The Hermantown girls basketball team showed plenty of determination in a highly-competitive 62-46 loss at Duluth East on Tuesday night, as Bailey Hermanson and Liv Birkeland each scored 13 points to lead the Hawks.
"Despite the final score, our kids played hard and never quit playing," said legendary Hawks coach Beth Clark. "The second half of the game was even but we gave up a significant run at the end of the first half that we couldn't overcome."
The Hawks are scheduled to visit Proctor tonight, after losing to the Rails 58-39 on Dec. 8 at beautiful Hermantown Gym.
"Our kids look forward to playing Proctor again because we'll be better the second time around," Clark said.
The Hawks continue to get better each day and each practice, said Clark.
"We've got great senior leadership and that's transferring to good, competitive practices each day," she said. "Lauryn Biondi continues to lead us in rebounding, steals and blocks. It's amazing how many block shots she gets each game. She's a great jumper and her timing has helped in rebounding and block shots.
"Lauryn, Liv Birkeland and Emma Herstad continue to lead us in scoring each night. Mikayla Sweeney works hard on the boards and is getting better around the basket with rebounding and scoring each game. Newcomer Bailey Hermanson, our youngest starter, is fitting in real well. She sees the floor really well and delivers the pass to her teammates with the perfect assist. Bailey has brought another level of play to our team because of her vision and unselfishness. Izzy Wojtysiak and Jadyn Lind round out our players right now. They are great role players and continue to be great team players. We've had other players step in also but these players are the ones who have had the most minutes."
Hermantown (2-9) will visit Thief River Falls on Friday, Jan. 13, a day before facing Crookston is to conclude a back-to-back road trip.
"It's a much deserved road trip for our players," Clark said of the nonconference games. "We look forward to getting better and creating some chaos within our section tournament."