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The Ely Timberwolves had little time to dwell on a dissapointing outing at Chisholm on Monday night.
Less than 24 hours later, the high school girls basketball team was back on the floor - in the friendly confines of its own gymnasium.
Visiting Cook County proved to be no match for the hungry Wolves, who bounced back in a big way.
Ely prevailed 88-16 in the opening game of a girls and boys basketball twinbill.
Sophomore Lydia Shultz outscored the Vikings by herself and poured in 23 points, while junior Zoe MacKenzie hit five three-pointers and added a season-high 17 points.
Sophomore Audrey Kallberg added a double-double and classmate Amelia Penke hit double figures as well.
But even moreso than the scoring, the contest was decided early on by defense.
The Wolves forced about 40 turnovers and had a whopping 29 steals - including seven by Kallberg.
Early on, Ely’s pressure did in the Vikings, who had trouble getting the ball past the half-court line.
Ely already had a huge lead by halftime and the last nine minutes of the game were played in running time.
Shultz was nine-for-19 from the floor and added six assists, four steals ad four rebounds to the Ely stat line.
MacKenzie was five-for-eight from long distance en route to her 17-point evening while Kallberg had 14 points, 10 rebounds, seven steals and six rebounds.
Penke notched 12 points while senior Maija Mattson finished with seven and Gretta Lowe ended up with six points.
Ely climbed over the .500 mark to 4-3 and was set to take on Cherry Friday, in a final tune-up before this week’s Hoops for Hope Holiday Tournament (see related story).
• The Wolves got off to a horrendous start at Chisholm, falling behind by as many as 22 points.
Ely closed the gap to as little as five in the second half, but the host Bluestreaks recovered and went on to win 63-50.
Turnovers did Ely in, especially early on. The Wolves turned the ball over 33 times on the night.
Chisholm used a 16-0 run to take a 22-6 and the host ’Streaks were off to the races.
Ely trailed 33-19 at the half but got the gap down to five at 55-50, but that’s as close as it would get as the visitors went scoreless over the last three minutes.
Senior Clare Thomas was Ely’s top scorer with 13 points, while Kallberg had a 10-point, 13-rebound evening.
Shultz and Penke scored eight point each, Mattson was next with seven and MacKenzie had four points with four steals and three assists.
Penke also pulled down five rebounds.
Avaya Dobis-Fontaine led Chisholm (5-1) with 23 points and teammate Olivia Pascuzzi was next, scoring 18.
