The Northwestern High School girls basketball team is now 2-0 this season after defeating Cloquet 51-38 Tuesday night in Maple.
The Tigers jumped out to a 17-7 lead after one quarter and never trailed after that, despite being outscored 19-9 in the final quarter.
"We jumped out to an eight-point lead (8-0) and never looked back," NHS coach Shawn Leith said. "The girls came out with a lot of intensity and aggressive play."
Before the season, Leith thought that defense would be a concern for the Tigers in their early games. So far, however, that has not been the case.
"They worked hard and played tremendous defense, holding our opponents to less than 40 points again," Leith said. "We have been talking a lot about defense, and the girls responded well to that. The other thing we're doing well is attacking the basket and taking good shots. We're being very aggressive to the basket and drawing fouls."
ADVERTISEMENT
Leith was also impressed with the team's patience on offense, saying the girls worked the ball around well to find a good shot each possession.
Leading the Tigers in scoring were two post players. Sophomore Anna Morgan scored 16 points, and senior Gretchen Grube added 10. Kelsey Biser and Nikki Hughes both had seven points for NHS and Lindsay Garay had four points. Rounding out the scoring were Lindsay Taipale with three points and Katie Pearson and Alex Baillie with two points each.
"Overall, I'm very proud of these girls and what they've accomplished so far this early in the season," Leith said. "We have some things to work on, but they're things that can be fixed as the season progresses. If the girls continue to work hard, come out and play tough defense each night and play together as a team, good things will happen each night."
The Tigers will next play Ashland on the road at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
