LITTLE FALLS — Whitney Weisz blistered the nets with precision shooting for a career-high 47 points, but a second-half rally by the Little Falls Flyers came up short as they lost 78-74 to the Thief River Falls Prowlers in the opening round of the Little Falls Pine Country Holiday tournament Wednesday.
Weisz connected on 18 of 33 shots from the field (55 percent), including three of five from beyond the arc, and was 8 for 8 from the charity stripe. She also led the team with six blocks and three steals.
The Flyers rallied from a 21-point halftime deficit and got within a basket, but the Prowlers hit some key free throws down the stretch.
Weisz scored 39 of her points in the second half.
“The girls could have easily given up, but they didn’t,” said Little Falls coach Deb Yliniemi-Ahlin. “Whitney wouldn’t have been able to get 39 points in the second half but for all the assists from her teammates. We knew she had a hot hand and told them to keep giving her the ball.”
Mariah Burns finished with eight points while Jessica Hanowski contributed five along with 11 rebounds. Mikayla Jorgenson didn’t score, but had six of the Flyers’ 20 assists.
Weisz’s 47 points was almost matched by Brooke Yaggie led the Prowlers with 40.
Thief River Falls 42 36 — 78
Little Falls 21 53 — 74
THIEF RIVER FALLS
Kirstyn Scholin 1, Brooke Anderson 3, Brooke Yaggie 40, Crystal Amundson 2, Morgan Numedahl 2, Lindsey Guzek 11, Madison Brekke 8. FG 26-74 (35 percent), FT 19-26 (73 percent), 3-point basket: 7-17 (41 percent) Yaggie 4, Guzek 2, Anderson.
LITTLE FALLS
Mariah Burns 8, Jennifer Hortness 6, Whitney Weisz 47, Jamie Jenks 6, Jessica Hanowski 5, Jennifer Ronning 2. FG 30-69 (43 percent), FT 11-13 (85 percent), 3-point basket: 3-7 (43 percent) Weisz 3. Overall: 5-4. Next: vs. St. Cloud Apollo in third-place game of Little Falls tournament 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
