Henning to take on Underwood on Tuesday

Gretchen Eckhoff guards an Ada-Borup West player near the 3-point line during Thursday’s sub section opener in Henning.
Ally Hart scored 11 points during Thursday’s sub section opener against Ada-Borup West.

The ninth ranked and second seeded Henning Hornets started playoffs this past week as they hosted Ada-Borup on Thursday night. The Hornets were able to come away with a 68-44 win to advance to Saturday ‘s sub section semi-final game against third seeded Breckenridge in Perham. Head coach Mike Hepola said the girls did a great job against another tough team and left with a 67-57 win.  

With the pair of wins, the Hornets have advanced to Tuesday’s sub section finals against eighth ranked and top seeded Underwood. The game will be held in Perham and will tip off at 7 p.m.

The winner of the game will advance to Friday’s Section 6A finals against the south sub section winner (either 11th ranked Hancock or Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. The Section 6A championship will take place on Friday night at 7 p.m. in Fergus Falls. 

vs. Ada-Borup, Thursday March 2, 68-44 win

On Thursday night Henning hosted Ada-Borup after their win against Rothsay earlier in the week.

Lily Fraki drives to the basket during Thursday’s game in Henning.

Head coach Mike Hepola said the team knew the Cougars were a very tough team despite their 10th seed. They have a really tall team and at times had only one girl on the floor shorter than 5’11. However, he said Henning did a great job of using their strengths to combat Ada-Borup’s size. 

The Hornets held a 36-28 halftime lead and then really did a great job defensively in the second half to hold the Cougars to only 16 points to come away with the 68-44 victory.

Individually the Hornets had three players in double figure scoring as Lyvia Misegades led the way with a game high 28 points, followed by Faith Fisher with 16 points and Ally Hart with 11 points.  

Natalie Eckhoff had a good game as well with 5 points while Ava Eckhoff did a great job with 4 points. Becca Frederick and Gretchen Eckhoff rounded out the scoring with 2 points each. 

Misegades led the team in rebounding with 8 rebounds while Natalie Eckhoff continued a great rebounding season from her guard position with 5 on the evening. Hart led the team with 3 assists, while Misegades led the team with 5 steals followed by Fisher with 3 steals.  

Individual stats

Faith Fisher 16 points, 1 rebound, 3 steals

Becca Frederick 2 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal

Lily Fraki 1 assist

Ally Hart 11 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals

Aaliyah Olson 2 rebounds, 1 assist

Gretchen Eckhoff 2 points

Natalie Eckhoff 5 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals

Lyvia Misegades 28 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 5 steals

Ava Eckhoff 4 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal

vs. Breckenridge at Perham, Saturday March 4, 67-57 win

On Saturday Henning traveled to Perham to take on a tough Breckenridge team that played the majority of their season against Class AA teams since they are a part of the Heart O’ Lakes conference.  They have a nice team and the Hornets knew they would have to be ready for a variety of defenses and also a ton of different things on their offensive end.  

Head coach Mike Hepola said the entire team did a great job of preparing, and those that maybe didn’t play much or at all in this game, still had a great amount of influence on this game by their work in practice running the scout stuff and that is such a big part of any successful team.  

The girls got off to a great start holding an early 18 point lead, but some foul trouble allowed Breckenridge to fight back. However, Henning still held a 37-29 halftime lead. In the second half the Hornets got the lead back up to about 17 and then they started hitting some 3-point shots, but the girls kept their composure and did a great job of closing out the game and hitting an amazing 17 of 23 free throws in the second half to come away with a 67-57 win.  Another big key to the victory was Henning’s ability to outrebound Breckenridge 43-31 in the game. 

Individually Henning was led by senior guard Faith Fisher who was able to play the entire game and finished with a game high 29 points.  

Joining Fisher in double figures was Lyvia Misegades with 23 points, her fourth point of the evening allowed her to hit the career milestone of 1,000 career points. She is the ninth girl in Henning history to hit the 1,000 career point mark and second member of the girls team to hit that miletstone this season as Fisher scored her 1,000th point earlier this season. 

Becca Frederick finished with a very important 7 points as she hit 5 out of 7 free throws down the stretch to close out the victory.  Ally Hart, Gretchen Eckhoff, Natalie Eckhoff and Ava Eckhoff all closed out the scoring with 2 points each.  

Misegades led the team with 14 rebounds giving her another double-double.  Ava Eckhoff, Hart and Frederick all grabbed 5 rebounds to help Henning dominate in that category. Frederick and Lily Fraki led the team with 2 assists each, while Fisher led the team with 3 steals followed by Misegades with 2.  

Individual stats

Faith Fisher 29 points, 2 rebounds, 3 steals

Becca Frederick 7 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists

Lily Fraki 2 rebounds, 2 assists

Ally Hart 2 points, 5 rebounds

Gretchen Eckhoff 2 points, 2 rebounds

Natalie Eckhoff 2 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal

Lyvia Misegades 23 points, 14 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals

Ava Eckhoff 2 points, 5 rebounds