Hurons dump Hillman; ready for district play in RC
The Rogers City Hurons made a name for themselves Tuesday night when they turned the court into a playground for chasing Hillman Tigers, winning the game 53-33, and entertaining the fans on ?Parent?s Night.?
Honored was senior Cassy Brege, who hadn?t played since her freshman year. She was given an honorary mini-basketball with the signatures of all her teammates.
All the parents were honored along with their daughters on the court.
Starting lineups were introduced with Cassy Brege, Lindsey Fleming, Ashley Fleming, C.J. Calabrese, and Jess Konieczny taking the floor for the Hurons, and Ashley winning the tipoff.
As the Hurons prepare to host districts beginning Monday, Rogers City will play Onaway at 7 p.m. while Inland Lakes has the bye.
Tuesday, Hale will play Whittemore-Prescott at 6 p.m. and Alcona will play Mio at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday the winners of both previous games will play at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Friday the two remaining teams will face off at 7 p.m.
?THIS THURSDAY should be an interesting game against Inland Lakes,? said Huron coach Karl Grambau. ?It will be a good indicator as to how we might do. If we win against Onaway in the first game we would go on to play Inland Lakes at the districts next week.?
As the Tuesday game against Hillman proceeded, the Hurons took awhile to begin their scoring, with both teams starting slowly and making attempts without success.
Hillman was first on the board with 4:51 on the clock and followed that up with a freebie one minute later.
The crowd was silent, waiting to see what would unfold, when Lindsey Fleming threw one of her famous long-from-the-outside shots for a three-pointer and evened the score in one fell swoop.
Hillman returned seconds later, but Ashley Fleming answered to even it 5-5.
The Tigers would not stay at bay and scored again, to which the Fleming ?sister act? went into effect when Ashley scored again on a feed from Lindsey to bring it even, 7-7.
The first quarter ended when Ashley fed the ball to Jenna Vogelheim with two seconds on the clock, and in it went for a 9-7 Huron lead.
IT LOOKED like it was going to be a pretty even game until it turned into a Huron party in the second segment when the Hurons outscored the Tigers 21-7.
Lindsey broke away early in the second quarter, running the court and going up and under for two, followed shortly by Vogelheim?s two.
Seven times Ashley reached the net with only one interruption by a Tiger three-pointer, leaving the score 25-12.
The Tigers scored only once more, then Samantha Hurst added a freebie and Ashley finished up with four more putting the Hurons up 30-14 at the halftime break.
Although the rest seemed to energize the Hillman team, it was apparent the Hurons were out for the win, keeping the Tiger opportunities at a minimum and taking control of the ball for the most part.
Ashley Fleming performed brilliantly all night, driving the ball, feeding the ball, taking control and playing her up and under the hoop game and reached a game-high 33 points on the day.
Late in third quarter a Jess Konieczny feed to Vogelheim left the Hurons with a 43-20 lead. It seemed it would be a slam dunk game, but the Tigers still had a small roar left to give in the final segment.
Hillman popped two baskets in before Ashley ran the court, went in under the basket, turned and threw in a back hander to bring the score to 45-24.
Within the next minute of play, the teams took turns scoring at will. First Hillman, then Lindsey answered, then Hillman scored twice, followed up by a Lindsey-to-Ashley feed for two more (49-30).
THE TIGERS were like a pesky bee that would not go away, but the Hurons answered each attack. As the game wore down, Ashley fed the ball to Kristy Curtis with 2:16 on the clock for two points, answered seconds later by a freebie for the Tigers (51-33).
The final score came with 41 seconds on the clock, when Brege drove the ball down court and passed to Curtis who landed the shot for the final 53-33 score upping the Huron record to 6-13.
Hillman?s coach Brock Place said of the loss, ?Our defense just let down…I?ve got to hand it to (Ashley) Fleming. She?s a great player and she stepped up when her team needed her.?
A beaming Huron coach Karl Grambau said, ?I thought it was a special night, being Parents? Night, the girls got to show them they could win the game…they really played well tonight.?
Grambau said the team played well both defensively and offensively with good ball handling, passing, and assists.
?This
IN THE JV game, the Hurons won 34-20, outscoring the Tigers in all but the first quarter.
The JVs were up 15-10 at the half and built the lead to 28-18 after three. The high scorer for the Hurons was Vanessa Paquin with 12 points.
Last week?s home game against the No. 1 ranked St. Ignace, (17-0), resulted in a lopsided loss for the Hurons, 71-31.
Ashley Fleming was high scorer for the Hurons with 17 points and Krista Clement was high for the Saints with 25.
The JV team also lost to the Saints 42-28, with Laura Konieczny scoring 12 points.
The Hurons will host Inland Lakes Thursday and begin district play Monday at 7 p.m. against Onaway.