Sports

Howie Prep Sports Notebook: Hawks girls hoopsters 8-2 to start 2025

, and Editor

December 31, 2024 . 11:09 AM

3 min read

Hermantown defeated Duluth Denfeld 69-38 in a Lake Superior Conference matchup before the holiday break. Howie / HowieHanson.com

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Hermantown girls basketball coach Eric Borndal was noticeably pleased by his team's effort following a 68-50 victory at Esko last Friday night. “We had, perhaps, our best first half of the year scoring 41 points,” Borndal said of the impressive nonconference win, the Hawks’ sixth straight and eighth in 10 games to begin the season.

“We are getting better at finding our post players in the paint, making the right reads, and finishing,” Borndahl continued. “We need to become more consistent for a whole game, but we're happy to come out on top against Esko, who we will see later in the year.”

Hermantown, led by shooting guard Bailey Hermanson and center Olivia Johnson, will visit Duluth East on Friday night – the third game in a rare nine-game road stretch.

“We start 2025 against a very tough East team who is relentless on defense, patient on offense, and will give us a very good test to start the new year,” said Borndal. “We trust that if we can handle their pressure and will find opportunities to score. We have a variety of defensive looks we can throw at them, and trust that our depth will give us an advantage down the stretch.”

“After the East game, we head out west to play East Grand Forks and Crookston, which will be an excellent opportunity to work on our chemistry and learn how to play on the road with a very different routine.”