The Henning girls basketball team had a big week last week with their first two Park Region Conference games of the season. The Hornets hosted Menahga on Tuesday, before traveling to Pillager on Friday night.  

The team had some injury issues, but head coach Mike Hepola said the girls did a great job of playing together and when someone wasn’t able to play others stepped up.

At the end of the week, the Hornets had two very nice team wins to improve their record to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the conference.  

Tuesday vs. Menahga 73-49 win

On Tuesday night the Hornets hosted the defending conference champion Menahga. Even though the Braves graduated a bunch of players, they are always a tough team to play.  

Henning was playing without Ally Hart, one of the Hornets top players, but others stepped up. 

Head coach Mike Hepola said the girls did a nice job offensively in the first half scoring 33 points. Early on the team did a bad job defensively fouling too much and gave them too many free throws, but after having 7 team fouls with 7 minutes left in the first half, Henning ended the half with only those 7 fouls and held a 33-22 lead going into halftime.  

In the second half, Henning was able to continue the good offense scoring another 40 points, but fouled a bunch early on again before making the adjustment again and ultimately winning by the final score of 73-49. Hepola said it was a really big and nice team win over a good conference team.  

Individually the Hornets were led by two girls with over 20 points as Faith Fisher led the team with 26 points and Lyvia Misegades was just behind her with 22 points. 

Becca Frederick just missed joining them in double-figures with 9 points followed by Natalie Eckhoff with 7 points, Aaliyah Olson 3 points, Lily Fraki, Gretchen Eckhoff and Ava Eckhoff all with 2 points each.  

Misegades finished with a double-double as she led the team with 11 rebounds, followed by Natalie Eckhoff and Frederick with 6 rebounds each. Frederick led the team with 6 assists followed by Misegades with 2 assists. Fisher led the team with 4 steals.  

Individual stats

Faith Fisher 26 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 steals

Becca Frederick 9 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists

Lily Fraki 2 points, 5 rebounds

Aaliyah Olson 3 points, 1 assist

Gretchen Eckhoff 2 points

Natalie Eckhoff 7 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals

Lyvia Misegades 22 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals

Ava Eckhoff 2 points, 5 rebounds

Alivia Gunderson 1 assist

Friday at Pillager 

76-38 win

On Friday night the Hornets traveled to Pillager to take on a good Pillager team. Henning had lost a tough one in Pillager last year so the girls were definitely looking to try and make up for that one. The team got off to a real nice start as they held a 44-26 halftime lead thanks to a great shooting half in which the Hornets hit seven 3-ptrs against their zone with five different girls hitting those shots.  The second half the Hornets did a much better job on the defensive end holding them to just 12 points and continued to score at a decent rate with 33 points to win by the final score of 76-38.

A nice balanced team win in this one with 4 girls scoring in double-figures led by Faith Fisher with 26 points. Lyvia Misegades 14 points, Natalie Eckhoff 12 points and Becca Frederick joined Fisher in double-figures.  Lily Fraki hit a couple big 3-pointers in the first half to finish with 6 points. 

Frederick had a great overall game as she led the team in rebounding with 6 and assists with 5. Natalie Eckhoff and Misegades led the team with 3 steals each.  

Individual stats

Faith Fisher 26 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal

Becca Frederick 10 points, 6 rebounds 5 assists

Lily Fraki 6 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal

Ella Missling 2 points

Ally Hart 3 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal

Aaliyah Olson 3 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist

Gretchen Eckhoff 2 rebounds, 1 assist

Natalie Eckhoff 12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals

Lyvia Misegades 14 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals

Ava Eckhoff 2 rebounds, 1 assist

Alivia Gunderson 1 steal

The girls have a big week coming up with 3 games as they host Staples-Motley on Tuesday and host Sebeka on Thursday, before traveling to Rothsay on Friday.