Hermantown girls basketball’s second consecutive road game to begin the season -- at nonconference Bemidji and three days after a 60-49 victory at Cloquet -- proved to be a major challenge.
“We saw a tough team against Bemidji (a 70-47 loss),” said Hawks coach Eric Borndal. “Their defensive pressure hurt us in the first half and led to transition offense for them, which put us in a hole at halftime. I did love our response in the second half as we never quit and continued with a competitive attitude.”
Borndal said the loss to the 2-1 Lumberjacks was a major teaching moment for his powerful team, as they prepare for three challenging home games this week.
“We will learn from the Bemidji game and how to deal with ball pressure which we will see this week,” said Borndal. “This week we will see a North Branch team (Tuesday) that knocked us out of the playoffs last year and hope to redeem that game early in the season. Then we see an excellent Proctor team (Thursday) where we will work our butt off to show how we can play against one of the best teams in the area. To wrap up our week, we see Irondale (Saturday) who we beat last year in a tight game and will hope to win the week with a positive record.”
North Branch is 2-1, Proctor 4-0 and Irondale opened its season Tuesday at Mounds View.
The Hawks are led by seniors Olivia Johnson, Hipe Kohanski, Annika Nelson, Izzy Wojtysiak and Mikalya Sweeney, and juniors Bailey Hermanson, Aurora Decker and Danika Bolf, and freshman sensation Jailyn Sherrill.
The Hawks are excited to head into December – when they will play nine games, including four at home -- and see where they can end up by the end of the month, Borndal said.
“Looking at our schedule, nothing will be easy, but we can continue to have a competitive mindset where we are ready to play every game for 36 minutes,” said Borndal.
2024-25 Hermantown Girls Basketball Schedule / Results
At Cloquet – W 60-49. Hawks 1-0 overall, 1-0 in Lake Superior Conference
At Bemidji – L 60-49. Hawks 1-1 and 1-0.
Tuesday – North Branch, 7:15 p.m.
Thursday – Proctor, 7:15 p.m.
Saturday – Irondale, 1:30 p.m.
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.