Hermantown turned more than a few heads with an impressive 60-49 season-opening victory over Cloquet in high school girls basketball on Saturday afternoon at Cloquet Middle School.
And Hawks first-year head coach Eric Borndal collected his first win, in what he called “a rollercoaster of a first game.”
“We started out well, got into some foul trouble, and ended up with a close halftime score,” he said of the Lake Superior Conference win. “I was very impressed by how we responded in the second half and were finally able to get away from a very gritty Cloquet team.”
Borndal said the Hawks are still learning to work together and create mismatches on both ends of the floor.
“It was nice to see Bailey Hermanson, Hope Kohanski, Jailyn Sherrill and Aurora Decker spread out the majority of our scoring,” he said. “It is also wonderful to be able to play eleven players, which is something I'm hoping we will continue to be able to do.”
Hermantown (1-0) visits nonconference Bemidji (1-1) at 7:15 today.
Borndal expects Bemidji to pressure the Hawks with tenacious guard play.
“If we can break their pressure I think we will have some nice offensive opportunities in transition,” he said of the nonconference matchup. “More than anything, I hope to see a competitive mindset whether things are going well or not. This is a long season, but if we learn to compete for 36 minutes each game, I think by the end we'll be happy with where we end up.”
2024-25 Hermantown Girls Basketball Schedule / Results
At Cloquet – W 60-49. Hawks 1-0 overall, 1-0 in Lake Superior Conference
Today – at Bemidji (1-1)
Dec. 3 – North Branch
Dec. 5 – Proctor
Dec. 7 – Irondale
Dec. 10 – Chisago Lakes
Dec. 13 – at Grand Rapids
Dec. 17 – Cloquet
Dec. 20 – at Duluth Denfeld
Dec. 26-27 – at Esko Tournament
Jan. 3 – at Duluth East
Jan. 10 – at East Grand Forks
Jan. 11 – at Crookston
Jan. 14 – at Rock Ridge
Jan. 16 – at Proctor
Jan. 21 – at Hibbing
Jan. 28 – at Superior
Jan. 30 – at Mesabi East
Feb. 6 – Grand Rapids
Feb. 7 – Duluth Marshall
Feb. 11 – Hibbing
Feb. 13 – Esko
Feb. 18 – Duluth East
Feb. 20 – at North Woods
Feb. 26, Mar. 1, Mar. 6 – Section Tournament
Home games listed in boldface.