Cromwell ends surprising season for girls in semifinals

It was hardly surprising that Cromwell was in the Section 7A girls basketball semifinals Tuesday night, nor that the Cardinals punched another ticket to the 7A title game.

But few expected that Cromwell’s semifinal opponent would be the Ely Timberwolves - for a fourth consecutive season.

The Cardinals cruised 57-32 in a section semifinal tilt at Hibbing’s Memorial Arena, riding their typically strong defense and a 24-point night from Isabella Anderson. The win set up another 7A title game showdown between the second-seeded Cardinals and defending champion and state powerhouse Mt. Iron-Buhl, which waxed Chisholm 73-41.

The contest ended a remarkable season for the Wolves, who were seeded sixth in the section, upset Bigfork 45-33 in Saturday’s quarterfinals and were led by first-year head coach Tomi Cole.

Ely reached the final four in the section for a fourth straight year, despite losing three all-conference players to graduation and relying heavily on sophomore talent.

“Ending our season in the semifinals was beyond expectations,” said Cole. “I think we got better every game and that showed. And I think a lot of people thought that this was going to be a rebuilding year and I certainly expected it to be also.”

The Wolves, who finished 19-9, were riding a wave of momentum after a blowout win against South Ridge in the first round and Saturday’s defeat of Bigfork, which avenged a narrow loss to the Huskies during the regular season.

Cromwell, however, posed a formidable obstacle and the Cardinals set the tone early., “They got out quick,” said Cole. “We knocked down a couple of early shots but their defense was second to none and we really struggled offensively. Defensively we were fine but we just couldn’t get it going on offense from start to finish.”

Anderson scored 13 firsthalf points and it wasn’t long before the Cardinals had a double-digit lead.

It was 31-14 at the half and the contest was essentially over.

The Wolves, who got a team-high 15 points from sophomore Amelia Penke, shot only 25 percent from the floor and committed 20 turnovers. They were never able to launch a sustained run to make a push at the Cardinals in the second half.

Sophomore Lydia Shultz added eight points, five rebounds and three steals for the Wolves, while Penke snared six rebounds and senior Clare Thomas pulled down five.

Siiena Anderson added 10 points for the Cardinals and teammates Emelia Dahl and Shannon Lund finished with seven points each.

The loss ended the prep basketball careers for two Ely seniors - Thomas and Maija Mattson.

“Clare and Maija will be missed,” said Cole. “Both the culture they helped develop and both are outstanding student athletes and they definitely helped lead the team and brought some fun into it as well.”

Cole also had words of praise for her team, which relied heavily on talent either new to the varsity level or with new varsity roles.

“It was my first team and that in itself made it memorable,” said Cole. “And they stepped in with a new coach and completely new roles from what they were asked to do before. They showed tremendous growth and handled adversity very well throughout the season. Kudos to all of them as they could have throw in the flag I think.”

* Penke had a double-double, scoring 15 points with 10 rebounds as the Wolves stunned third-seeded Bigfork on Saturday evening.

Ely put the clamps on the Huskies and played at its pace while rebounding well. Kallberg (12 rebounds) and Shultz (10) also hit double digits in that category.

“The defensive end for us against Bigfork was key,” said Cole. “We knew when we went there back in January took a hard two-point loss. We knew what the game plan was and what we needed to do to win and it all sprung from defense.”

Junior Zoe MacKenzie knocked down three threepoint shots and finished with nine points, while the Shultz stat line included six points and four assists to go with her six points.

Thomas finished with five points and five rebounds, and Mattson contributed four points and four rebounds.