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Regional Champs: Trojans win regional in 2OT thriller over Broncos

Forest Park's Jenna Grabowski celebrates with the Class D regional trophy after the Trojans beat Bark River-Harris in double-overtime on Thursday in Kingsford. (Adam Niemi/Iron Mountain Daily News)

KINGSFORD — Forest Park and Bark River-Harris waged a classic “it’s a shame somebody had to lose” girls basketball game Thursday.

The Skyline Central Conference rivals battled through two overtimes before the Lady Trojans emerged with a 62-54 victory and the Class D Region 32 championship.

“I’m overjoyed,” said Forest Park coach Jackie Giuliani after the double overtime thriller. “Our girls did a phenomenal job of staying focused and not letting emotion get the best of them.”

Forest Park (20-4) and Engadine (18-5), a 50-48 winner over Pickford in the Region 31 final, meet in the quarterfinals Tuesday at Negaunee.

Bark River (16-8), which split regular season games with Forest Park, held the lead in the final moments of regulation and the first overtime.

“It was absolute chaos, just the way it should be in a game like that,” said Broncos coach Josh Eagle, who consoled his teary-eyed players as they left the gym. “That’s a heck of a team. Crystal Falls played their hearts out, just as we did. Our girls did everything they possibly could to have stayed in that game.”

Forest Park senior guard Abby Nylund, who scored a game-high 18 points, started the second overtime by driving the baseline for a basket and drawing a foul for a three-point play. That triggered the Trojans to an 8-0 shutout over the final four minutes.

“When you have a girl that scores 1,000 (career) points you to have use her,” Giuliani said. “In that situation we needed to put the ball in her hands.”

Nylund, who topped 1,000 career points in the district, also led the Trojans with four steals and three assists.

“It was crazy,” said Nylund, a three-time regional champion with head coaches Giuliani and Jeff Syrjanen. “It was a great battle back and forth for both teams. Bark River is a very good team and give them props.

“But I think our girls knew they wanted it more.”

Hanna Logan added 14 points for the Trojans and Jenna Grabowski had 13 points with four steals. Becky Kolenda contributed nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Paige Welch paced the Broncos with 17 points. Megan Robinette tacked on 13 points and Cassidi Stannard had 11.

Forest Park wanted to control the flow of the game, bottle up the three-point shooters and keep tabs on pesky point guard Kelsey Boucher. Both teams hit five treys in the contest and Boucher was limited to five points.

Forest Park, concerned with Boucher taking over, did not use full-court pressure.

“Kelsey Boucher is a great guard and able to penetrate,” Giuliani said. “We purposely did not let her do that and I thought that was the difference in the game. By not pressing, we saved energy on defense and had a little more energy offensively, and did not let them get into their running game.”

Bark River took its first lead of the game with a Megan Robinette putback in the final seconds of the third quarter. The Broncos, for an eight-minute stretch of the second half, held the Trojans to one field goal and pulled ahead 45-41 with 3:31 left in regulation.

“We lost their three-point shooters a couple times and that put them in the lead,” said Giuliani, noting buckets from Welch and Robinette. “We couldn’t let them beat us at the three-point line. They had to beat us at the inside game. That was our goal.”

Forest Park owned a 47-45 advantage until Robinette forced overtime with two free throws at the 41-second mark. The Broncos also missed two free throws with 14 seconds to go.

In the first overtime. free throws from Welch and Taylor Ray lifted the Broncos to a 54-52 lead with 31 seconds showing. Forest Park answered with free throws from Hannah Cross (19 seconds) and Grabowski (14 seconds) to set up the second overtime.

“All game long we were fighting for rebounds and not getting them,” Giuliani said of some bruising work under the boards. “But finally, in the end, rebounds were key for us.”

Forest Park held a 34-33 rebound edge. Hailee Demers grabbed nine for Bark River.

“There was a point where we might have iced it if we had got the rebound,” Eagle said. “It was gritty play back and forth.

“They did an excellent job of passing with their height. They have a lot of seasoned veterans that handle pressure really well that helped them tremendously.”

Both teams made 17 field goals, with the Trojans netting 30 percent of their shots and the Broncos 34 percent. Forest Park converted 23 of 41 free throws to Bark River’s 15 of 23.

Bark River was whistled for 31 fouls, with three players tagged for the max and three more with four fouls. Forest Park had 18 fouls.

The Broncos coughed up 17 turnovers to 14 for the Trojans.

Giuliani and assistant Kim Bjork teamed up for their second regional title in three years. When people asked in November about the team, Giuliani thought all the pieces were there for success.

“We have a good guard, we’ve got the inside game, we’ve got good shooters,” Giuliani said. “It’s just a matter of putting it together, and I thought tonight you really saw it come together.”

Bark River-Harris 9 9 18 11 7 0 — 54

Forest Park 14 8 12 13 7 8 — 62

BARK RIVER-HARRIS: Welch 16, Stannard 11, Demers 5, Ray 3, Robinette 13, Boucher 6. FT: 15-23. F: 31 (Welch, Stannard and Robinette fouled out). 3PT: Welch 2, Stannard 2, Robinette 1. FG: 17-50. Rebounds: 33 (Demers 9).

FOREST PARK: Nylund 18, Honkala 4, Showers 2, Kolenda 9, Grabowski 13, Logan 14, Cross 2. FT: 23-41. F: 18. 3PT: Nylund 2, Logan 2, Honkala 1. FG: 17-55. Rebounds: 34 (Kolenda 10).

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