Ely’s high school girls basketball team will have home court advantage as the Section 7A playoffs begin.
Seeding won’t be determined until Saturday, but it appears that the Wolves are locked into the seventh slot in the section seedings and will host a tournament matchup at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Memorial Gymnasium.
If current seedings hold, Ely (12-9) would tangle with Carlton-Wrenshall (13-10). The two teams did not meet during the regular season.
Thursday’s winner would advance into the quarterfinal round, slated for Saturday, Feb. 28, at Esko.
A midweek snowstorm forced the postponement of Wednesday night’s game at Deer River, and it was completed after deadline.
The last time the Wolves were on the court was the Feb. 12 regular season home finale, as the hosts needed a late surge to pull away from North Woods 62-46.
The Grizzlies played evenly with the Wolves for most of the contest, and the hosts needed a big run at the end of the game to finally pull away and close things out.
Ely overcame a cold night from the field as the Wolves were just one-for-16 from three-point range (six percent).
But junior Lydia Shultz more than made up for the Wolves’ cold spell, scoring a game-high 24 points with a career-high 17 rebounds and seven steals.
Another Ely junior, Amelia Penke, snared 18 rebounds to go with 12 points and a double-double.
Ely’s Gretta Lowe added 10 points while Ruby Lowe, Kaija Shultz and Kaylin Visser all had four points each.
