Esko Comes Up Short Against Greyhounds

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Feb 25, 2012

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

The Esko Eskomos girls basketball team has dropped non-conference basketball games for the second straight Saturday against strong opponents. Last Saturday it was Crosby-Ironton dropping the fourth raked Eskomos and yesterday it was Duluth East knocking off the Eskomos 48-35.

The Eskomos, who up until last week averaged over 61 points per game, have seen the Rangers and the Greyhounds, shut down the Eskomos with 28 and 35 points respectively. Esko did have two games this week where they scored 122 points in wins over Cromwell and Eveleth-Gilbert.

The Eskomos head coach Scott Antonutti told Northland Sports Online “They are a good team; they are very quick out there.” Antonutti added “We didn’t play to bad but they are a very physical team, we need to refocus and get ready for the playoffs.”

Duluth East and the Eskomos battled in the first half as the Greyhounds took an 11 point 26-15 lead into the locker room. The second half saw the Greyhounds continue to extend their lead as they finished with the 13 point win on Saturday afternoon.

The Eskomos were led by Savanna Trapp, who finished with 12 points on the afternoon. Brook Schramm added 9, Megan Reuer finished with 4, Bailey Mudek and Marisa Shady both chipped in with 3, and it was Steph Bandelin and Kallyn Knutson both ended with 2 points.

The Greyhounds were led by Shamika Hopkins who scored 11 points, Jamie Whitlinger finished with 10, Alex Freeman had 8, Elena Lushine 6, Nikki Roseth 5, Jordan Anderson 4, and it was Emily Anderson and Raiya Norlander each added 2 points in the East win.

The Eskomos regular season ends with a 23-3 overall record and they will be in action again on Wednesday night when the Section 7AA playoffs begin. The Eskomos will host an open round match-up against Duluth Marshall; quarterfinal action will be Saturday at UMD.

The Duluth East Greyhounds improve to 19-5 and they will finish their regular season on Tuesday night when they will face the Ashland Oredockers at Ashland High School. They will begin section play on Saturday as the number one seeded team in 7AAAA. They will host either Anoka or Andover who meet in an opening round match-up on Thursday night.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com