Panthers enter week ranked No. 9 in state

The Cass Lake-Bena boys basketball team enters the week ranked ninth in the state Class A poll but the Panthers will be put to the test this week as they visit Crosby-Ironton Tuesday and host Nevis Saturday.

CL-B is 13-2 and owns victories against both of this week’s opponents. Early in the season the Panthers thumped Nevis 73-51 and during the Christmas break Cass Lake-Bena trimmed Crosby-Ironton 67-58 in Crosby.

Last week the Panthers won a pair of games and improved to 12-2. The week began with a 76-61 victory at BGMR and ended with an 84-79 home win over Blackduck.

Josh Laduke paced the offense with 16 points against BGMR while Dakotah Brunelle had 15, Cody Wind 13 and Caleb Fisher 12.

CL-B led 49-22 at intermission but the home team outscored the Panthers 39-27 in the second session.

Blackduck is 10-6 after splitting a pair of games last week. The Drakes thumped Laporte (1-9) 76-31 before losing to CL-B.

In other area action last week Kelliher-Northome (7-7) lost at Nevis 67-62 and defeated Clearbrook-Gonvick 84-75, Red Lake (12-7) downed Red Lake County 87-50 but lost 89-87 to Warroad and 99-82 to Roseau at a tournament hosted by Roseau and Bagley (9-6) defeated Mahnomen 77-51 before losing in overtime to Fertile-Beltrami 71-70.

Clearbrook-Gonvick fell to 4-10 after falling 83-39 to Thief River Falls and 84-75 to Kelliher Northome. Verdell Beaulieu had 10 points in the loss to TRF and 21 in the loss to K-N. Ty Johnson added 13 points and Weston Baake 12.

Girls Basketball

Kelliher-Northome improved to 10-6 overall after splitting two games last week. The Mustangs belted Littlefork-Big Falls 76-48 but lost 65-52 to Nevis.

Kelly Heck scored 23 points against LF-BF while Katey Lutz had 20 and Shelene Head 15. Lutz and Carrie Carrigan each grabbed 12 rebounds, Heck had four steals and Lutz four assists.

In the loss to Nevis Heck scored 21 points and Lutz 15. Lutz and Carrigan each snared eight boards while Heck and Head dished four assists.

Lutz also contributed three steals.

In other girls basketball action last week Blackduck (3-12) defeated Laporte (1-14) 51-34 but lost to Cass Lake (5-13) 45-31, Red Lake (4-9) was defeated 82-76 by Roseau and 79-49 by Walker-Hackensack-Akeley, Bagley(7-10) downed Mahnomen 48-41 and Fertile-Beltrami 51-29 and Clearbrook-Gonvick (12-4) was edged 45-44 by Red Lake County Central and toppled Goodridge-Grygla 74-62.