Ely girls drop a close one

Ely’s high school girls basketball team were more than competitive with Class AA Mesabi East on Tuesday night.

With seven seconds left, the Timberwolves were in position to win the game and complete both a stunning comeback and considerable upset.

But the young Wolves’ inexperience showed at the end, and they weren’t able to get a shot off before the buzzer sounded.

That allowed the visiting Giants to escape with a 53-52 win at the high school gymnasium.

Ely fell to 1-2 but left the court perhaps wondering about what might have been.

“The plan was to have an instinct to score however that needed to happen,” said Ely Head Coach Tomi Cole. “We had momentum and were on a good run, but I think our inexperience at a higher level played into the last seven seconds. The girls just haven’t had to make some time decisions or make a game-winning decision yet this season.”

Twice in the last minute, Ely closed what once was a double-digit gap to one point.

A bucket by sophomore Lydia Shultz made it 51-50 with just over a minute left, but the Giants’ Alyssa Prophet drove to the hoop to put the visitors back up by three.

Again Ely fought back, this time with Audrey Kallberg scoring on a drive to the hoop with 19 seconds to go.

Ely was forced to foul, and the Giants missed the front end of a oneand- one free throw opportunity.

The Wolves, however, weren’t able to capitalize.

Nonetheless, the result was an impressive step forward by the Wolves, who lost twice by double digits to the Giants in 2023-24.

“They did lose quite a bit from last year, but two of their best players return,” said Cole. “We knew going in it was going to be a little tougher. Just size-wise, they were obviously much bigger than us. We had a game plan going in and I though our girls played hard. To lose by one was not a bad loss.”

Early on, it looked as if it may be a blowout.

A 7-2 Ely lead was gone quickly as the Giants countered, pressing the hosts into a bevy of turnovers and opening up a double-digit lead.

It was 38-27 at halftime but Mesabi East was befuddled by the Ely defense in the second half.

Despite 29 turnovers in the game, the Wolves did enough on offense to rally and shot 56 percent for the game (22-for-39), including 18-for-28 on two-point opportunities.

Three Wolves scored in double digits and four scored at least eight points.

Shultz had a team-high 14 points, with Kallberg netting 13 in her return to the line up and senior Clare Thomas finishing with 12. Sophomore Amelia Penke added another eight points.

“That was a huge one to get Audrey back,” said Cole. “Maija Mattson has stepped up and played very well in Audrey’s absence, but Audrey length-wise gives us another option to score.”

Junior Zoe MacKenzie snared nine rebounds for the Wolves and had four steals, while Thomas had seven assists and four steals.

Marta Forsline paced Mesabi East with 15 points and Prophet also hit double figures with 11.

The Wolves, who traveled to International Falls Thursday and host Silver Bay this Tuesday, have already shown some growth early on.

“Turnovers have been the story of the first three games and we just really struggle with the ball a lot of the time,” said Cole. “But I think overall we lost by 20 then we won by 20. Now this one I think puts us in a good position. We have a lot to look forward to. I’m impressed with what they all do each day. We’re all learning together and we’re setting up for success going into these next couple months.”