Joey Payeur
The Muskie senior and junior girls’ basketball teams made themselves right at home in the “Eagles’ Nest” on Friday—and took some gold with them when it was time to leave.
The seniors put a defensive stranglehold on the Kenora Broncos in the second half to fuel a 44-26 win in the NorWOSSA final.
“An undefeated season is really sweet and definitely was one of our goals,” said Sarah Bagacki, the Muskies’ leading scorer this season, who had eight points in the victory to tie Keira Lindgren, just behind Hannah McLeod’s game-high 10 points.
Fort High outscored the Broncos 11-1 in the third quarter to turn an eight-point lead at halftime into an 18-point bulge that put the game out of reach.
The black-and-gold now will host the best-of-three NWOSSAA final this Friday and Saturday against the winner of the Thunder Bay high school league’s final today between the undefeated Hammarskjold Vikings and St. Ignatius Falcons.
Start times for this weekend’s games were unavailable by press time.
Meanwhile, the juniors also concluded an unbeaten march through NorWOSSA, downing the host Dryden Eagles 44-23 in their title game.
“Every girl played their best and we all filled different roles today,” noted Ashley Croswell, who had six points in the victory.
Lindsay Dixon controlled the paint in the first half for the black-and-gold, scoring 11 of her game-high 13 by halftime to give the Muskies a 22-9 lead.
Claire Hyatt and Amber Williams, who played well after missing much of the first half due to three fouls in the first quarter, each had eight points while Sarah Vandermeer added an important six points off the bench.
In boys’ volleyball action Friday, the junior Muskies came away with a silver medal after putting up a good fight before falling to the undefeated Dryden Eagles 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, and 25-20).
The Muskies advanced to the final after disposing Kenora 3-1 (25-21, 25-20, 23-25, and 25-23) in the semi-final earlier in the day.
As for the senior squad, the Muskies came out flat in their semi-final against the Broncos before trying to rally, eventually succumbing 3-1 (25-16, 25-12, 24-26, and 25-22) to finish the season in third place.
“I think we came in thinking Kenora was going to be weaker than what they were,” said Muskie captain and starting setter Derek Kaemingh.
“We gave away more points than we should have.”
Dryden went on to capture NorWOSSA gold with a victory over Kenora in the final to advance to the NWOSSAA championships Nov. 21-23 in Thunder Bay.
