A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Section 7AA GIRLS BASKETBALL
Esko's Kristy DeMuth (33) goes up for a two point shot against the Cherry Tigers during the Esko Coaches Classic basketball tournament in January.
Esko, Moose Lake-Willow River and Barnum were set to play in the Section 7AA girls basketball tournament Thursday to secure a quarterfinal round game at UMD's Romano Gym on Saturday.
Section 7AA features 16 teams divided into two subsections. Subsection 1 includes Esko, ML-WR, Barnum, Pequot Lakes, Pillager, Crosby-Ironton, Aitkin and Duluth Denfeld. Subsection 2 includes Eveleth-Gilbert, Virginia, Greenway, Proctor, International Falls, Duluth Marshall, Two Harbors and Mesabi East.
The top seed in Subsection 1 is Esko and they played Duluth Denfeld, the No. 8 seed, in the opening round. The Eskomos headed into the game with an impressive 20-6 record and the Hunters were 4-18. Esko had an 11-game winning streak which started right before Christmas. Since that time, the Eskomos have won 16 of their past 18 games. Esko lost to Crosby-Ironton, the No. 2 seed, in the third game of the year and then picked up a big overtime win in mid-January over No. 3 Pequot Lakes as well as an impressive one-point win over the top seed in Subsection 2, the Proctor Rails.
Barnum, the No. 6 seed, faced No. 3 Pequot Lakes on Thursday. The Bombers came in with a record of 11-15, while the Patriots are 16-10. The Patriots entered the tournament having won eight of their last nine games.
No. 5 seed Moose Lake-Willow River entered the tournament with a 15-11 record and traveled to No. 4 Aitkin, 15-10. In the last month the Gobblers have gone just 3-3, but one of those three wins was an impressive six-point victory over Pequot Lakes. The Gobblers rebounded from a 0-4 start to the season and then went 10-1 over their next 11 games. Meanwhile, the Rebels - who lost by 21 points to Aitkin back on Jan. 4 - followed up that loss by winning six of their next seven games only to go 3-3 over the final six games of the season.
Saturday's games at UMD will be played at 1 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 5:45 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.
If both Esko and Moose Lake-Willow River win, they would face each other in the 7:15 p.m. game. If Barnum gets by Pequot Lakes, they would play in the first game at 1 p.m. against the winner of the Crosby-Ironton vs. Pillager game.
