Jan. 14 -- BEMIDJI -- It was a long night for the Lumberjacks.
The Bemidji High School girls basketball team welcomed Brainerd, a fellow Section 8-4A team, to the BHS Gymnasium Tuesday evening.
The Warriors, ranked No. 9 in the class, wasted no time in flexing their length and stout defense.
After Brainerd jumped out to a quick 5-0 start, senior Margie Anderson responded with a layup and a 3-point basket to knot things up.
However, the Warriors rattled off a 10-2 run, capturing a 15-7 lead over the Lumberjacks. Sandwiched between a 3-pointer from Brainerd, junior Alivia Thompson and freshman Clara Sherwood each nailed a 3-point shot to draw within five points near the 10-minute mark of the first half.
But again, the visitors answered with a major momentum swing. The Warriors outscored the Jacks 18-8 through the remainder of the half, heading to the locker room with a 36-21 lead.
The Lumberjacks, often patient and intent on sending the ball around the court for good looks on offense, had a hard time finding their shots against Brainerd's hounding defenders.
"They're very long and lengthy, and I feel like our guards are not that tall, so it's hard for them to see to make a good pass," junior Anysia Pink said. "They were pretty scrappy and they knew what they were doing."
The second half continued in the same fashion. The Warriors ripped off eight-straight points to open the second frame, ballooning their lead to 44-21.
Though Bemidji managed to put together a few solid offensive possessions as the half wound on, there were not enough consistent runs to claw back from such a hefty deficit. Brainerd's guards continued to pester at the perimeter and clog up the passing lanes, slowing the Jacks' offense to a crawl.
"They're so long," head coach Darin Schultz said. "They've got three girls that are above 6 feet tall, and then the other girls, they create a lot of havoc with their length. Tonight, we just struggled a little bit with getting the ball where we needed to get to."
The Warriors kept the pressure on and cruised to a 76-43 win over BHS, proving its top-10 ranking in Class 4A.
Though it clearly wasn't Bemidji's preferred outcome, Schultz and the Lumberjacks hope to use the matchup against such a strong opponent as a learning opportunity.
"We've got to continue to get better," Schultz said. "Our goal for our team is to play our best basketball come section playoff time. Tonight, even though the score didn't reflect that, I felt like we got better, because we don't get opportunities to go against a team like Brainerd very often. They challenged us tonight and I think we learned and we improved on some things as the game went on, and I'm proud of the way our team competed all night long."
Many of those lessons from Tuesday night will come on offense.
"We learned that, no matter what, we're going to play an aggressive team and we have to come out aggressive," Pink said. "And that to make good passes, you need to fake and then make a good pass and know that, if they have length, it's going to be more of a struggle. But we can find ways to work around that. I think if we work quicker and faster and know what we're doing, that we can get better."
Though the Warriors impressed on defense, Pink still ended up earning a team-high 14 points, continuing to prove her scoring ability no matter the opponent.
"Thanks be to the lord that he blessed me with this game," Pink said. "(Scoring) does give me a little confidence and it helps me with other games knowing that my confidence is found in the lord. And I know that, no matter what, I know what I can do. I'm gonna still play to the best of my ability."
Senior Matjea Malterud was next up on the statsheet, nabbing seven points for Bemidji.
Sherwood provided an offensive boost off the bench for BHS, stepping up to fill in an absence on the roster.
"She's just a freshman and she does a lot of things well," Schultz said. "Offensively, her court vision and her passing are truly elite. She has the ability to see the floor and find the open play and she has the ability to hit shots. As a freshman, she's continuing to learn and get better every single day. She comes in, she works hard and I'm proud of the way she came in and played well tonight."
The freshman nailed a pair of 3-pointers for six points, the third-highest point total on the team.
"I was so excited for her," Pink said. "I was so happy that she got to get those and get that opportunity, that's such a highlight."
Brainerd -- Thomes 19, Bjorklund 16, Castle 15, Tautges 10, Black Lance 9, Soens 6, Gondriner 1.
Bemidji -- Pink 14, Malterud 7, Sherwood 6, Thompson 5, Anderson 5, Bieber 4, Birt 2.