The Pine City boys and girls basketball teams opened up the 2021 winter sports season by defeating the Onamia Panthers on Thursday night.
Boys win 76-26
The new-look Dragon boys basketball team had four new starters in their lineup to start the season against Onamia, but Kyle Allen and his team maintained similar results defeating Onamia 76-26. Senior Caleb Fromm is the lone remaining starter from the team that went to the section semifinals last year.
Things started a bit slow for Pine City who struggled to find their rhythm out of the gate but they played suffocating defense against Onamia and utilized turnovers to gain extra shots which eventually started falling. The Dragons held Onamia to just 15 first half points and continued that strong defense into the second half where they only allowed 11. Their speed at all five positions on the floor and scoring depth is going to be a strong suit for the Dragons this year.
Pine City was led in scoring by Kameron Jusczak who had 25 points. Pine City improved to 1-0 on the season and will host Esko on Saturday.
Scoring
Kameron Jusczak 25
Dylan Peterson 17
Luke Wilson 12
Colton Blasidell 9
Jason Thieman 5
Caleb Fromm 4
Mason Charles 3
Girls win 81-30
The lady Dragons lineup doesn't look too different from last year, aside from Lily Wilson and Alaina Steele graduating. Pine City's leading scorer from last year, Ellie Hasz, returned and help lead the Dragons to a convincing victory over Onamia 81-30.
Pine City started hot right from tip off. Ellie Hasz opened up the scoring with a three. Onamia was able to answer that score with a layup, but the Dragons defense shut down the panthers offense from that point on. The Dragons seemingly could not miss from long range and used good passing to set up the open jumpers. Pine City quickly started to pull away and went into halftime with a 48-19 lead. Coming out of half, Pine City showed no signs of slowing down. Though Onamia was able to create turnovers and get to the free throw line, the Dragons lead was too much to overcome.
The Dragons were lead by Ellie Hasz who scored 28. The Dragons are 1-0 to start the season, and will host Isle tonight.
Scoring
Ellie Hasz 28
Sophie Lahti 16
Kloey Lind 11
Karly Jusczak 7
Meredith Kolling 7
Maddie Berglund 6
Ella Sell 3
Carissa Nascene 3
For Dragon Home Activities for home fans
Parents, Guardians, and caregivers of participants are the only individuals that are allowed into our activities for our home fans. They have to be signed up on a list through the activities office. All games will be streamed by WCMP.
You will find the weekly streaming links to all activities wcmpradio.com/broadcastschedule
