Henning ends regular season with 24-2 record

Photos by Chad Koenen
Faith Fisher (above) and Gretchen Eckhoff (below) drive to the basket during last week’s non-conference game against Underwood.

The Henning girls basketball team wrapped up their regular season with a couple of games this past week. 

The week got stretched out a bit more than originally scheduled due to the weather, but the girls finished the regular season with a great 24-2 record after going 1-1 in the two games with those results below.  

“I’m so proud of this great group of young ladies and this part of our season is now over and we move ahead into the playoffs with many other goals,” said head coach Mike Hepola.

The Hornets will head into the Section 6A playoffs with the second seed in a very competitive North Sub-Section.

Lyvia Misegades passes the ball to Gretchen Eckhoff for a 3-point shot in the second half of Tuesday’s 44-41 loss to Underwood.

Henning will host the winner of the pigtail game between Rothsay and Ada-Borup on Thursday night in Henning at 7 p.m. Hepola said the team would love to see a big supportive Henning crowd out and about for these girls.  

vs. Underwood, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 44-41 loss

On Tuesday the Hornets hosted the Underwood Rockets in a big game in which Henning knew they were most likely battling for the top seed in the playoffs.  Underwood has a really good team with unbelievable size as they are 5’10 or bigger in all of their starting spots. As a result, head coach Mike Hepola said the Hornets knew they would have to hit some shots. 

Natalie Eckhof and Lyvia Misegades attempt to block an Underwood shot in the lane on Tuesday night.

The first half was a defensive battle back and forth and the Hornets headed into halftime  trailing 21-16.  

The second half started out really tough as Underwood went on a run to build up a 13-point lead, but the Hornets fought all the way back and took a brief lead late in the ball game, before ultimately losing by the final score of 44-41.  

“I was really proud of our defensive effort and our fight on both ends of the court, we just unfortunately had a tough shooting night as we only made 25 percent of our shots and as coaches we had no problem with the majority of the shots we got,” said Hepola. 

Becca Frederick goes up for 2 points during Tuesday’s game against the Rockets. She finished the game with 9 points.

Individually Henning was led by Ally Hart with 10 points while Becca Frederick, Natalie Eckhoff and Lyvia Misegades all just missed double figures with 9 points each.  Faith Fisher and Gretchen Eckhoff 2 points each rounded out the scoring.  Misegades led the team with 14 rebounds and 5 assists while Gretchen Eckhoff led the team with 3 steals.  

Individual stats

Faith Fisher 2 pts, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal

Becca Frederick 9 pts, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

Ally Hart 10 pts, 4 rebounds

Gretchen Eckhoff 2 pts, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals

Natalie Eckhoff 9 pts, 5 rebounds

Lyvia Misegades 9 pts, 14 rebounds, 5 assists

at Parkers Prairie, Saturday Feb. 25, 73-45 win 

On Saturday Henning traveled to Parkers Prairie to make up a snowed out game previously scheduled for Thursday.  The girls did a great job of coming out strong both offensively and defensively in this one as they held a 38-19 lead at halftime.  In the second half they continued to do great things and got the lead up to 36 points at one point. A great overall team effort on both ends of the court. 

Ally Hart had a great offensive night as she scored a career high 29 points ,including hitting 5-7 shots from behind the 3-point point line. She was joined in double figures by Faith Fisher with 13 points and Lyvia Misegades with 12 points.  Natalie Eckhoff had a very nice game with 7 points.  Becca Frederick 5 points, Ava Eckhoff 4 points, Alivia Gunderson 2 points and Ella Missling 1 point rounded out the scoring.  

Misegades continued her dominant rebounding with another double-double grabbing a game high 14 rebounds. Fisher led the team with 5 assists and Natalie Eckhoff led the team with 5 steals.

Individual stats

Faith Fisher 13 pts, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal

Becca Frederick 5 pts, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal

Ella Missling 1 pt

Ally Hart 29 pts, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals

Tiffany Weber 1 rebound

Aaliyah Olson 2 rebounds, 2 assists

Gretchen Eckhoff 2 rebounds, 1 steal

Natalie Eckhoff 7 pts, 5 rebounds, 5 steals

Lyvia Misegades 12 pts, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals

Ava Eckhoff 4 pts, 3 rebounds, 2 assists

Alivia Gunderson 2 pts