Four Winds/Minnewaukan’s Cailee Hanson attempts a three-pointer from the corner. (Photo by Cameron Carlson)
DEVILS LAKE — In the second half of Thursday’s Lake Region Invitational quarterfinals, Four Winds/Minnewaukan shined.
First, North Star lost to Park River/Fordville-Lankin with a young, new-look squad. Then FW/M beat Nelson County to finalize Friday’s matchups.
North Star has a new coach in town
The Bearcats (0-2) fell 50-30 to Park River/Fordville-Lankin (0-1).
Thursday’s contest was just the second game under first-year head coach Daniel Ahlberg’s tenure.
Ahlberg is the husband of Kirstin Ahlberg, North Star’s volleyball coach. Their daughter Genevieve is an eighth-grader on both the volleyball and basketball teams. Their older daughter, Jorie, is a freshman on the Lake Region State College volleyball team. Their niece Nora, another eighth-grader, is on the basketball team.
“Our program’s kind of been struggling here for the last few years,” Ahlberg said. “I had a daughter [Jorie] last year graduate, so I’ve been around the program watching it for a long time. We just needed a new vibe, I think, and some positivity to come in there. That’s why I wanted to be the new coach.
“We’re going to try to change the culture here to a little more positive and less stressful for the girls. Because I’m a parent, too, and I know the kind of stresses these kids go through anyways. They don’t need someone screaming at them the whole time on the basketball court. We’ve got to find a way to do that and stay competitive, too, at the same time. And we’re going to. This is going to be a process.”
The Bearcats had trouble scoring on Thursday against the Aggies. They did have a better second half, with 21 points after just nine in the first half.
But with four eighth-graders, their youth showed.
“We’re young, inexperienced. Learning still,” Ahlberg said. “It’s a new coaching staff and new ideas.”
PR-F/L was led by 15 points from 5-foot-11 junior Lauren Bell.
“Size is going to be tough for us against anybody,” Ahlberg said. “Annabelle Staus [a 6-foot-2 senior], our only size we’ve got, she’s kind of coming off an injury. … But we’re going to pull it together. There’s potential out there.”
Freshman Claire Jorde had three late buckets. She and eighth-grader Blake Nicholas were tied for the team lead with nine points each.
No other Bearcat had more than four points.
“We have to start not being afraid on offense, because that’s where we’re really struggling,” Ahlberg said. “We were just really hesitating, especially in the beginning of the game, to find our way on offense. … I think it’s going to come around, because they’re just so young.”
Indians ride fast start to season-opening win
FW/M, the only Class A team in the bracket, opened its season with a bang.
The Indians (1-0) got out to a 13-0 lead and put Nelson County (0-2) away with a 62-30 win.
“They worked hard out there today,” FW/M head coach Sean Gourd Sr. said. “Our rotations in the beginning — they looked good, actually, but I think they got ahead of us a little bit. They threw over the top and got some lift on us. Some things that we have to clean up. But no, overall, things to look at, things to work on, and I’ll take a good start, I guess, for the season.”
Sophomore Suri Gourd scored the first five Indians points and had nine in the first quarter. FW/M led 17-3 at one point.
“We knew we had to push the pace and get up on defense,” Gourd said. “I think that’s just kind of what we did. We knew what we had to do, and got it done.”
Gourd averaged nearly 21 points per game last year and surpassed 1,000 for her career as a freshman. She stalled a bit in the middle of the game but still led FW/M with 20 points on Thursday. She played physically, looking noticeably bigger and stronger after putting in a ton of work over the offseason.
“I was in the gym almost every single day,” Gourd said. “And so I think that really helped me tonight.”
Nelson County went almost four minutes without scoring. But the Chargers made it as close as a nine-point game, largely because of sophomore Kenley Blasey. She scored eight points in the first quarter and 19 overall to lead Nelson County.
“I think the biggest thing, and when you talk about players like Kenley Blasey and Suri Gourd, they’re not just good by chance. They put their time in,” Nelson County head coach Gus Kueber said. “I think her work ethic is really what separates her and puts her in a good spot.”
Gourd hit two triples in the second half and three overall. That was another point of emphasis in her offseason work, to get better at long-range shooting.
Dru Longie added 11 points for the Indians, while Gracie Jackson had eight and Cailee Hanson had seven.
Gourd Sr. said Longie has “improved tremendously” compared to last year, while Jackson is dealing with an ankle issue but “the adrenaline got going, and she looked good.”
Nelson County’s Aubree Christinson made a three in the second half — one of just three field goals by players other than Blasey for the Chargers.
Kueber still thought his team improved from Monday’s 57-46 loss to Cavalier.
“We were kind of going through a learning curve there. A few more turnovers and missed box-outs than we should have had,” Kueber said. “And then today, I thought we had a step in the right direction, anyway. And they’re a very talented team; Suri Gourd, we kind of knew going into it. … Our biggest thing was just make it difficult for her to have to do anything. And we like the fight we saw out of our kids. … I felt like we kind of weathered that storm and battled with them for the most part.”
Nelson County and North Star play each other in the second game on Friday, at approximately 4:30 p.m. FW/M faces PR-F/L in a semifinal game to close out the evening.
“They’ve got a good team over there. Jonathan Berg, he’s got some nice posts, I see,” Gourd Sr. said of the Aggies. “And they’ve got a little fast guard, No. 10. She works hard, it looks like. And he’s got them working hard over there. They’re not going to be a pushover. They’re going to be ready for us. And hopefully we’re ready for them.”
