In Friday's league outing, the Bertha-Hewitt Bears (Bertha, MN) basketball squad edged the host Verndale Pirates (Verndale, MN), by a count of 53-52.

The Bears (5-3) will now prepare for their outing against Pine River-Backus (Pine River, MN). The Tigers go into the A Section 5 outing with a 5-5 record. In their last outing, Pine River-Backus was tipped by Blackduck (Blackduck, MN), 62-52, in a non-league outing.

The Pirates now hold a 1-7 record. They play next when they host Walker-Hackensack-Akeley for a A Section 5 game on Tuesday, January 17. Verndale will face a Wolves team coming off a 71-32 non-league loss to Cass Lake-Bena (Cass Lake, MN). The Wolves record now stands at 3-7.