Tough defensive stand late gives Rogers City the win over county rival Posen
The visiting team won round one of the two girls basketball games to be played this season between Rogers City and Posen. It was a defensive tug-of-war all night, with several lead changes, and no team getting more than four points ahead. In the end, it was the Hurons converting on three of their last four free throw attempts with less than two minutes to go.
Rogers City also came up with its best defensive stand of the game when Posen needed a basket the most. With seconds left on the clock, two three-point attempts by the Vikes’ Whitney Meeder and Katie Lewandowski to tie hit off the rim but didn’t hit the mark. The Hurons (6-1, 2-1) hung on for the 42-39 win over the Vikings (5-2, 3-1).
“I THOUGHT DEFENSIVELY, that was one of our best defensive possessions of the whole night,” said Rogers City coach Karl Grambau. Coming out of a Posen time out, Grambau’s squad intended to defend the three or the quick deuce, followed by a tight press. He just wasn’t sure who the Huron defenders needed to contend with. “To tell the truth, they had so many girls that shot threes, we didn’t really know,” Grambau said. “We just wanted to get out on every three point shooter and try and get a hand on them.”
After a free throw by Meeder with less than four minutes to play in the fourth quarter, the Vikings were held scoreless. “They played great defense, you can’t take anything away from them,” said Posen coach Tom Schellie. “They (Rogers City) did a good job on our girls down low and our shots weren’t falling at the end of the game. We were getting open looks and they just weren’t falling for us.
“I told the girls after the game they’ve got nothing to hold their heads about, we lost to a good team. We put a good effort forward and everybody worked hard today and we just came up on the short end.” The only loss of the season for the Hurons was last week against St. Ignace, while the Vikings’ losses have been against Mio and Rogers City.
THERE WERE three lead changes in the first quarter alone. The Hurons took an early 4-0 advantage, to only have the Vikes come back with a 7-0 run, which was capped by a steal and lay-up by Lewandowski. Moments later, Ashley Fleming got the first of her 21 points at the 1:32 mark of the first. Rogers City took the lead on a basket by Dana Fairbanks as the quarter ended. The lead went back to Posen when Mary Calhoun hit a jumper with 6:50 remaining in the first half. A Fairbanks putback put Rogers City back in the lead, 14-13, and that trend continued throughout the quarter, as there were four lead changes.
A Fleming field goal gave Rogers City a three-point lead, 24-21, but Meeder came back and bombed a three to tie the game at 24 before halftime. Meeder opened the second half with a bucket and gave Posen the lead again, 26-24. Fleming made a free throw to cut it to one, but Meeder drained another trey for the Vikings’ largest lead of the night, 29-25. Rogers City came back with five straight points, including a jumper by guard Sara Dove, to put the Hurons back on top.
NEAR THE end of the third, Meeder made the prettiest play of the night when she cut under the basket, received a pass from Lewandowski, and knocked home a quick turnaround jumper. The lead was Posen’s, 31-30, at the end of three. Becky Bruning scored early in the fourth to give Rogers City the lead for good, 32-31. Three Vikings were in double figures. Meeder had a team-high 14 points, while Lewandowski and Calhoun both added 10 apiece. Fairbanks had six.
Both teams won their games last Thursday. Fleming led the Hurons with 30 points in a big road win at Alcon
IN THE JUNIOR varsity game, Posen edged RC, 47-44. Jenny Ciarkowski had a game-high 17 points for the Vikings. Right behind her was Huron Chelsie Brege with 16 points. Michelle Mulka and Kori Latz had eight for Posen. Simone Kapala had eight for Rogers City, while Heather Kowalski had seven. Ciarkowski had 18 points in a win against Atlanta, 48-25. The Viking JV improved to 4-3 and 2-2 in the North Star League.
The Huron JV, paced by 19 from Jenny Fleming, defeated Alcona 47-46. Brege and Kaitlin Klingshirn both had 10 apiece. Posen is at home tonight against Au Gres and then travels to Cedarville Tuesday. Rogers City is at Rudyard tonight and back home against the Soo on Tuesday.