From left, the Broncos’ Jena Sullivan and Eveleth-Gilbert’s Cora Delich battle for the ball inside the lane in Thursday night’s game in the Falls High School gym.
In front from left, the Broncos’ Abby Auran (13) clears the puck out of the zone while being pursued by Warroad’s Tanesha Lussier (11) in Thursday night’s game at Bronco Arena.
The International Falls girls hockey team wasn’t able to score until the final period Thursday night when the Broncos lost at home to Warroad, 6-1.
“It was a tough night – (Warroad is) a good team,” said Broncos head coach Gerald Bolstad. “I don’t think we came out very good. We kind of were flatfooted the first period. They took it to us, got up three (goals), and we were kind of down and out, but the kids competed hard after that.”
The Warriors pulled out to a 3-0 lead after the first period with a goal from Madison Oelkers and two scores from Mariah Gardner.
Gardner then recorded a hat trick when she scored the second period’s only goal.
Warroad picked up its final two goals early in the third period when Francesca Huerd and Brooke Hellquist scored.
Falls’ only goal of the game came with 12:32 left in the third period when Lexi Edwards scored assisted by Amber Tilander.
In the game’s final minutes, the Broncos were on the power play with a five-on-three advantage after multiple penalties were committed by Warroad, which ended up with 11 penalties for the game. However, the Falls was unable to add another goal before time expired.
Shot on goal favored the Warriors, 36-25, with Emma Brunelle recording the win in net and Kalaya McConnell picking up the loss for the Broncos.
The loss dropped the Falls’ season record to 8-11 going into Friday’s road game against North Shore.
“We’ve got to get better defensively,” Bolstad said. “I thought we had a lot of breakdowns in our own end, so we’ve got to work on that.”
Warroad 6, Int'l Falls 1
Warroad 3 1 2 – 6
Int'l Falls 0 0 1 – 1
The 17-year-old International Falls High School senior is a forward and captain on the Bronco boys hockey team.
Zach Simon
After trailing by three points at halftime Tuesday night, the Littlefork-Big Falls boys basketball team had a scoring drought for about 5-6 minutes in the second half and ended up losing at Bigfork, 72-65.
“We were on a dry spell and couldn't knock down a shot,” said Vikings head coach Jeff Maish, who noted the game was tied at 41-41 in the second half when L-BF had trouble scoring and fell behind by double digits.
The Vikings had three players score in double figures led by Zach Simon with 21 points. Ryan Bobst added 12 points with Evan Wimmer scoring 11 more.
L-BF, which has lost four games in a row since the first of the year, dropped to 3-9 for the season. The Vikings return to action next Tuesday with a road game against Northeast Range.
SPORTS SCHEDULE
Today’s games
Boys swimming/diving
I. Falls in True Team Meet at Hibbing, 9 a.m.
Women’s/men’s basketball
RRCC at Itasca, 1/3 p.m.
Girls basketball
I. Falls at Two Harbors, 3 p.m.
Women’s hockey
NDSU vs. RRCC at Bronco Arena, 7 p.m.
Sunday’s games
Women’s hockey
NDSU vs. RRCC at Kerry Park, 10 a.m.
Monday’s games
Girls basketball
L-BF at Hill City, 7:15 p.m.
Tuesday’s games
Boys swimming/diving
Eveleth-Gilbert at I. Falls, 4:30 p.m.
Boys basketball
Eveleth-Gilbert at I. Falls, 7:15 p.m.
L-BF at Northeast Range, 7:15 p.m.
Thursday’s games
Girls hockey
Hibbing at I. Falls, 7:30 p.m.
Friday’s games
Women’s/men’s basketball
RRCC at Central Lakes, 6/8 p.m.
Boys basketball
Mesabi East at I. Falls, 7:15 p.m.
Bigfork at L-BF, 7:15 p.m.
Boys hockey
Greenway at I. Falls, 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 24 games
Women’s/men’s basketball
RRCC at Fond du Lac, 1/3 p.m.
Girls hockey
I. Falls at Moose Lake, 2 p.m.
Women’s hockey
RRCC at Minot State, 8 p.m.
Jan. 25 games
Women’s hockey
RRCC at Minot State, 11 a.m.
