Cromwell Falls To Cook County 69-51

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Mar 3, 2012

Dwight Cadwell-NSO

The Cromwell Cardinals, who were seeded sixth in the Section 7A playoffs sub-section, pulled a mild upset on Thursday night when they defeated the third seeded Mercuries; and it looked as if it possibly could again Saturday night at Denfeld. But the Cook County Vikings would pull away in the second half to capture the quarterfinal win by a score of 69-51.

The Cardinals and the Vikings battled in the first half as Cromwell kept close tabs on Viking guard Ashley Deschampe because Thursday she exploded for 44 points in a win over Carlton. Cromwell did a good job containing her in the first half, but she took more control in the second half as the Vikings won by 18 points.

Cromwell and Cook County were separated by only three points after the first half as the Vikings held on to a 25-22 lead at the break. The Vikings and Deschampe exploded for 44 points in the second half and Cromwell scored only 29 in the second stanza. Deschampe finished with 34 points on the night to give her 78 in two playoffs game.

Deschampe led all scorers with her 34 point performance Saturday night. She was followed by forward Theresa Morrin who scored 14, Bekah Laky ended with 7 points, it was Breanna Peterson who chipped in with 6, Leah Utities added 4, and it was Jessica Berg-Collman and Lily Gruber-Schulz each finishing with 2 points in the Vikings victory.

The Cardinals were led by MaKayleigh Cahoon who finished with 17 points for Cromwell; she also nailed down three long range bombs in the loss. Allie Cahoon scored 12 points; it was Christina Stenson with 7, Brittany Johnson who added 5, Ann Collman and Kayle Johnson who each scored 4 points for the Cards.

The Vikings improve to 18-8 on the season and they will face Mountain Iron-Buhl, who defeated Northeast Range in a quarterfinal playoff game also on Saturday night at Duluth Denfeld High School. Section 7A Semi-Finals will be played at UMD Wednesday night. The Cardinals finish their season with an overall record of 12-14.

Dwight Cadwell can be reached at dwight@northlandsportsonline.com