Bemidji Girls Basketball Off to Strong Start

The Bemidji girls basketball team has started off the season strong and is 2-0 for the first time in 8 years. After the departure of some of their top scorers from last year, a balanced attack leads the Jacks this season, which they’re hoping will power them to the section championship game and beyond. 

“We just have to get it through everyone’s heads that they can be a scorer, they can be a shooter. Even our posts are even shooting,” says senior guard Katie Alto. “If you can get that through your head then as we go along and play better teams we’ll all be able to shoot and score and they won’t be able to just shut down two of us or one of us.”

To go along with their balanced offense, the Lumberjacks say their strength of their team will be on defense- forcing plenty of turnovers and helping them get the ball up in transition. Bemidji also has a better post presence than in the past, allowing them to guard taller opponents and have a diverse offensive attack, rather than just looking for the three-point shot. 

“We’ve always played quick, every year I’ve been here we’ve been a fast team,” says head coach Steve Schrieber. “But we actually have some size this year too. So we’re not really that one-dimensional like we’ve been in the past. If we need to go big, we can match-up big. But we definitely want to run.”

“Rylie [Jones] and Emma [Huberty] and all of them, I think they’re really good on defense, they definitely get the rebounds and can post up the big girls on offense,” says senior guard Lindsey Hildenbrand. “Just be a threat so we can throw it to them. If it doesn’t work out they can pass it back and then we can get a three, otherwise, they can turn and shoot and we finally have some tall players in the middle.”