by Penny Mio
editor
and
Jeff Hovde
staff writer

The girls’ basketball team entered the Section 8A tournament last week. Seeded second in Section 8A East, they got a bye in the pig-tail round.
Their first game was played in Bemidji March 4th in the play-in round. Their opponent was Kelliher/Northome, who had beat out Laporte 47-36 on March 2nd. The Mustangs came into the tournament ranked seventh.
The Lady Bears beat the Mustangs by a score of 61-32, sending them on to the quarterfinal game.
Thursday’s game started with Ashley Feldman tipping to Jessica Marken, who took it to the basket for two points, was fouled and made her free throw to make it 3-0 on the first play.
After the Lady Bears started the game with a 16-0 lead, Kelliher took a time out and then began their slow creep up on the Lady Bears. There was a time in the first half that the Mustangs showed some strength.
The Lady Bears led 27-7 when Kelliher/Northome went on an 11 point run, interrupted only by two free throws put in by Amber Stavig. The Mustangs’ Katey Lutz put in two-of-six free throws and added a field goal, Ann Poxleitner hit a three-pointer, Cara Rennemo put in one of two free throws, as did Caitlyn Duresky to tighten the spread.
The streak ended with a pass from Katelyn Erickson to Stavig and the Lady Bears were back on track. At the half, they had a 39-23 lead.
After the halftime break, the Lady Bears got two field goals from Feldman and one from Stavig in the first two minutes.
Brittni Wellen sank a jump shot and Stavig got the put-back to lead 49-23.
Kelliher tried to regroup with a time out, but with more than seven minutes remaining the Lady Bears led by 30 points and game play continued with the clock running.
They finished with a 29-point spread.
Leading the way for the Lady Bears was Stavig with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Feldman had 19 points and 10 rebounds for her double-double.
The Lady Bears had only 12 turnovers, and forced 21 from the Mustangs.
Other highlights were Marken’s five assists, Wellen’s three steals and Stavig’s four blocked shots.

Quarterfinal
Ashley Feldman and Amber Stavig combined for 37 points as the Bears got by Clearbrook-Gonvick 58-33 to advance to tonight’s (Tuesday) quarterfinal match-up with RLCC.
Lake of the Woods was very stingy on defense as they built a 19-4 lead with just over eight minutes left in the first half. Stavig netted 12 of her 17 points in the first half.
The Bears took advantage of their size under the basket and picked up the majority of their baskets from within six feet of the hoop. Jessica Marken hit the only three point shot of the game for the Bears in the first half.
The Bears took a 36-15 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Lake of the Woods opened up the second half on a 10-0 run.  Feldman picked up eight points in the run as the Bears went up 46-15 with 12 minutes left in the game.
Clearbrook-Gonvick outscored the Bears 18-12 the rest of the way on the strength of a trio of three-pointers by Brooke Wraa. The comeback would fall short, though, as Lake of the Woods held on for the win.
Marken finished the night with twelve points and Brittni Wellen added eight.

Coming Up
The Bears will meet Red Lake County Central in tonight’s quarterfinal round.
RLCC defeated Lake of the Woods earlier this season 65-36.  The Mustangs come into the contest with a 23-3 record while the Bears are now 16-10.
Results of tonight’s game will be available on www.baudetteregion.com Wednesday morning.

Lake of the Woods 61,
Kelliher/Northome 32
Lake of the Woods    39 22 – 61
Kelliher/Northome    23   9 – 32
Lake of the Woods – Jessica Marken 6, Myrriah Laine 2, Katelyn Erickson 4, Brittni Wellen 7, Ashley Feldman 19, Amber Stavig 21, Tori Feldman 2
Kelliher/Northome – Caitlyn Duresky 3, Cara Rennemo 5, Ann Poxleitner 6, Katey Lutz 8, Brittney Heck 3, Danielle Nistler 2, Kelly Heck 5

Clearbrook-Gonvick  33
Lake of the Woods  58
C-G    15  18 - 33
LW    36  22 - 58
Clearbrook-Gonvick - Brooke Wraa 11, Whitney Rogstad 9, Breanne Wagner 5, Brittany Wagner 4, Jessica Spray 2, Katie McIntosh 2
Lake of the Woods - Ashley Feldman 20, Amber Stavig 17, Jessica Marken 12, Brittni Wellen 8, Tate Moeller 1