Lock-down Lumberjacks

BEMIDJI-The difference maker for the Bemidji High School girls basketball team didn't concern herself with scoring on Tuesday night.

No, Katie Alto did the dirty work on the defensive end.

With deflections and steals at a dime a dozen, the sophomore guard and her teammates disrupted the Pequot Lakes offense just enough for a 51-48 victory at the BHS Gymnasium.

"If my shots aren't going in, I can't keep thinking about it because then I'm not going to do well on defense," said Alto, who finished with four points in the win. "I just have to forget about it and make up for it by getting steals and not letting them score."

"She just never stops. She never stops moving," Bemidji head coach Steve Schreiber added. "She had a poor night shooting tonight, but it didn't affect her defense one bit, it didn't affect her ball control one bit, and it didn't affect her mentally one bit... She didn't end up getting mentally beat down because she was missing shots. She just made adjustments."

The Lumberjacks (2-3) led nearly coast to coast, starting with a 9-0 run to open the night. Alto picked up back-to-back BHS buckets from the block, keeping the advantage at 19-10, which still held firm at 22-17 by halftime.

Early in the second half, a Sam Edlund corner three made for Bemidji's largest lead at 35-23. Olivia Lane tightened it to six-44-38-for the Patriots (2-3) with a turnaround kiss off the glass, but Hildenbrand answered back with a three from the wing, making for a 47-38 cushion at the four-minute mark.

It didn't last for long, though. Lane and Karli Skog combined for nine points in an ensuing 10-0 run for Pequot. The final score, a rebound and putback from Lane with 1 minute, 39 seconds left, gave the Patriots a 48-47 advantage-their first lead of the night.

But then Lumberjacks locked back down.

Macy Flatness sunk a pair of free throws for a 49-48 edge, and then stout defense by Hildenbrand and Alto forced traveling violations on back-to-back Pequot possessions.

"I just try to read where the ball is going to go, where they're going to pass, and go for it," Alto said. "If I don't get it, I just hustle back to make sure they don't score on the drive."

The turnovers allowed for a Nicklason press-break layup, followed by one final stop on defense for BHS as time expired. And, behind its defensive efforts, Bemidji earned the hard-nosed 51-48 win.

"All three of the losses we've had, we've made it a game at the end, but we haven't been able to finish," said Schreiber. "I'm hoping this will be our stepping stone."

Hildenbrand finished with 14 for BHS, while Nicklason followed with 13. On the other side, Lane (24) and Skog (20) made up 44 of the Patriots' 48 points.

The Jacks are back on the hardwood at 5:45 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 15, for a road matchup against Princeton, where they'll keep Tuesday's win in their back pockets.

"It shows that we can finish. We all wanted to win," Hildenbrand said. "The heart was there and the effort was there, and it showed in the last minutes of the game."

Bemidji 51, Pequot Lakes 48

PL 17 31-48

BHS 22 29-51

Pequot Lakes scorers: O. Lane 24, Ka. Skog 20, Kratochvil 2, Nelson 1, E. Lane 1.

Bemidji scorers: Hildenbrand 14, Nicklason 13, Edlund 6, Mills 6, Alto 4, Cermak 4, M. Flatness 4.