Coming from Grand Marais, Lily Gruber-Schulz has had to travel more than 100 miles (one way) to practice and play with her teammates in the Northern Lights summer basketball league. Gruber-Schulz is a dedicated, talented 6’ tall sophomore who practices basketball year-round. Her team recently played in the National AAU Championships in Florida, with her team winning two games and losing three. Lily is pictured here with her team, wearing No. 51.
It’s been a busy summer of basketball for Cook County High School sophomore-to-be Lily Gruber-Schulz. Gruber-Schulz has been playing on a traveling team from Duluth, the Northern Lights 9th grade team.
After qualifying for the Division I AAU State Championships in early May and after an 11th-place finish against the best competition in Minnesota in the Division I State Championships, the Northern Lights 9th grade girls qualified for the AAU Division II National Championships in Orlando, Fla. July 8-13.
Northern Lights opened pool play on Tuesday, July 9 and lost a close game 46-43 to the Lady Pistols from Georgia. In their second game, Northern Lights lost another close game to the Massachusetts Ducks 43-39.
Northern Lights had to get up early for an 8:00 a.m. game on the East Coast to play the Tampa Bay Inferno, and came back from an 18-8 deficit late in the first half to win 43-38.
The win guaranteed Northern Lights a bye in the first round of the Classic Bracket and allowed them the opportunity to relax for the remainder of the day at Cocoa Beach.
In the opener of bracket play Northern Lights took on Slam City out of Virginia and had a tough match-up with a team with excellent guard play.
Slam City took control in the second half and with four minutes remaining Northern Lights saw themselves down six points. Andrea Hakamaki of Cromwell, MN, hit a free throw and Stark knocked down a jump shot to cut the lead to three. Lily Gruber-Schulz of Grand Marais hit a bank shot late to tie the game.
With the game tied at 32-32, Kassidy Steen of Cloquet rebounded and scored off of her own miss to give Northern Lights a 34-32 lead. They survived a last-second shot by Slam City and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Classic Bracket.
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