Turnovers hurt Prowlers in opening night loss to Nuggets

Thief River Falls girls basketball team struggled to protect the ball in their season-opener Thursday (Jan. 14) at Lincoln High School. The Prowlers turned the ball over 28 times in a 64-29 to the Hawley Nuggets.

Hawley, which went 23-6 and reached the Section 8AA semifinals in 2019-20, was efficient with the basketball. The Nuggets turned the ball over just four times in the contest, while shooting over 50 percent (19 of 37) from inside the arch and a respectable 5 of 18 beyond the arch.

“Hawley is a tough team and very good at both ends of the court,” said Thief River Falls Head Coach Laura Fay. “They have girls that can shoot from the inside and outside easily and they take care of the ball as they only had 4 turnovers. They like to push the ball up the court and play at a fast temp which is something that we need to work on to defend against that.”

Thief River Falls, which had three sophomores in its starting five – Kendal Rantanen, Maren Espe and Brylee Lingen – had a hard time getting clean shots against Hawley’s aggressive and more experienced defense. The Prowlers were held to just 34 field goal attempts in the game, going 10 of 28 from inside the arch and one of six in three-point field goal attempts.

The Nuggets led 37-21 at the half and pulled away in the second half with a 27-8 advantage.

Junior Olivia Hawkins was the only Prowler to reach double figures in scoring, with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

“This year, we are working on rebuilding our team,” Fay said. “We graduated eight seniors last year and have three players that saw significant floor time last year returning. We will be looking to them for leadership on the court.

“Last night, we started three sophomores as they are strong players for us and will be some of our key players for the season. Olivia

Hawkins was and will continue to be a big key for us on the inside. She took a lot last night and she held her ground and was able to give us 11 points. We have things we need to keep working on. Turnovers hurt us again last night. We will be working on getting that number down again this season and also learning how to work together as many of the girls on our team this year didn’t see a lot of floor time last season.”

Scoring                       1    2     T

Hawley………………..37  27   64

Thief River Falls…. 21    8    29

Hawley – Adi Dauner 1, Anna Steer 11, Kylie Crabtree 12, Kaylie Crabtree 10, Alex Eilertson 2, Abigail Rux 4, Lily Peterson 9, Morgan Ames 4, Grace Flemming 6, Paige Blakeway 2, Unknown Name 3.

TRF – Abby Flaagan 3, Brooklyn Brouse 1, Jeanne Olson 2, Gwen Stengrim 2, Brylee Lingen 3, Sydney Reierson 2, Trista Spears 5, Olivia Hawkins 11.