‘They never gave up, they never quit’

 

by Peter Jakey–Managing Editor

The Posen girls’ basketball gave it their best shot against the No. 1 ranked St. Ignace Saints, but fell short in a bid to win the school’s first regional title, 74-68.

It was a battle of two, 23-0 teams in the Class D regional title game at Gaylord High School. They played even for a quarter-and-a-half, and the score was 20-20, when St. Ignace looked like they were ready to take control of the contest. In a matter of minutes, they struck for 16 straight points as part of a 20-2 run. The halftime score was 40-24.

Posen head coach Karl Momrik knew he needed to get the ball to junior center Korynn Hincka, because they could not stop her. She scored 28 second half points to lead a gritty comeback. The Vikings outscored St. Ignace 30-18 in the third quarter.

 

At the start of the fourth, senior Anna Couture’s steal on the St. Ignace side led to an easy bucket to Korynn on the other end and the Vikings were only down by two points, 58-56. In the closing minute, Couture’s 3-point basket made it 72-68, but Posen could get no closer.

Momrik could not be happier with the effort from his team.

“We could not be prouder of 11 kids,” he said. “So many people told us we were going to be rolled by 30 or 40. Where are those people now? These kids put Posen on the map tonight. They never gave up, they never quit.”

The coach had so much more to say about the effort. More comments, plus many more details of the game and photos will appear in the March 14 edition of the Advance.

St. Ignace (24-0) will play Crystal Falls Forest Park (23-1) Tuesday in Escanaba. The Vikings finished 23-1 and made history by becoming the first girls’ team to win all 20 regular season games.