Tall Bulldog squad takes close win in basketball opener

by Richard Lamb, Advance Editor

A new coach and a virtually new varsity girls? basketball team saw its first action Monday in Rogers City. The Lady Hurons came out on the short end of a 35-30 count against the Inland Lakes Lady Bulldogs. Coach David O?Bryant said his team gave a good effort in its first action. ?We looked pretty good. We played a tough squad. Inland Lakes returned a lot of starters and we only have one player returning at all. So overall we are very happy with it,? O?Bryant said.

With the Hurons lacking a bit in height, Inland Lakes exploited the inside. Morgan Hanel altered several Huron shots while dominating the offensive glass on the other end. She scored 16 points while fellow junior Katelynn Brendly added 10. O?BRYANT TRIED playing his three tallest players, senior Shelby Schleben, junior Becky Talaske and sophomore Rebecca Meredith, at the same time to negate Hanel?s effectiveness. That had limited success.

Rogers City took the first lead when sophomore point guard Nikkie LaLonde hit two free throws with 6:37 left in the first quarter. Inland Lakes took the lead for good on inside baskets by Hanel and Brendly and led 10-5 at the end of the first quarter of action. Two outside jumpers from junior guard Kelleigh Lamb and Talaske?s breakaway layup after a steal had the Hurons within one point at 12-11 with 5:43 left in the half. Again the Bulldogs worked the ball inside for three baskets, stretching the lead to 18-11 with 1:16 left in the second quarter. Another outside jumper from Lamb, off an assist by LaLonde, and two free throws by LaLonde made the score 20-15 at the half. THE TEAMS traded baskets throughout the third quarter, as two straight drives by Schleben cut the lead to 26-23 heading into the last quarter.

A dry spell from the Hurons saw the Bulldogs increase the lead to 32-23 with 2:32 left in the game. But the Hurons got new li

fe in the last two minutes. Meredith fed LaLonde for a bucket with 2:08 left and another drive from Schleben made the score 32-27 with 55 seconds left. Keeping the defensive pressure on, the Hurons got the ball in their own left corner. On a set inbounds play LaLonde nailed a three-pointer in the corner behind a screen to cut the lead to four points. But time ran out on the Hurons comeback attempt. LaLonde?s 12 points and three steals led the Hurons while Lamb and Schleben each scored six points. Talaske had eight rebounds and three steals while Lamb added three blocked shots, seven rebounds and three steals.

?Not a bad effort over all. We have to work on a few things defensively to make sure we can match up. Offensively we have to work on spacing. That was our biggest problem in the third quarter and fourth quarter,? O?Bryant said. THE HURON junior varsity fell 45-22 to Inland Lakes. The Hurons trailed 11-2 at the end of the first quarter and 26-10 at halftime. Courtney Streich scored 10 points while Lindsey Claus added four for the Hurons. Both teams were in action Wednesday, past press time and host Alcona Friday.