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Ely’s high school girls basketball team will likely need young players to step into new roles this winter.
Sophomores Lydia Shultz and Amelia Penke seemed to do just that on Tuesday night and the result was the Timberwolves’ first win of the season.
The sophomore duo combined to score 35 points in a 56-30 Ely victory at Class AA Two Harbors.
Ely evened its record at 1-1 for the winter and gave Tomi Cole her first win as the program’s new head coach.
Shultz finished with 18 points and Penke added 17 for the winners, who showed more offensive punch than they did four nights earlier in a 51-32 home loss to Cromwell.
Nobody had more than six points for the Wolves in the opening game, but the sophomore combination broke out against the Agates.
Penke drained two three-pointers in the opening half, as Ely built a 26-12 lead by halftime.
Another sophomore, Gretta Lowe, also hit a couple of three-point bombs in the opening half as Ely exerted control.
The Wolves extended the gap in the second stanza and put Two Harbors away.
Shultz had 11 of her 18 points in the second half and Ely put things away.
Senior Maija Mattson added six points for the Wolves and nobody else scored more than three.
The Wolves showed some resilience after the opening night defeat but a tough contest is on the horizon, as Mesabi East comes to town after a brief Thanksgiving weekend respite.
Tuesday night’s varsity clash begins at 7:15 p.m.
Cromwell 51, Wolves 32
The Cardinals, who defeated Ely three years in a row in the Section 7A semifinals, had to fight to pull away from the rebuilding Ely team.
Ely kept it close in the first half and trailed by as little as 10 with 6:45 to go, cutting the gap to 40-30.
But the Wolves would only score two points the rest of the way and Cromwell overall pounced on Ely turnovers to take control of the game.
Ely had 25 turnovers in the contest and gave away too many possessions to the athletic Cardinals.
Penke and junior Zoe MacKenzie paced the Wolves with six points each, while Shultz scored five points, as did senior Clare Thomas.
Mattson snared seven rebounds and MacKenzie pulled down six, while Shultz had three steals.
Ely only got 42 shots off in the game, hitting 11 for an overall clip of 26.1 percent.
