After hitting a brick wall against Vermilion in Austin on Friday, the Riverland men and women responded by winning a pair of ragged home games Saturday against Mesabi.

Sunday, December 05, 1999

After hitting a brick wall against Vermilion in Austin on Friday, the Riverland men and women responded by winning a pair of ragged home games Saturday against Mesabi.

Riverland men 63, Mesabi 57

Beau Hartman woke up Riverland with a steal and coast-to-coast layup seconds into the second half as the Blue Devils overcame a 28-27 halftime deficit.

Hartman and fellow sophomores Garrett Ulrich and Jesse Heiny struggled in the first half. But the trio led the way in the second half.

Early in the second half, Heiny scored on a pair of high-flying feeds from Hartman to keep the Norse at bay. Meanwhile, Ulrich hit a three and went all the way for a deuce following one of his team-high five steals.

Ulrich and Heiny each finished with a team-high 17 points.

The duo also matched each other with 16 each Friday, when the Blue Devils lost 86-73 to defending state champion Vermilion, which had five players in double figures.

The loss was Riverland’s first at home this season. But the Blue Devils were quick to return to form. With the Mesabi win, Riverland is 4-2, 3-1 at home.

"Our defense (against Mesabi) was as good as it has been all year," said Coach Dave Lillemon, whose club collected 12 steals in the game. "Without the defense, we would have lost the game."

Freshman Brandon Kettner ripped down 10 rebounds against the bigger Norse, whose zone defense gave the Blue Devils problems, particularly in the first half.

"We don’t see zone much," Lillemon said. "We stood around a lot."

But Hartman and Co. responded when they had to.

"I’m thrilled," Lillemon said. "We’re 4-2 with a young team and now we know what it’s like to play a back-to-back."

Riverland women 68,

Mesabi 60

Riverland’s threesome of small forward Renea Bebler, shooting guard Rachel Burzinski and point guard Kelly Jo Leif were too much for the out-gunned Norse.

The trio combined for 51 points (Bebler 20, Burzinski 18, Leif 13).

The Blue Devils built and maintained a comfortable lead with a running game that the slower Norse couldn’t match.

Numerous times one of Riverland’s weapons stole the ball and went the distance for two.

"It wasn’t a pretty game," Coach Suzy Hebrink said. "But our press came up with steals and we did what we had to do."

For Riverland (3-2), the game marked Bebler’s second straight 20-point game.

On Friday, Bebler broke out of a season-long slump in a 78-56 loss to Vermilion, which "came out and hit everything," said Hebrink, whose club fell behind 43-18 by halftime of the Vermilion game.

Bebler’s resurgence was the lone high point of that game. Bebler, the team’s second-leading scorer last season, had been off to a slow start.

"She’s coming around," Hebrink said. "She’d really been struggling to get her offense going."

Bebler hit two of Riverland’s four three pointers against Mesabi. Leif and Burzinski added the others.

"We need to be able to hit the three pointer," Hebrink said.

Riverland’s Anna Keefe played a gutsy ballgame against the Norse.

Keefe, the Blue Devils’ post priority, finished with nine points despite having to come off the floor several times.

Keefe is on her way back from knee reconstruction surgery. She missed last season because of the injury. Playing on consecutive days took its toll, but "she’s tough," Hebrink said.