Bemidji Wins Lumberjack Battle

Jan 12

Joe Vork-NSO

The Bemidji girls’ basketball team made the long trip east Tuesday evening to defeat Cloquet 76-62 in a battle of Lumberjacks.

In a game that featured unstoppable post play, Bemidji’s junior Kayla Hirt bested Cloquet’s junior Annabel Morrisroe. Morrisroe had a career-high of 31 points, but not to be outdone, Hirt recorded a triple double with 40 points, 16 rebounds and 10 blocked shots. After the game, Cloquet coach Jeff Ojanen commented on the Minnesota Gopher recruit telling NSO, “Kayla Hirt is the real deal.”

Bemidji, the fourth-ranked team in Minnesota class AAA, had all they could handle from a determined Cloquet squad. Ojanen told NSO, “The girls played hard as usual, we played with a lot of intensity and I liked how we were physical and didn’t back down to them.”

Even though Cloquet came out with tremendous intensity, they trailed at halftime by a score of 37-28. Cloquet overcame a 20 point deficit in the second half, but was unable complete the comeback, losing by a final score of 76-62.

Despite his team’s overall record, Ojanen is pleased with how his squad has been playing stating, “We played like a team tonight, as we have been lately.”

In addition to Morrisroe’s 31 points, freshman Krista Schmitz and senior Brianna Henagin each added 9 points. Rounding out the scoring for Cloquet was Kialee Kutter with 5 points, while Katie Pappas and Sarah McMillen added 4 points apiece.

With the loss, Cloquet drops to 3-8 on the season. The Lumberjacks will be back in action Friday when they host the Proctor Rails. Bemidji improves to 10-1 on the season and will play at home Thursday against Duluth East.

Joe Vork can be reached at joe@northlandsportsonline.com