Muskie offence ices up in final

Stranger things have happened, but the Muskie senior girls basketball team would be hard-pressed to remember when.
A second quarter that saw them held to a meagre two points cost the local side dearly as they fell 37-29 to the St. Ignatius Falcons (Thunder Bay) in the final of the Muskies’ home tournament Saturday.
“We couldn’t make a basket,” said a bewildered Muskie head coach Mike Busch, who watched even his best players shoot the ball with frustrating inconsistency.
“The girls deserved to win. Their defensive play all weekend long was great,” he noted. “But the offence needs work. It was cold all weekend.”
Veteran guard Miranda Miller couldn’t help but rue the idea that St. Ignatius’ third-straight championship at this tournament was something that could have been avoided if the Muskies had played up to par.
“I wanted to win this one really bad,” she remarked. “Maybe we were physically tired. We just didn’t come ready to play. But I think we’re going to work harder because of this.
“Now we know we’re not better than everybody else.”
Life seemed rosy from the opening tip-off against the Falcons as Fort High torched St. Ignatius early to compile an 8-1 lead. But with 4:43 left in the first quarter, Muskie guard Stephanie “Mouse” Mattson tumbled to the floor at mid-court in obvious pain after hurting her ankle.
The injury turned the tide and the Falcons went on a 15-2 run for the rest of the first half that put them up 16-10 at the break.
Both teams would prefer any video of the second quarter be used as kindling.
The Falcons outscored the Muskies 3-2 in an eight-minute session that featured several turnovers, even more missed wide-open shots from within five feet, and Fort High going a dreadful one-for-11 from the floor.
The lid came off the basket somewhat in the third, with St. Ignatius leading 24-19 at the close of the quarter. After the Falcons extended their lead to nine, a pair of Laura Busch baskets trimmed it back down to five with 3:30 to go.
But St. Ignatius didn’t wither under the pressure, and put the game away with a pair of foul shots by leading scorer Jenna Ward (12 points) after Coach Busch was hit with a technical in the final minute for protesting a jump ball call involving his daughter.
Carley McCormick was the high scorer for the Muskies with 13 points.
< *c>Saints and winners
Fort High opened the tourney with a 48-33 drubbing of the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (Kenora).
Tied 6-6 after the first quarter, the Muskies used a suffocating pressure defence—and a dominance on the offensive glass—to outscore the Saints 19-7 in the second and lead 25-13 at halftime to put the game out of reach.
Trish Smith had 11 points while Mattson chipped in eight as the Muskies got points from nine different players. Erin Carter had 13 for the Saints, with Megan Derouard adding 11.
Saturday morning found the Muskies looking sleepy-eyed and sluggish to begin their clash against the Sioux Lookout Warriors. But a big second quarter from McCormick and the relentless Muskie defence put the home team up 17-11 to start the third.
Fort High’s offence had spurts of both brilliance and incompetence in the second half, but did enough on both ends of the floor to preserve a 35-26 win.
McCormick had 15 points to pace the Muskies while Bryanne Minty replied with a dozen for the Warriors.
The Muskie line-up got limited minutes from first-year guard Rebecca Cornell, who suffered a shin injury Oct. 21 against Kenora, while rookie forward Taylor Harnett missed the entire weekend (personal).
Both the Muskie senior and junior girls’ basketball squads will host the Dryden Eagles tomorrow afternoon at “The Fish Tank,” then entertain the Kenora Broncos next Tuesday to end their regular season.
The NorWOSSA playoffs are slated Nov. 7 in Kenora.