sports

RED LAKE FALLS GIRL’S BASKETBALL USES MULTIPLE RUNS TO DEFEAT SACRED HEART IN SECTION 8A TOURNAMENT

March 1, 2022

The Red Lake Falls Eagles Girl’s Basketball team hosted the Sacred Heart Eagles on Tuesday night in the opening round of the Section 8A Tournament. Red Lake Falls came into the matchup as the #7 seed in the West Sub-Section, while Sacred Heart was the #10 seed in the West Sub-Section. Red Lake Falls defeated Sacred Heart in both of their matchups in the regular season, and it was no different this time around, as Red Lake Falls built an early lead and never looked back on their way to a 61-22 win. “I’m proud of the girls for the effort tonight,” said Red Lake Falls Head Coach Brian Remick. “They did everything they needed to do to win this game.”

FIRST HALF –
Red Lake Falls came out of the gates firing on all cylinders and took an early 6-2 lead. They continued to stretch the lead thanks to strong defense and layups in transition off of Sacred Heart turnovers. After pulling ahead 13-7, they would take control of the game and go on a 15-0 run over the span of five minutes to take a commanding 28-7 lead with just under six minutes to play in the first half. “I thought we did a great job defending all night and forcing turnovers,” said Red Lake Falls Head Coach Brian Remick. “Especially during our run in the first half we did a great job of playing with energy and passion and that showed tonight.” Sacred Heart finally put an end to the run with buckets from Grace Vonesh and Isabel Vonesh, and Red Lake Falls led 30-12 with three minutes left to play in the first half. Gabby Casavan led the way in the first half for Red Lake Falls, and finished the first eighteen minutes strong, hitting a free throw and scoring a layup late to help Red Lake Falls take a 35-14 lead into the halftime break. Casavan had 11 points in the first half, while Sacred Heart was led by Grace Vonish with 4 points. Red Lake Falls was also able to snag 11 steals in the opening half of play to help build the lead.

SECOND HALF –
Red Lake Falls put the game away for good early in the second half scoring 14 straight points in the first seven minutes to take a 48-14 lead. Gabby Casavan helped lead the way once again scoring seven points in the run. “Gabby (Casavan) is a great player,” said Red Lake Falls Head Coach Brian Remick. “She does a great job of chipping in different ways and when she is ready to play it makes our entire team better.” She would finish the game with 24 points. A few minutes later Red Lake Falls would go up by 35+ with a 57-21 lead, making the remaining eight minutes of the game running time per Minnesota State High School League rules. Each team would get a couple of more baskets for a final score of 61-22 Red Lake Falls. Red Lake Falls’s defense was even more impressive in the second half, as they outscored Sacred Heart 26-8.

Red Lake Falls improves to 8-17 and will continue their season on Thursday night when they travel to Greenbush to take on the #2 seed in the West Sub-Section, Badger-Greenbush-Middle River. “They are a very solid team,” said Red Lake Falls Head Coach Brian Remick. “They are very disciplined, and we will need to do a lot of what we did tonight on Thursday to have success.” If Red Lake Falls can pull off the upset in that game, they will get the opportunity to play in the Section 8A quarterfinals at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Falls on Saturday. The game Thursday is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. Sacred Heart ends its season with a record of 2-24.

	1st	2nd	Final
Sacred Heart	14	8	22
Red Lake Falls	35	26	61

Red Lake Falls	Points	Rebounds	Assists/Steals
Gabby Casavan	24	5	1 assist2 steals
Brooklyn Cardinal	11	6	4 assists/3 steals
Shandi Nelson	10	7	1 assist/4 steals
Grace Harmoning	4	3	1 assist/1 steal
Hailey Broden	4	4	1 steal
Brea Desrosier	3	2	1 assist/1 steal
Savanna Nelson	2	1
Emma Knott	2	1	2 steals
Alexis Swendra	1	4	1 block