Cromwell puts the freeze on Carlton early

The cold weather seemed to freeze a perpetual smile onto the face of Cromwell-Wright girls basketball coach Jeff Gronner on Tuesday. After picking up two wild wins last week against highly ranked Mountain Iron-Buhl and a talented Esko team, the Cards took care of host Carlton 79-43 Monday to pick up their 14th win of the season.

“How can you not be happy with the way the kids have been playing and their effort,” Gronner said. “After beating state-ranked MIB and traditionally tough Esko in one week, and then having a very solid effort against a very athletic Carlton team, you can’t help but be happy.”

Taya Hakamaki gave her coach, and Cardinal fans, plenty to be happy about when she came out Monday and blitzed the Bulldogs to the tune of 30 first-half points and a game-high 35 points on the night.

“She was ready to play,” Gronner said. “She got in foul trouble against Esko in the first half and had to sit out 10 minutes against them, but still helped lead us back to the win. Against Carlton she just came out ready to go as did the whole team.”

Early pressure by the Cardinal defense created multiple turnovers — allowing them to streak out to a 52-18 halftime lead against Carlton.

“We had a lot of energy at the start and we just needed to calm ourselves down a little bit,” said Carlton coach Lucas Beireis. “They ran a full-court trap and right away we were going too fast and not thinking. Once we slowed it down a bit, we handled it better.”

Unfortunately, by that time the Cards had built a substantial lead as Hakamaki kept scoring while Shaily Hakamaki was pumped in 16 points. Natalee Hakamaki added nine points for the Cards, while Amanda Hakamaki and Amber Collman both had four points. Josie Jokinen scored three, and it was two each for Andrea Pocernich, Lacie Zoeller and Sascha Korpela while Katherine Libbon added a single point.

“Defensively they are just as sound and play extremely aggressive,” Beireis said. “With a team that is offensively as good as they are, if you don’t score almost every time down it will hurt. But I think their aggression caught us off guard and we started off making some soft passes and that cost us.”

Junior Alaina Bennett led Carlton with 18 points and was the only double- digit scorer for the Bulldogs.

“I was very happy with Bennett’s game, she has had a rough couple weeks where nothing seemed to fall, but as a coach it makes you proud when she shows resilience and keeps working and keeps shooting,” Beireis said. “For a player of her type, things will eventually turn around. She just has a high motor, too, and works hard, which turns into her getting some good looks.”

Both Brynne and Abby Mickle had seven points each for Carlton while Elizabeth Hey added six points. Alena Wallin and Madelyn DeCaigney each had two points and Georgia Williams recorded one point.

“I liked the way we started against Carlton, which is a quick and very athletic group of kids,” Gronner said. “Our pressure early got to them a bit and we were able to get some easy baskets against a good team.”

The win pushes the Cromwell-Wright record to 14-1 on the season.