Cagers do better, but can’t overcome several runs by North

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The Raider girls basketball team did better with the things it needed to accomplish, such as handling defensive pressure, but it still wasn’t enough to hand Eau Claire North its first conference loss.

Hudson was down by 13 at halftime, but narrowed it to seven after two more minutes. They went on to fall to the Huskies 58-38.

“Everything they shot up went in,” said Coach Beth Graskewicz, adding that through the rest of the game the Raiders would make a run, only to have North answer and build the lead again.

The Raiders found themselves down 14-2 to open the game, and they don’t have the offensive firepower to play from behind, Graskewicz said. Hudson didn’t get their first field goal until the second quarter, on a layup, and had managed only free throws.

Hudson handled the defensive pressure better in this game, but still was sidetracked and off-rhythm when trying to get into their half-court offense, Graskewicz said. Her charges wanted to get the ball into their post players to take advantage of their height, but that proved difficult, she said.

Hudson was led by Kait Haag with 12 points and Katie Ecker with 10, half of them in a 16-point Raider second quarter.

“We need to get more offensive shots at the basket,” Graskewicz said. “I think we played a decent game and we played hard.”

North has only lost once, in its opener to Marshfield, but it turned around and beat them over the Christmas break, which shows they are a team to be reckoned with. Hudson threw a number of defensive looks at the Huskies, who are undefeated in the Big Rivers Conference and have a handful of wins.

North has quickness and strength, and also a bit more height than the Raiders expected. “From our scouting, we thought they only had one taller post player, but one of them must have been hurt and come back, so they actually had two,” Graskewicz said.

That made it even tougher to be without a healthy Haag, who continues to battle with shin splints. “We need good minutes from her, and she is one of our better inside-outside shooters,” Graskewicz said.

The Christmas break allowed Hudson to slow down, assess what they need to do better and then work on some areas, Graskewicz said. “Ordinarily, you wouldn’t want to play only one game in seven days, but this time it helped us do some things.”

This week, Hudson has two non-conference games, which like all of them this season have been on the road. They travel to Minnesota twice, to Henry Simley for a game at 7:00 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, and then to Shakopee for a 7:30 p.m. contest on Saturday, Jan. 17.

Tags: sports, hudson, girls, basketball, raiders