Midgettes take down Devils for first win

IRONWOOD - Hurley found its shooting touch and picked up its first win of the season, 61-41 over Ironwood in Indianhead Conference action Friday night.

The win was "tremendously" needed for the Midgettes, Hurley coach Steve Eder said. The Midgettes lost their first two games of the year, at Lakeland and at Wakefield-Marenisco.

"I think it was important for our basketball family, for the girls and what we're trying to accomplish," he said. "I think it's something we can build on, playing this well on the road. Now we get to go home for a couple games. This tough stretch with school closings, and practices being missed here and there, now we get a chance to build on something and I think we have a chance to get on a little roll here."

Hurley led 9-6 with under three minutes left in the first quarter. They went on a 9-1 run to end the quarter.

Dani Irons scored inside, Gabby Pecotte hit one of her four 3s on the night and followed that with a steal and a layup before blocking a shot which led to Reggie Kelly's layin. That made it 18-6 in favor of Hurley.

The Midgettes finished with seven 3-pointers with four in the first half and the other three in the third quarter when Hurley expanded the lead to 20, 49-29.

"I thought the girls did a great job not being tentative; if they had an open look, they let it rip and it's one of those nights where tonight they went in," Eder said.

It wasn't the result the Red Devils wanted in the opening game, but Ironwood also came away with plenty to build on.

"We're young, we came out we had a lot of jitters and fell behind," Ironwood coach Tim Routheaux said. "Second quarter, we were solid, played tough. We made a lot of mistakes. Our first game, their third game, makes a big difference. And they got seven, eight seniors, that helps. We're young. I'm happy with what I saw. We're going to do a lot of things better."

Ironwood was 15 of 27 at the foul line, taking advantage of 23 Hurley fouls.

"We fouled way too much," Eder said. "We wanted to pick them up in the full court, but all we wanted to do was make them a little nervous. We didn't necessarily want to pressure as much as we wound up doing. We wanted to speed them up a little bit."

Gabby Pecotte led Hurley with 16 points and Kirkie Pecotte and Kaylyn King both had 10 points.

Emily DiGiorgio scored 16 points to lead Ironwood.

Ironwood (0-1) goes to Mercer for another conference game Monday. Hurley (1-2) hosts Butternut Tuesday.

Hurley - Gabby Pecotte 16, Natalie Moon 6, Dani Irons 6, Brittany Czarnecki 2, Kaylyn King 5, MaKayla Wolfe 10, Reggie Kelly 4, Maria Swartz 2, Kirkie Pecotte 10. FTs: 6-12. Fouls: 23. Fouled out: None. 3-pointers: G. Pecotte 4, K. Pecotte 2, Wolfe 1.

Ironwood - Katie Piispanen 8, Rachel Hudacek 6, Lauren Gauthier 2, Christie Moore 1, Kacie Lundin 8, Emily DiGiorgio 16. FTs: 15-27. Fouls; 9. Fouled out: Lundin. 3-pointers: None.

Hurley 18 34 49 61

Ironwood 7 23 29 41