The Fertile-Beltrami Falcons Girl’s Basketball team took a late lead and won a tight contest 54-49 against the Red Lake Falls Eagles at Fertile-Beltrami High School.
FIRST HALF
Fertile-Beltrami started the game with Tori Erickson getting a lay-up to score on the Falcon’s first possession. The offenses went quiet for the next few minutes before Jordan Wieland got the first bucket for Red Lake Falls at 3:00 into the game. The teams traded two-pointers before Fertile Beltrami’s Madison Stueness hit a three to give the Falcons a 7-4 lead. The Falcons extended their lead to 12-6 when Sidney Erickson hit a three-point shot.
Weiland made it 12-9 after a nice drive into the paint for the lay-up. The teams went back and forth until Erickson hit a lay-up to give the Falcons a 19-15 lead. Red Lake Falls responded with an 8-0 run, including two buckets from Shandi Nelson, to make it 23-21 Eagles. Stueness tied it up at 23-23 with a jumper before a free throw and a lay-up from Nelson gave the Eagles the lead back at 26-23. Tia Wepry hit a three and two free throws to give the Falcons a 28-26 lead before Nelson ended the half with a jumper for the Eagles to tie it up at 28-28 and send the game to halftime.
SECOND HALF
Fertile-Beltrami started the quarter with Katrina Hitchen hitting a three to give the Falcons a 31-28 lead. Stephanie Miller hit a three one minute later to make it 34-30 Falcons. Red Lake Falls responded with an 8-0 run, including two buckets from Elizabeth Lytle. The Falcons tied it up at 38-38 with a jumper from Bailey Iverson before Lytle scored two more buckets to make it 42-38 with 10 minutes left in the game.
Both teams started to play stout defense as the scoring became less frequent for the next three minutes. Fertile-Beltrami’s Bailey Iverson hit a lay-up and a free-throw to tie it up at 45-45. Red Lake Fall’s Nelson hit two free throws to give the Eagles a 47-45 before Stueness hit a free throw, and Erickson drove for a tough lay-up to give the Falcons a 48-47. Wieland hit a bucket ten seconds later to reclaim the lead for the Eagles before Stueness responded with a jumper to give the lead back to the Falcons, 50-49. Stueness hit a two-pointer to make it 52-49 before Hitchen hit a long two to put the game away and give Fertile-Beltrami a 54-49 victory.
Fertile-Beltrami improves to 1-1 and hosts Win-E-Mac on Tuesday. Red Lake Falls to 0-2 and heads to Climax-Fisher on Monday.
TO LISTEN TO FALCON HEAD COACH KELLY STENE’S POST-GAME COMMENTS, CLICK BELOW:
TO LISTEN TO EAGLE HEAD COACH PETE HAGL’S POST-GAME COMMENTS, CLICK BELOW:
| 1st Half | 2nd Half | Final | |
| Red Lake Falls | 28 | 21 | 49 |
| Fertile-Beltrami | 28 | 26 | 54 |
For Red Lake Falls –
Shandi Nelson- 21 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals
Jordan Wieland- 16 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 2 steals
Elizabeth Lytle- 10 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal
Kayla Schafer- 2 points, 3 rebounds 2 assists
For Fertile-Beltrami-
Tori Erickson- 14 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals
Madison Stueness- 12 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assists, 3 steals
Katrina Hitchen- 8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals
Bailey Iverson- 7 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists
Tia Wepry- 5 points, 3 assists, 2 steals
Sidney Erickson- 3 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal
Stephanie Miller- 3 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals
Mya Haaven- 2 points, 1 rebound
