Hanson leads LOW over Drakes 43-29

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Feb. 26, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

Despite a meager 8-14 overall record, the No. 1-seeded Lake of the Woods Bears downed the No. 4-rated Blackduck Drakes 43-29 in the first Sub-Section 29A semifinal played at BSU Gymnasium Thursday night.

The Drakes just did not have an answer for Bears' center Heather Hanson who tore up the paint with 25 points, several steals and a couple of blocks.

"She's our staple. She kept us in the first half (when it was a battle)," Bears coach Eric Kalli said after the game. "It's not unheard of for her to have 25 points in a game."

Drakes coach Rick Kehoe explained it even better.

"We knew they were going to throw it to Hanson. I told them for three days you have to know where she is and collapse when she has the ball," he said. "She just played a hell of a game."

However, the game simply boiled down to two factors.

Hanson shot 8-of-9 from the field in the first half, posting 17 of the Bears' 18 points. She was unstoppable.

And the Drakes shot only 6-of-22 in the first half, a paltry percentage they could not afford.

In the second half there was just more of the same.

Hanson poured in another eight points on 4-of-5 shooting, while this time she had held from Kayla Larson who added six points.

And forced by desperation, the Drakes just shot worse. They finished 6-of-24 in the second half, while scoring only two buckets in the final period.

"We're not a good shooting team to begin with," Kehoe said, "and when we don't shoot up to our normal expectation ... it's tough on us."

Indeed it was.

The Drakes were led by Layne Backer, who scored 11 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field. She also scored most of her points in the first half, before her shooting went cold in the second.

"Layne getting hot early was keeping us in the game," Kehoe said. "We just never go into an offensive flow. We tried everything."

Lakes of the Woods improved to 8-14 overall and will advance to play Kelliher-Northome in the Sub-Section 29A final Saturday at BSU at 2 p.m.

The Drakes ended their season with a 6-18 record.