The Vikes rebound nicely with upset win over Cedarville

“This is what we are capable of,” said Posen coach Tom Schellie, as the Vikings (4-1, 2-1) upset Cedarville (4-1) Tuesday evening, 43-32. The Trojans were ranked seventh in the Class D Associated Press polls that came out on Monday. In three years of coaching the Vikings, it’s Schellie’s first win in five tries against the UP girls basketball power. “We had patience on the press and made good passes,” said Schellie.

Cedarville is known for its pressure defense, which forces turnovers and creates scoring opportunities. The Vikings must have torn a page from the Trojans’ playbook, because that’s exactly how they defeated Cedarville on a warm, muggy evening in the Posen gym.

“YOU CAN’T take away from their defense,” said 21-year Trojan coach Tom Wilson. “They worked hard. They were hustling. Our guards didn’t handle the ball very well and we had way too many turnovers.” The Vikings responded well after a disappointing 37-18 loss at Mio, a game that was billed as a North Star League showdown.

“We really collected ourselves and became one unit again after that Mio game. We have to work hard and everybody knows that,” said Schellie. “If we do it, we are going to win a lot of games. If we don’t, like at Mio, they out-hustled us, they outworked us, and we came out with a loss. We have to go in and work hard. Just because we are Posen, and we had a good season last year, (teams) are not going to roll over for us. We have to go out and prove we are a good team.”

THE VIKING defense kept the Cedarville scorers from getting into any type of rhythm. The Trojans were one-for-16 bricks from three point land and three-for-15 from the charity stripe. Cedarville, despite shooting troubles, was in the game late in the fourth quarter, trailing by four points, but Posen was able to hold on and build its lead back to nine. Schellie said the Vikings have been working on their offense, getting the ball down low, but also kicking it out for a scoring chance.

Whitney Meeder had a team-high 14 points for the Vikings and added six rebounds, four assists, and four steals. Roxann Hincka found her scoring touch with 11 points and seven rebounds. Katie Lewandowski had seven points, three steal

s, and four assists, while Mary Calhoun had seven points, six steals, and six assists.

“WE DON’T depend on one girl,” said Schellie. “It’s nice that we have some options for scoring.” The Trojans’ Emily Feldhake led all scorers with 16 points. Schellie said there is still room for improvement. The goal each game is to snag 40 rebounds and to only turn the ball over 15 times. Both figures were at 32 against Cedarville. After a trip to Atlanta for a league skirmish, Posen plays seven of the next eight games at home, including an inter-county game with Rogers City Tuesday.

The JV lost both of its games the last week, 37-15 against Cedarville and 44-32 against Mio. Jenny Ciarkowski had 13 against Cedarville, while Michelle Mulka had 12 against Mio.