Henning hosts Border West in section opener

Photo by Chad Koenen
Lily Grieger leads a group of Henning players down the court during a recent game in New York Mills.

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The Henning Hornets wrapped up their regular season last week with a pair of non-conference losses. 

On Tuesday night the Hornets fell to Brandon-Evansville by a score of 69-39 and on Thursday they fell to Parkers Prairie by a score of 74-68 to wrap up their regular season with a record of 12-14 overall.

Photo by Chad Koenen
Stella Iliff drives to the basket during a recent game for the Hornets. The freshman point guard has helped the Hornets to a 12-14 record in the regular season.

Henning received the 16th seed in the section tournament and hosted 17th seeded Border West on Monday night in Henning. The winner of the game will take on top seeded Hillcrest on Thursday night in Fergus Falls. The winner of Thursday’s game will take on either eighth seeded Hancock or ninth seeded Parkers Prairie on Saturday at the high seed. 

Tuesday

Henning kicked off its final week of the regular season with a feisty Brandon-Evansville Chargers team on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, after a back-and-forth start to the first half, the Chargers began to pull away and held a 40-23 lead at the halftime break. Brandon-Evansville would go on to hold the Hornets to just 16 points in the second half as they came away with a 69-39 win over the host Hornets.

“Brandon-Evansville has a nice blend of youth and experience. We struggled to get much going because of their defensive pressure,” said head coach Ryan Emter. “Callie Thompson put together a solid game, and Addison Bode played well alongside her.”

As a team the Hornets shot 25.6 percent from the floor, but they turned the ball over 19 times due to the tough Chargers defensive pressure. One of the positives of the game was the ball movement for Henning as they finished with 10 assists on 11 made shots from the floor.

Thompson led the way offensively for Henning with 18 points, while Bode chipped in with 10. Abbi Godding and Stella Iliff each finished with three points, while Alivia Emter and Lily Grieger chipped in with two points and Bella Olson rounded out the scoring with one point in the loss.

Henning vs. Brandon-Evansville

POINTS: Callie Thompson 18, Alivia Emter 2, Lily Grieger 2, Addison Bode 10, Bella Olson 1, Abbigale Godding 3, Stella Iliff 3

ASSISTS: Alivia Emter 3, Addison Bode 1, Bella Olson 2, Abbigale Godding 1, Stella Iliff 3

REBOUNDS: Callie Thompson 3, Alivia Emter 3, Brynn Reinbold 1, Lily Grieger 2, Addison Bode 2, Bella Olson 2, Abbigale Godding 4, Isabelle Godding 1, Stella Iliff 7

STEALS: Alivia Emter 2, Lily Grieger 1, Bella Olson 1, Abbigale Godding 1

BLOCKS: Callie Thompson 1

Thursday

In what would be their final regular season home game of the season, the Henning Hornets had one of their best offensive performances of the season on Thursday night in a narrow 74-68 loss to Parkers Prairie. The Hornets held a 32-31 lead at halftime that ballooned to nearly double figures in the first half, but ultimately the Panthers were able to grind out the win down the stretch to hand the Hornets their 14th loss of the season.

“We came with everything we had. Parkers is a solid team in the section and I thought we played very well together,” said head coach Ryan Emter. “It is disappointing we could not pull it off,
but we have come a long way over these 26 games. Early in the season our turnovers were pushing 30 a night. Tonight we had just 12 while facing pressure most of the game.”

While the Hornets knocked down nine 3-pointers in the game and went 15-26 from the free throw line, the Panthers were able to use their height in the post that lead to a 48-22 advantage in the paint and a slight 41-37 advantage in rebounding.

“We lacked some size defensively to slow them down in the paint. Credit to Parkers for taking advantage of that,” said Emter.

The Hornets were led offensively by a balanced scoring attack with Callie Thompson and Alivia Emter each scoring 20 points, while Stella Iliff scored 12 and Addison Bode chipped in with eight points and 13 rebounds. Lily Grieger and Abbi Godding each scored three points and Bella Olson rounded out the scoring with two points. 

Despite the loss, Emter said he was pleased with how well the team has grown throughout the season and thanked the fans for coming out in a big way during Henning’s regular season finale.

“It was another great crowd for our final regular season game. We fed off that energy and will need it again with a tough Border West team coming in,” said Emter. “Credit to our girls for doing enough during the regular season to earn a home game. Border West plays a challenging schedule and we will have to be at our best moving into playoffs.”

Henning vs. Parkers Prairie

POINTS: Callie Thompson 20, Alivia Emter 20, Lily Grieger 3, Addison Bode 8, Bella Olson 2, Abbigale Godding 3, Stella Iliff 12

ASSISTS: Callie Thompson 2, Alivia Emter 3, Addison Bode 3, Bella Olson 2, Abbigale Godding 1, Stella Iliff 3

REBOUNDS: Callie Thompson 5, Alivia Emter 5, LIly Greiger 4, Addison Bode 13, Bella Olson 2, Stella Iliff 5

STEALS: Callie Thompson 1, Alivia Emter 4, Addison Bode 1, Stella Iliff 2