With former teammate and 1,000-point scorer Sam Sherwood watching in the stands Saturday, current Falls Bronco captain Danika Stelton did just enough to help the Broncos defeat Two Harbors 46-39 at the Falls High School Gym.
Stelton, the Falls’ next 1,000-point hopeful with 156 points to go, made five free throws down the stretch and made a key steal to help seal the victory. Stelton also got major help from freshman Hannah Heibel, who scored a career-high 15 points on 7 of 10 shooting.
“She shot when she needed to shoot and she made them. It was really clutch,” Stelton said about Heibel.
It was far from easy, however, as Stelton’s five free throws came on 14 attempts. The senior, who missed only 32 free throws all of last season, was visibly frustrated about her shortcomings at the charity stripe after the game.
“I think I was just putting too much pressure on myself,” she said.
Her steal with 1:20 remaining, however, with the Broncos clinging to a 42-37 lead was huge. She then hit 1 of 2 free throws and — following an Agates turnover — hit one more free throw to put the Falls up 44-37 with 30 seconds left. She capped the scoring with two free throws with 3.1 seconds remaining to make it 46-39.
Kara Kennedy added seven points and three assists for the Broncos (4-9), Heaven Grinsell tallied five points and Olivia King grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
As a team, the Broncos finished only 11 of 27 from the free-throw line.
Sierra Tietge scored 13 points and Abby Ray posted 12 points for an Agates squad that led early before the Broncos’ struggling offense got going.
Two Harbors (4-6) led 9-5 and 13-9 before the Falls ended the half on a 16-2 run.
“If we can just still figure out our offense, we can go a ways,” Broncos head coach Shawn Gilbert said.
The Broncos don’t play again until Friday, giving them four days of practice before playing host to Chisholm.