving up a second half opening 3-pointer to Kane and with Barnum trailing by a score of 27-21, the Bombers went on an 11-0 run to give them a lead they would never relinquish.

“Our shot selection in the first half wasn’t good, but we got things figured out at halftime,” explained Barnum Head Coach Randy Myhre after the game. “I thought we played a pretty solid second half; and we played most of that second half without Daron Mainville in the middle, who is a pretty darn good player.”

Mainville drew the assignment of guarding 6-2 Jessa Sondergaard and fouled out with 7:29 remaining in the second half. (Without Mainville) The other kids had to step it up and we got good help off the bench, I’m really proud of the way these battled back in that second half, they did a real good job.” Commented Coach Myhre

The better shot selections in the second half helped the shooting percentage as the Bombers built a lead of as many as 11 points, midway through the second half. Claudia Turner scored 16 second half points including going 4-5 from the free throw line down the stretch. Turner led all scorers Monday as she finished with 22 points.

After the game Coach Myhre had high praise for his point guard, telling Northland Sports Online. “I tell you what; Claudia Turner does a great job of taking care of that basketball. You need a great point guard to set the tempo and run the offense and she did an excellent job. She too had an excellent second half, she got to the rim and finished.”

Following Turner in the scoring column were Daron Mainville and Claire Rodgers, who both finished with 10 points on the night. Katie Myhre added 9 points, Caitlan Rodgers finished with 6 points and it was Alisabeth Warpula ended the scoring with one point for the Bombers.

Kane led the Thunderhawks on the night with 19 points, Jess Sondergaard added 15, Karley Peterson and Brittany Koss both ended with 3 points, Megan Allen and Katie Anderson both scored two points, and it was Nataya Chandler and Michaela Cleveland rounding out the scoring with one point each.

The Bombers bounce back after falling to Mt Iron-Buhl on December 5 and improve to 3-1 on the season. The Bombers are back in action again on Tuesday when they host Prairie Seeds Academy. The Thunderhawks fall to 1-4 overall and they will look to rebound Tuesday night as well as they host the Cloquet Lumberjacks in a sectional battle.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at Dwight@northlandsportsonline.com