RED LAKE – After facing a 10-point halftime deficit, the Nevis girls basketball team dominated the second half in a 58-45 Northwoods Conference victory over Red Lake on Monday, Jan. 31.
“It's no secret, basketball is a long season,” said Nevis head coach Paul Schroeder. “We will strive to improve in February, keep practices as sharp and fresh as possible, and hopefully make a strong push to play some quality ball down the stretch and contribute more games into our win column.”
The Tigers trailed 12-4 before two layups by Kayli Bessler and a layup by Ava Isaacson cut the gap to 14-10. Red Lake responded to take a 21-10 lead when four inside baskets by Isaacson and a three-point play by Marley Mitchell tied the game at 23-23. Red Lake closed the half with an 11-1 run for a 34-24 advantage at the break.
Nevis opened the second half with a 13-2 spurt for its first lead of the game at 37-36. Mya Stacey turned two steals into baskets and scored on another layup, Addison Lindow and Mitchell hit jumpers, and Isaacson had a layup during that run. A jumper by Lindow was followed by five straight baskets by Isaacson as Nevis extended the lead to 53-41. A jumper by Maggie Carrier and a layup off a steal by Stacey capped off the win.
Isaacson finished with a double-double of 26 points and 14 rebounds to go along with six steals while Stacey added 12 points, eight steals and seven rebounds. Mitchell grabbed 10 rebounds and Lindow dished out five assists as the Tigers improved to 8-3 in the conference and 11-6 overall. Nevis, which defeated Red Lake 100-47 on Dec. 14, swept the season series by overcoming missing all 20 3-point attempts by tallying 22 steals and forcing 29 turnovers.
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Ceangela Pemberton and Lily Pemberton scored 10 points apiece for Red Lake, which fell to 2-6 against Northwoods Conference teams and 3-10 overall. Cass Lake-Bena tops the conference standings with a 9-0 record.
“Our defense has played fairly well and has given us the opportunity to stay in and get some wins we may not have otherwise. Against WHA, we only gave up 13 points in the second half. Against Red Lake, we only gave up 11 points in the second half,” said Schroeder, whose team was coming off a 33-31 win over Walker-Hackensack-Akeley. “We shot absolutely terrible from the outside against Red Lake from 3-point land. We started getting the ball into Ava and she had an excellent night for us with her 26 points in the paint down low. With that scoring performance by Ava, sparked by some key steals and scores by Mya Stacey, everyone else pitched in with much better ball control and defensive effort in the second half. We certainly made it a lot harder on ourselves than we probably should have, but a win is a win and we"ll take it.”
