Two Harbors Girls Basketball Building Defense and Confidence

The Two Harbors girls basketball team may have faced a rocky start to the season, but they’ve discovered the formula for a turn­around. Winning five of their last six games, their only recent loss came in a tight match up against Ely, who edged them out just before the final buzzer.

“They are traditional­ly a very good basket­ball team,” said Coach Gavin Bopp of the Timberwolves, whom the Agate ladies have played twice this sea­son. “The first time was at home, and we knew they were going to be a tough team, but we didn’t come out of the gate hot. We were down 20-1 to start the game, and it was a bat­tle the rest of the way.”

However, when the teams faced off again in a recent holiday tournament in Ely, the outcome was a com­pletely different story.

“We ended up losing that game by three, but we were winning at half time and winning throughout the game,” said the coach. “Defi­nitely a huge improve­ment from the first time we played them.”

Bopp has been the head coach of the girls varsity team for two years, following a 12- year tenure as the JV boys basketball coach. He credits the team’s recent momentum to a renewed focus on building a strong de­fense, which has, in turn, boosted the play­ers’ confidence. He shared that many of the girls have embraced the team’s defensive strategy, stepping up to refine the style they continue to prioritize.

“I think the biggest thing has been our de­fense. It’s something I and the other coaches have really stressed. I think the girls are start­ing to believe that they truly are a good defen­sive team,” said the coach.

Focusing on defense has led to signifi­cant wins, including a standout game against Barnum, which Coach Bopp called a season highlight. The Bomb­ers, boasting a 7-1 record, fell to the Ag­ates in a thrilling home game, with a final score of 57-51. Bopp’s post on the team’s Face­book Page stated that the game was, “A great example of a team that never gave up, never got down, and came back from a 13-point halftime deficit.”

Additionally, the nar­row three-point loss to Ely has bolstered the team’s confidence, proving they can com­pete with high per­forming opponents.

“As I look at our most recent wins, many times we’re hold­ing our opponent to around forty points to the mid-forties. So that kind of sets us up for some suc­cess there,” Bopp ex­plained. “We’re not a high-scoring team, so if we want to win these games, it has to be our defense that holds them to as few points as possible as we can so we can compete.”

The lead scorer for the Agates is senior Ra­chel Bopp, who scored a career high of 37 points in the Barnum game win.

“She’s had some much-needed big games for us,” said Coach Bopp, who is also her dad. He notes that Rachel dedicates extra time to improv­ing her skills and strength, regularly us­ing the weight room and open gym to refine her shooting.

According to the coach, “Her dedication has paid off. There’s something to be said about putting in the ex­tra effort for the weight room and for open gym shooting. It’s some­thing I’m a very strong believer in. If you re­ally want to be good, you can’t just come to practice. Everybody comes to practice; you have to do extra.”

The standout player will attend Minnesota Morris after graduat­ing this year to play volleyball, the sport that is her “true love”, according to the coach. She had an incredible season this fall and was selected for the Duluth News Tribune All-Area Team. The Two Harbors volley­ball team had a great season overall, finish­ing with a final record of 23-5.

“They had a very suc­cessful season in vol­leyball this year and that’s kind of start­ing to transform what we’re doing over on the basketball side now as the girls are gaining more and more confidence,” said Coach Bopp.

With only three se­niors on the young basketball team of fourteen players— note also that there were no seniors on the team last year— leadership is provided by five captains, who Coach Bopp praised for their contributions.

“Our leaders are lead­ing by example so that’s been huge for us,” said Bopp.

He explained that helping kids build confidence is some­thing he is passionate about.

“I just like working with the kids and the challenge of every day trying to get bet­ter, to improve, to see the kids have success and gain confidence. I think those are kind of the main reasons why I do it,” Bopp said of coaching.

With competing pri­orities, the girls’ suc­cess in school is a testament to their dis­cipline and determina­tion. “These girls are not only hard workers on the court but defi­nitely hard workers in the classroom,” said their coach.

He went on to praise the girls’ upbringing as a huge contributor to their dedication, say­ing, “I think the big­gest thing is many of them come from disci­plined families where school comes first and sports next. But they’re very involved in things. I think from a young age these girls have learned how to manage their time and I’m not by no means taking credit for that. I think our Two Harbors parents have done an excellent excellent job raising these girls. I don’t have any is­sues with discipline. I don’t have any issues with being on time or any of those things. It makes my job much much easier when we have parents who are doing just a wonder­ful job with their chil­dren.”

The Agates most re­cent win was on Jan­uary 3rd against Deer River, which the team took on at home in Two Harbors. The fi­nal score was 43-38 in what the coach posted as a “defensive battle.” The night additionally featured an induction of Kylie Wainer, class of ’97, to the Two Har­bors Hall of Fame.

The team that is on quite the hot streak will next play Interna­tional Falls in a home game on Saturday January 11th with a 2:30 PM start. In the week ahead, they will also take on Carlton/Wren­shall on their home court.