Tuesday, Pillager Win 72-49

On Tuesday night the girls basketball team hosted the Pillager Huskies in a Park Region Conference game.  Pillager came into the game with a 4-2 overall record and 3-1 in the conference and Henning knew they couldn’t take them lightly.  

The Hornets jumped out to a quick 11-0 start on them, but the Huskies came back, and gave Henning some problems on the offensive end. Henning held a 32-24 halftime lead.  

In the second half the Hornets were able to make some good adjustments and really came out and shot the ball well from the 3-point line. Henning hit 9-10 from behind the 3-point line in the second half to extend their lead to as many as 29 points in the second half, before ultimately winning by the final score of 72-49.

Head Coach Mike Hepola said it was another good team win as they battled to shore up a couple things on both ends of the court.  The team had 16 assists on 25 made shots, had had 27 points off of turnovers with 21 of them coming in transition.  

The Hornets had three players in double-figures with Ellie Dague leading the way with 31 points followed by Megan Weber with 11 points and Faith Fisher with 10 points.  Ally Hart had another solid game just missing out on double-figure scoring as she tallied 9.  Becca Frederick and Megan Rinicker both scored 4 points while Makena Kenyon 2 points and Kylie Frederick 1 point rounded out the scoring for the game.

Fisher did a great job of finding the open player when she was covered and led the team with 7 assists.  Kylie Frederick and Megan Rinicker led the team with 5 rebounds each followed by Ellie and Becca with 4 each.  

Fisher also led the way with 5 steals on the defensive end.  

Offensively, a couple big team stats were Henning’s shooting where they hit 12-18 and their 3-point shooting where they finished an impressive 10-16 for 62.5 percent. A nice win against a scrappy Pillager team who continues to improve.   

Friday, Sebeka Win 59-34

On Friday night the Hornets hosted the Sebeka Trojans in another Park Region Conference game.  

Prior to the game Henning recognized last season’t state tournament team as they got their banner hung up in the gym. Head Coach Mike Hepola said it was great to have all five seniors from last year’s team able to make it back for the game. Unfortunately, Hepola said the team was missing one player from that team due to work, but the girls were all able to see her later after the game so it was great seeing that group get a chance to interact and reminisce.  

Henning got off to a little bit of a slow start as Sebeka came out playing hard and the Hornets were behind 10-7 early on. The girls were able to turn it around on both ends of the court and held a 31-17 halftime lead. The second half saw some back and forth, but Henning was able to come away with the 59-34 victory.

Hepola said he was not able to provide accurate individual stats at this time other than scoring, but as a team they did a nice job of out-rebounding Sebeka by a 48-32 margin.  Henning’s transition offense was also a huge key in this game as it led to a 14-2 advantage in that category.  

Offensively the Hornets were led by Ellie Dague with 23 points. Sophomore guards Ally Hart and Faith Fisher just missed out on double-figures finishing with 9 and 8 points respectively. Megan Weber had 5 points, Kylie Frederick 4 points and Megan Rinicker also 4 points. Rounding out the scoring were Becca Frederick with 3, Grace Hammer 2 and Makena Kenyon 1. 

The win brings Henning’s record to 7-1 overall and 6-0 in the conference.  

This week Henning will have a couple big home games as they host a conference game against Wadena on Thursday night and then a sub-section opponent off to a great start at 6-1, Underwood here on Saturday.