Viking girls win at basketball; SBA girls hockey and CCHS Nordic ski seasons come to an end

Leah Utities cut loose for 22 points as the Cook County Vikings beat Duluth Marshall Thursday night, 65-46, in a game played at the high school gym in Grand Marais.

The Vikings hit 28 field goals while holding Marshall to only 18 to take the win. Marshall held a nine to five edge in the free-throws-made column.

Joining Utities in double-figure scoring were Theresa Morrin with 16 and Breana Peterson with 13. Suzy Burton scored eight and Kaitlynn Linnell added six for the Vikes. Utities and Morrin each had two three-pointers apiece.

Mary Baumgartner led Marshall with 12 points.

In girls hockey, the Silver Bay Area girls team ended its season Thursday night with a 4-0 loss at Proctor-Hermantown in the quarterfinals  of the Section 7A hockey playoffs.

And, the season ended for the Cook County High School Nordic Ski Teams as no Vikings qualified for State in the Section 7 meet at Giants Ridge.

In regular season boys hockey, the North Shore Storm overwhelmed Moose Lake Area 8-2 on the Storm's home ice. Both the SBA and Storm teams include skaters from Cook and Lake counties.

The Silver Bay Area girls came into last night's Section 7A game at the eighth seed. Proctor-Hermantown is seeded number one. In taking the win, Proctor-Hermantown scored once each in the first and second period, adding two goals in the third for the win.

Cassie Swanson was in the net for the Mariners and made 29 saves. 

The top-ranked Duluth East girls won their third straight Section 7 Nordic ski title on Thursday. East is also the two-time defending state champion. East took the 10.5K girls' meet with 384 points followed by Ely at 377. The Viking girls finished 10th with 132.

The Ely Timberwolves won the boys' 10.5K meet with 384 points followed by Duluth East wtih 371. The Vikings finished ninth with 221 points.

In boys hockey, the North Shore Storm scored five times in the first period and three times in the third to beat Moose Lake Area 8-2.

The Storm scoring came from a number of players. Scoring in the first were Brock LeBlanc, Tyler Schramm, Jonah Koehler, Nick Johnson and Mills Johnson. Goals in the third came from Thomas Anderson, LeBlanc and Mills Johnson.

Zach Duresky was in the net for the Storm and made 10 saves. That's in comparison with the 58 saves made by Gage Molesky of the Rebels.

The Storm is scheduled to face Pine City/Rush City on Saturday night.