Photo finish: Tigers nip Wolves 42-41

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. 24, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

Free throws. Free throws. Free throws.

Had the third-seeded Nevis Tigers hit more of their free throws in the fourth period Tuesday night, they wouldn't have needed a last-second free throw to beat sixth-seeded Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 42-41 in Section 6A East playoff action at BSU Gymnasium.

The Tigers, who improved to 11-12 overall, were up as many as 10 points three times in the fourth, only to let the scrappy W-H-A Wolves battle back to tie the game at 41-41 with about 50 seconds remaining.

Entering the fourth, the Wolves were behind by 10, and they still struggled until about 3 minutes remaining in the contest.

The Wolves' tactic of fouling the Tigers and making them shoot free throws to win worked. The Tigers had 20 shots from the line in the fourth quarter, but made only 10 of them.

The result was a slowed rhythm in the game which gave the Wolves their opportunity to catch up, and they didn't waste it.

"When there was some flow to the game we were in control," Tigers coach Scott Kramer said. "But we didn't make our free throws in the fourth. Previously, we've done pretty well (shooting free throws). We've even won some games with them."

W-H-A used a late 9-0 scoring run to finally tie the game with about 50 seconds left.

On Nevis' next possession, senior Alison Smith was called for traveling, making it seem that with the momentum swinging toward the Wolves that turnover could be devastating.

But the Wolves took the ball down court and wasted almost 30 seconds off the clock, and let Nevis knock the ball out of bounds.

The Wolves then blew their inbounds play turning the ball over and fouled Nevis' Smith with about five seconds left.

She missed the first free throw, but made the second, redeeming her earlier travel call by hitting the game-winning shot.

However, it was Heidi Nelson who ultimately won the game for the Tigers. The versatile senor not only started at the center position for Nevis, but later handled the ball protection duties in the fourth quarter as well.

She finished with 14 points, six of them coming at key moments in the fourth.

"Heidi handled the ball well down the stretch and hit some key shots," Kramer said. "But we have to play her inside because she's our biggest player at 5-foot-9. She does better outside, but there's on one else to do the job."

The Wolves did get the ball down the court and Mandy Moore got off a controversial, last-second shot that missed.

It did look as if she was fouled in the process, but the game's officials didn't make a call.

Moore was the Wolves' leading scorer with 13 on 5-of-21 shooting from the field.

"I was hoping we could have pressed earlier to build a lead," Kramer said. "But even with our 10-point lead (in the second half), it wasn't big enough."

Wolves' coach Jim Lien was unavailable for comment.