GIRLS BASKETBALL: Dragons delay NL-S coach's history-making win

Instead, Litchfield and its first-year coach treated the assembled crowd to their 13th win of the season — and the 13th win of Eric Hulterstrum’s coaching career.

Litchfield’s scrappy defense and a 12-0 run early in the second half made the difference in a 37-25 win that kept Dreier, at least temporarily, at win No. 999.

The Dragons’ fifth consecutive win moved them into first place in the tight Wright County West Conference standings with a 6-1 record, just ahead of NL-S at 5-1, and three others — Annandale, Glencoe-Silver Lake and Watertown-Mayer — with 4-2 WCW records.

Litchfield has built its five-game winning streak on the backs of the conference’s top teams. The Dragons have beaten three of the four that sit below them in the standings during the streak.

Their only loss in the past 10 games was to Annandale, 39-31, on Jan. 11.

Based, presumably, on the Dragons’ recent form, Hulterstrum seemed hopeful Saturday afternoon as he talked about his first head-to-head coaching matchup against a legend — though he jokingly admitted that, on paper at least, the contest might seem a bit lopsided.

“It just happens that Dreier is going for his 1,000th win against us,” Hulterstrum said as he contemplated the matchup following a 52-45 win over Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta Saturday at the LHS gym. “If we needed more motivation for that game, that puts the icing on it for me. Where I’m sitting at, just getting into the 10 wins column — so he’s got 100 times more wins than me. Well, let’s not be that team that loses that 1,000th game. Let’s be the one that pushes him (so) he has to do it a different night.”

Not only did the Dragons succeed in postponing history Tuesday. They altered recent history against New London-Spicer, as well.

Litchfield had not beaten New London-Spicer in nearly three full years, since it stunned the favored Wildcats 41-38 in a section tournament game on Feb. 28, 2019. That win snapped a 17-game losing streak to New London-Spicer.

“There are so many different factors going in to play New London,” Hulterstrum said. “I think everybody from Litchfield is not always the biggest fan of them .. just because they’re so good, you know. They’re at a level where we want to be. We want to have people fearing or overpreparing for us.

“And to have that opportunity to go in and not be afraid — go in and say, ‘Yeah, we know that they’re good shooters, but look at how many shooters we’ve locked down,” Hulterstrum said Saturday. “We need to put that all together against a team like New London.”

Mission accomplished.

New London-Spicer, which entered the game at 14-1 overall, had no one reach double figures in scoring Tuesday as it struggled from the opening tip. The Wildcats didn’t get their first field goal until less than 8 minutes remained in the first half.

The Dragons, 13-6 overall, led 15-13 at halftime, but New London-Spicer got a three-pointer to early in the second half to take a 16-15 lead.

That’s when Litchfield took control of the game, reeling off a 12-0 run that paved the way for the win.

Juniors Greta Hansen and Kylie Michels led the Dragons’ offense with 11 points each. Hansen added a team-high nine rebounds.

New London-Spicer’s 25 points was the fewest Litchfield has allowed this season, with Howard Lake-Waverly getting one more than that in a 69-26 Dragons’ win on Jan. 7.

“Things are starting to click now,” Hulterstrum said Saturday. “We are figuring out a lot of different things, you know. We just need to keep that momentum and we can’t back off, you know, the season’s not over. We can’t coast, because now we’re in the second half of the conference schedule. We’re playing everybody again…. And it’ll be a heck of a lot of fun to finish it off.”

Litchfield's second trip through the Wright County West Conference schedule begins Friday with a home game against Rockford, who the Dragons beat 55-53 Jan. 4.