Posen?s pressure fuels third quarter comeback against Rogers City

Down the stretch it was anybody?s game to win, but in the end it was Posen (4-2) hanging on for a come-from-behind victory against rival Rogers City (2-4), 44-42. Posen used the press in the third quarter to erase a nine point Huron lead. ?The press looked really good,? said Viking coach Tom Schellie. ?The press worked and got us back into the game.? Rogers City controlled the tempo of the game in the first half, and halfway through the third quarter, before the Vikings turned up the heat. ?I thought we played great tonight,? said coach Karl Grambau. ?If we play like that every game, we are going to win a lot of games. It really hurts to come up a little bit short.?

WITH POSEN clinging to a 43-42 lead with 1:04 left in the fourth quarter, Rogers City had its chances to win, but couldn?t convert. The Hurons missed a couple of free throws, and after a turnover by Posen, Roxann Hincka came up with a clutch block on the weak side. The Vikings missed a pair of free throws and gave Rogers City one last chance at scoring.

Grambau called timeout with 12 seconds left to play and the girls ran the play out of the timeout. Tiffiny Krueger was open in the paint, and got a good look at the basket, but couldn?t sink the jumper. Rogers City also was in foul trouble in the final quarter. ?We put in some things special for this game and they worked really well and we have to build on that and execute that against other teams and just try to continue to get better,? said Grambau. Rogers City has a home game tonight against Rudyard and then travel to Sault Ste. Marie Tuesday, while Posen is at Au Gres today and is back home Tuesday against Cedarville.

THE HURONS led 7-6 after the first quarter with Krueger extending the lead to three in the first 30 seconds of the second. Posen answered with points from Michelle Mulka, who scored back-to-back baskets to give the Vikings the lead, 10-9. Rogers City started hitting the bottom of the net and went on a 12-2 run. Chelsea Brege scored six of her 14 points and Laura Konieczny nailed back-to-back shots during the scoring spurt. Schellie said, ?We were playing Rogers City basketball for the first half, as Rogers City wanted to slow the game down and we wanted to speed the game up.? With 12 seconds left in the half, Mary Calhoun stroked a three-pointer to give her team a confidence boost heading into the second half. Rogers City answered the bell in the third quarter, outscoring their guests 6-3, before Posen turned up the pressure. Jill Krajniak scored six of her eight points in the final minutes of the third quarter to put the Vikings within one, 31-30, with one quarter left to play.

?JILL KRAJNIAK was huge for us defensively and offensively,? said Schellie. ?She played a big part in this win tonight and I?m happy more and more girls are stepping up on this team.? Rogers City held tough in the first couple of minutes of the fourth with Jenny Fleming making a nice pass to Krueger for a bucket and then making a shot herself for a five point Huron lead. Fleming finished with 10 in the game. Hincka made a free throw to cut the lead to four, which was followed by a nice defensive stand by Rogers City, but the Hurons couldn?t get their hands on the ball. It tipped off the fingertips of RC players four times before ending up in the hands of Mulka, who buried the shot for Posen. Calhoun, who had a team-high 11 points, had a steal and a layup to tie the game at 39 and her running jumper gave the Vikes a lead they wouldn?t get back at the four minute mark.

GRAMBAU SAID, ?Y

ou?ve got to give Posen credit, they pulled it out in the last few minutes of the game. I think we are really starting to believe that if we do the little things, and do them well, that we?ll be a good team.? Both teams were coming off victories last week. The Hurons edged Alcona to win their second game of the season, 40-36. Krueger and Fleming both finished with a dozen apiece. Posen had five players in double figures in a 76-37 home victory against Atlanta. Hincka led the way with 23 point and 18 rebounds. She was followed by Mulka with 16; Jenny Ciarkowski 14; Amanda Pieczynski 11; and Megan Pieczynski with 11.

IN JV ACTION, Posen (3-3) defeated Rogers City (0-6) 57-26. Nicole Purol had a game-high 14 points. The Hurons lost to Alcona 35-29 with Anna Wickersham and Monica Cercone both scoring nine apiece. Posen blasted Atlanta 63-23 with Emily Smolinski netting 12 and Christinia Bednarski scoring 11.

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