The Superior High School girls basketball team now holds a 2-5 overall record and 2-1 record in the Lake Superior Conference after losing a pair of games Monday and Tuesday at the Wood City Classic in Cloquet.
On Monday, the Spartans faced the host Cloquet Lumberjacks. Cloquet ran well in transition to start the game, catching Superior off guard and building a 23-8 lead. Superior chipped away with Bettye Jo Nelson scoring on back-to-back possessions. Senior Taylor Kosey then went on to score seven straight points and the Spartans trailed 33-23 at halftime.
For the half, Cloquet made 15-of-20 shots from 2-point range and shot 59 percent overall for the half.
"In the first half we simply allowed them too many good interior touches, which they converted into easy baskets underneath," SHS coach Dan Schulz said. "We got around the post much better in the second half and forced some turnovers on their entry passes, which helped us get back in the game."
Superior found itself down by 13 points early in the third when Taylor Kosey hit two free throws, and fellow senior Kara Hoff got a steal and was fouled on the shot to cut the lead to nine, 39-30. Nelson cut the lead to six with a strong putback, and Superior used a tough full court press to force several Cloquet turnovers.
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From that point on, the Spartans kept close. Christa Diedrich scored four straight points twice to bring Superior within three points, first with 8:17 left and once again to make it 52-49 as the quarter neared its end.
Down 52-51 with 13 seconds left to play, Taylor Kosey was called with offensive foul, and Coach Schulz was given a technical shortly afterward. Cloquet's Jes Vork converted both technical free throws, and the Spartans were forced to foul down. Hannah Roy then made one of two free throws for the Lumberjacks to seal 55-51 victory.
"It was an unfortunate ending to a great comeback effort by our girls," Schulz said. "Regardless of the quality of the call, it's really inexcusable and selfish on my part to pick up a technical in that situation; it's a shame the game wasn't allowed to be determined by the players on the floor."
Nelson led Superior with 12 points and nine rebounds, Kosey had 11 points and Diedrich finished with nine. Hoff finished with five assists to lead the Spartans in that category.
Superior was back in action Tuesday against Humboldt.
Early in the game, Humboldt spread the floor and its guards attacked the seams nicely to get wide open perimeter shots. The Spartans fell behind, 9-2, before switching multiple zone defenses to slow down the Hawks' penetrating attack and close the gap to 20-18 at the half.
"I thought our girls did a nice job of closing out of their shooters and limiting them to one shot when we switched to the zones," Schulz said.
Turnovers doomed Superior in the second half, though. Superior turned the ball over on four of its first five possessions in the second half against the Hawks' full court pressure, leading to easy layups for the Humboldt guards.
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"We didn't handle the ball well today, which is frustrating because we have players that are capable of beating any kind of press or pressure," Schulz said. "It's always been a staple of consistency for us throughout the years; generally we beat the pressure early and then teams give up on the press. It simply wasn't the case today. We were careless with the ball at times and lacked off-ball support from teammates in other instances."
Nelson again led the Spartans in scoring with 17 points and was named to the Cloquet Wood City Classic All-tournament team. Kosey hit a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 12 points.
Humboldt's Angelina Hicks was the game's leading scorer with 18 points, and Ayana Hicks added 11 points for the Hawks.
