Lucas Punkari
After getting their first tastes of victory in NorWOSSA play here last Tuesday afternoon against the Kenora Broncos, the Muskie senior and junior girls’ basketball teams want to experience that thrill once again.
Both squads were back in action yesterday afternoon up in Dryden (results weren’t available by press time) before they prepare to welcome the Broncos back to Fort High for a rematch tomorrow afternoon (Oct. 6).
The seniors will be looking to build off a tightly-contested affair here last week against the Broncos, where they eked out an 11-10 victory in which both defences suffocated the majority of scoring chances.
“Kenora’s defence made sure that we were stuck to [the] outside in taking most of our shots, and we ended up having a hard time getting to the inside,” noted Mike Krueger, who coaches the team along with Dan Bird.
“Our girls did a great job playing straight up defence, as well, and preventing them from getting points,” added Krueger. “And they also stopped a couple of players in their tracks, including their big forward [Kathleen Baker].
“In the end, I think it was just our consistency that allowed us to win the game.
“We needed to make sure, as a coaching staff, that the girls continued to be aggressive on defence by pressing them and not letting them [Kenora] get anything going, and they did exactly that,” Krueger lauded.
However, the lack of scoring was something the players themselves would like to improve on from their win over Kenora—starting this week with their two NorWOSSA games.
“I’m hoping that our practices are teaching us to deal with our mistakes and how to play against these teams going forward,” said Muskie point guard Emily Drouin.
“If we can get our offence and our set players to start executing better this week, we should be able to get a couple more wins, hopefully,” she reasoned.
“We’re hoping that some of our senior girls on the squad will be able to start finding the holes and are able to put some more points on the board,” Krueger noted.
“It’s just a matter of getting into the holes and making those shots,” he stressed.
Overall, though, the squad feels it slowly is coming into its own as the season progresses, with a league title firmly set as their end goal.
“I think we’re a really strong team right now that knows how to work around on the floor on defence,” said Adriane Gurski.
“And we also have really good rebounding and are able to fly around the court with our speed,” she added.
“It would be nice if we won all of our games and got the bye to the title game,” noted Chantal Jodoin.
“But if we learn how to play and work harder throughout the year, and put it all together on the last day, that’s really all that matters.”
The junior Muskies, meanwhile, used their offensive skills to their advantage en route to a 38-23 triumph over visiting Kenora last Tuesday.
“It was pretty cool for the girls to get that first win of the year at home, and I think it will really help to set the tone for the rest of the year,” head coach Marla Knutsen said.
“We actually had a pretty good variety of girls who were scoring for us, plus everyone was able to play during the game so a couple of girls were able to get their first baskets, as well,” she noted.
Looking forward, though, Knutsen would like to see the girls now get a victory over Dryden, who they lost to in their season-opener by a score of 38-37.
“Dryden plays at a much faster pace on both offence and defence than Kenora does, so we just need to make sure that we have our best game forward when we play them the rest of the year,” Knutsen explained.
“And even though we lost that game, we still were able to put up 37 points, so it’s so much our offence that we need to worry about right now,” she added.
“It’s more of our defensive game that we need to focus on when we play them.”
