Staff
When Gord McCabe’s gang found their footwork, it started putting the boot to its opponent.
Grace Petsnick had a game-high 18 points as the Muskie junior girls’ basketball team opened the NorWOSSA regular season with a 49-29 victory over the host Kenora Broncos on Tuesday.
“We started slowly and played pretty uninspired defence in the first quarter,” conceded McCabe.
“It was 16-16 about halfway through the second quarter, but then we started to move our feet on both offence and defence,” he noted.
The Muskies went on a 9-0 run just before halftime, then outscored the Broncos 24-10 in the second half.
“We really got the fast break going at times in the second half and I was really pleased with the way we played in the second half,” said McCabe.
Jamie Spencer also reached double-digits in scoring with 10 points.
“Jamie was a force inside . . . and the rest of the scoring was really balanced,” noted McCabe.
The junior squad hosts its four-team home tournament this weekend.
Fort High faces the
St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (Kenora) on Friday at 1:30 p.m., then battles the Dryden Eagles on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. before wrapping up against the Broncos at 2 p.m.
But the Muskie senior girls weren’t as fortunate in Kenora on Tuesday as the Broncos came away with a 39-31 victory.
It was a stunning result considering the black-and-gold had clobbered Kenora 44-28 at a tournament in Thunder Bay just a few days earlier.
“There was a lack of communication the floor,” admitted Muskie co-coach Dan Bird.
“Our defence is decent and can hold us in games, but our offence has a long way to go before we get to where we want to be,” he stressed.
Ellie Petsnick, who missed practice Monday due to illness, had 15 points to lead the Muskies.
Mykenzie Borger had five while Madison Morrison added three.
The seniors are off to Dryden on Saturday for a four-team tournament against the host Eagles, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the Red Lake Rams.
Meanwhile, the Muskie senior and junior boys’ volleyball teams beat the Broncos in their season-openers Tuesday.
Facing a 2-1 sets deficit, the seniors roared back to win the fourth one before taking the fifth-and-deciding set for a 3-2 triumph (25-20, 20-25, 17-25, 25-19, and 15-10).
The juniors had a much easier time of things–cruising past Kenora 3-0 (25-13, 25-12, and 25-14).
Both squads head to Kenora for a tournament this Friday and Saturday.
All four teams then will play their NorWOSSA home-openers this Tuesday against Dryden beginning at noon.
