Muskie hoopsters dominate

The Muskie girls’ basketball program is on a roll as both the junior and senior squads dominated the Kenora Broncos in NorWOSSA action here yesterday.
The juniors outscored the Broncos 11-2 in the third quarter en route to a convincing 25-13 victory that improved their league record to 5-1.
After the game, coach Dan Bird said he was pleased with his team’s commitment to defence.
“I’m happy with the win,” he said. “I was telling the girls before we started that if we keep up the defence, keep on the pressure, eventually it’ll come.”
Fort High started slowly against the Broncos as they struggled to find their shooting touch.
“In the beginning, some of our shots weren’t going down and we kind of got away from the good rebounding position that we had up in Dryden [last Thursday],” Bird noted.
As the buzzer sounded for halftime, the Muskies found themselves deadlocked 9-9 with the visitors.
But the second half saw the Muskies ramp up their defensive intensity. And the increased pressure resulted in several Bronco turnovers, which then were converted into easy baskets for the home team.
“First half we weren’t playing very good at all, but then we started tightening up our ‘D’ and they started falling to the pressure,” guard Kayla Windigo remarked afterwards.
The Muskies followed up their big third-quarter effort with a very workmanlike final frame, never allowing the Broncos an opportunity to get back in the game.
Lauren Gurski was the top scorer for the Muskies with eight points.
The senior hoopsters were up next looking to continue Fort High’s winning ways—and they did not disappoint.
Unlike their junior counterparts, the seniors dominated the Broncos right from the opening tip-off—building an 8-0 lead in the first quarter before cruising to a lopsided 32-18 victory.
Muskie head coach Ian Simpson was impressed by the team’s fast start, especially given the fact his players have been notoriously slow starters all season long.
“I thought our starters played well,” Simpson said.
“We still missed shots we shouldn’t have missed,” he noted. “We could have leapt out to a little bit of a bigger lead in the beginning . . . but they played very well.”
The players, meanwhile, were more impressed with the efficient manner in which they executed the offence—something that had been a problem so far this season.
“We finally got an offence, that’s what happened today,” Lindsay Wachter said.
“I thought we did really good,” echoed Michelle Cournoyer. “We moved the ball around a lot and that helped us get open.”
Cournoyer led the Muskie offensive explosion with 17 points while Wachter added eight.
Both the junior and senior squads will look to repeat their success against the Broncos next Tuesday (Oct. 31) when they travel to Kenora for the re-match.
In last week’s NorWOSSA action, the junior girls dumped the Eagles 49-23.
Kayla Windigo led the way with 15 points. Taylor Meyers (11 points) and Lauren Gurski (nine) also contributed at the offensive end.
But the Eagles got their revenge on the court later that afternoon when their senior girls’ team trounced the black-and-gold 36-21.
Emily Haggberg and Alyssa Holliday were the high scorers for the Muskies in that one (their point totals were not provided).