Feb. 13—BEMIDJI — Fosston's Brielle Duppong tried to deplete Cass Lake-Bena's morale at the end of the first half with her 3-point shooting.
It didn't work.
To her credit, she was as hot from long-range as anyone could be. In the final minute and a half in the opening frame, she sank four triples, including a buzzer-beater, to head into halftime up 30-23.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFrustration filled the Panthers' locker room, and understandably so. But they collectively took a deep breath and made some defensive adjustments in the second half, making Duppong a priority.
The strategy worked wonders. The Panthers started the second half with a 12-0 run, firmly taking control of the lead for the first time in the game, 35-30.
Even though Fosston got the lead down to one point with 30 seconds left, CLB ended up pulling it out 54-51 on Friday in the 218 Sports Showcase at the Sanford Center.
Head coach Martin Wind was proud of his team's defensive effort, especially in the second half. After getting five 3-pointers in the first half, Duppong didn't drop another one from long-range the rest of the way.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"We went back to what we normally do, (which) is stick on the shooter," Wind said of CLB's defense. "We shaded towards (Duppong), that was the main concern at halftime. ... We gave up a couple easy buckets as long as we didn't let her get hot again."
Before Duppong's barrage in the final minutes, the first half was about as back-and-forth as it could get. There were eight lead changes between the two teams, with no team holding a lead higher than four.
The Panthers took control with their 12-0 run in the second half. With every big stop, their bench got louder and louder, helping the defense gain more confidence.
"We tell our bench to be hype as much as we can," junior Anika Wind said. "We feed off of the energy."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCass Lake-Bena's largest lead was eight, a 50-42 ledge with five minutes remaining. That's when Fosston started to find a rhythm offensively, going on a 9-2 run to shrink CLB's lead to only one, 52-51, with 30 seconds left.
With 11 seconds left, Jordince Wind made a long, football-like inbound pass over everyone's heads to Anika Wind. She was intentionally fouled and sank both critical free throws en route to the win.
"We've never worked on that," Anika said of the inbound pass. "We just drew it up and we knew what to do."
Despite the Greyhounds' right on their tails at the end of the game, Coach Wind made sure his players stayed steady down the stretch.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"I told them to stay calm and stay focused, just trust their offense, and that's what they did," Coach Wind said of CLB's late-game strategy. "We set a really good screen, shared the ball and got a couple of easy layups."
CLB's offense was led by the one-two punch of Jordince and Anika on Friday. Jordince finished the game with 13 points, nine of them from above the arc, while Anika scored 15 points.
Anika was lights out from the charity stripe, going 6-for-7 in free throws.
"(In the first half), they got out on our shooters, and then we shared the ball really well," Coach Wind said. "That was our main thing at halftime, also was just share the ball better than we did in the first half."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Panthers have a young team, with no seniors and a few middle schoolers. A big difference in this year's team is the loss of Gabby Fineday, who graduated last year as CLB's all-time points leader.
As expected, there's been a lot of ups and downs, but the Panthers still have a positive record at 12-9.
"It's really nice to see the growth in a lot of the girls," Coach Wind said. "Tiara Wilson, she's really come out of her shell now, she's doing really well. We're really, really young, so it's nice to see them come out of their shells and share the basketball, be comfortable, make an extra pass."
Cass Lake-Bena 54, Fosston 51
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFOS 30 21 — 51
CLB 23 31 — 54
Fosston — Duppong 26, Fonder 10, Hove 7, Anderson 3, Johnson 2, Illies 2, Klinkhammer 1.
Cass Lake-Bena — A. Wind 15, J. Wind 13, T. Wind 9, T. Wilson 6, Fairbanks 5, Graves 4, Blue-Robinson 2.
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