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"I thought our defense was outstanding and we did a great job of controlling the boards," commented Hornet coach Tom Kohlmann. "Offensively, our spacing and movement led to a lot of quality looks. This was a big win for the girls against a good team."

New Lothrop outscored Napoleon in every quarter, swishing 13 treys in the first half en route to a commanding 45-20 lead at intermission. The Hornets finished the night with 24 of 60 shooting from the floor, including 14 of 32 from outside the arc, for a 40% average.

Meanwhile, NL took good care of the basketball, committing just seven turnovers in the game.

Kayla Knieper led the NL offense with 18 points, sinking four triples along the way. She also recorded four assists and three steals. Kayla Gross scored 15 points, all by way of three point shots, along with dishing out 7 assists and grabbing 6 rebounds. Amber Sammons tallied a dozen points while Ashley Root swished three triples for all of her nine points. Root also distributed six assists. Monica Confer added seven points and four rebounds while Kayla Krupp chipped in with six points and five boards.

The impressive nonleague victory marks the tenth straight win for the Hornets after a season-opening nonleague loss at Clare. The Hornets are undefeated in league play, standing at a perfect 9-0.

Ram girls lose pair of roundball tilts

Montrose's young varsity girls basketball team continued to struggle offensively last week as it lost a pair of lopsided decisions. The losses came at the hands of two tough opponents as the Rams fell to perennial GAC power Goodrich on Monday before running into a surprisingly tough Genesee Christian squad at home on Thursday.

"We played much better than the score reflects against Goodrich," Ram mentor Stephanie Miller said, referring to her team's 61-13 loss on the Martians' home court. "The effort and commitment from our girls was there, and we reached a lot of the goals we had set, but when it's such a struggle to score, those things tend to go unnoticed."

Montrose fell behind early against Goodrich, trailing 18-3 at the end of the first quarter. Freshman Kayla Setzke and sophomore Chelsea Demura shared scoring honors for the Rams with four points each. Demura also pulled down nine rebounds. Taryn Handyside and Caitlin Groulx grabbed 11 caroms apiece for Montrose.

Demura led the offense against Genesee Christian by scoring eight points and hauling in nine boards, but the effort was not enough to avoid a 57-17 nonleague loss to the Soldiers. Freshman Taylor Woodall led the war on the boards for the Rams by snaring 11 rebounds. Groulx corralled 11 boards while Setzke recorded four points and five steals.

"Genesee Christian has a very strong team this year and this simply wasn't one of our better performances," said Coach Miller. "We had some good efforts on the glass and attacked the basket well in some cases, but it just hasn't all come together for us yet. We just have to be patient and keep putting in 100% effort every night."

The losses drop Montrose to 1-11 overall and 1-9 in the GAC.

Tribe comeback falls just short, guy cagers lose, 48-46

CHESANING - A valiant comeback fell just short last Tuesday as Chesaning's varsity boys basketball team lost a tough contest to visiting Swan Valley, 48-46.

"We had our first taste of adversity this year and we didn't respond well, initially," commented Indian mentor Jason Danek in reference to a broken finger suffered by Chuck Harris during the game. "But I was proud of the run we made at them at the end of the third quarter and throughout the fourth. We battled down the stretch and had our chances to tie and win in the last minute. We just didn't convert."

Very little seemed to go right early in the contest and the Tribe found itself on the short end of a 30-20 score at halftime. But a run late in the third narrowed the deficit to 41-32 heading into the final quarter. The Indians then ran off 11 unanswered points to take a 43-41 edge with just over two minutes left in the contest.

But SV hit a big triple to go ahead by a point with just under two minutes to go and then held on for the narrow win. Blake Bruguglio did most of the damage for the Vikings, scoring a game-high 20 points.

Joe Devota led Chesaning with 14 points and grabbed four steals along the way. Cody Stoddard stepped up with 10 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 assists while Andrew Guzdial also scored 10 points to go with 3 assists. Joe Bitterman added 4 points and 11 rebounds.

The loss drops Chesaning to 2-5 in conference play and to 5-5 overall.

Chesaning girls hold on for big win over SV, 40-32

CHESANING - Brooke Jastrzembowski hit four triples and scored 22 points as Chesaning's varsity girls basketball team raced out to a 21-3 first quarter lead and then hung on for a 40-32 victory against arch-rival Swan Valley last Tuesday.

"Swan Valley has a couple of front line girls who usually lead them in scoring and we were able to hold them to just 10 combined points tonight," said Indian coach Wayne Scanlon. "We were 9 of 13 from the floor in the first quarter while they were 1 of 13, but then our shooting went cold and they got on a roll in the fourth quarter to make it a little too close for comfort. I was glad to see 0:00 on the clock."

Chesaning was just 6 of 28 from the field after the first quarter to finish 15-41 for 37%. Still, the Indians seemed in control at the end of the third quarter as they held a 36-20 cushion heading into the final eight minutes of play. But the Vikings hit four triples in the last stanza and Chesaning missed the front end of three one-and-ones down the stretch to make things interesting.

In addition to Jastrzembowski's big night, Sydney Pacek scored 11 points. Katie Vincke added six markers for the Indians. Brooke Beckman and Megan Newton led the war on the boards, pulling down 10 and 8 caroms, respectively.

The victory, coupled with a 39-33 triumph over SV earlier this season, gives Chesaning a sweep of the Vikings, a feat rarely accomplished by any school against the always-tough Vikings. The Indians now sport a glossy 10-1 overall record and stand at 7-1 in the tough TVC.

Chesaning gals win TVC crossover, 48-41

CHESANING- A dismal second quarter cost Chesaning's varsity girls basketball team the lead, but not the game, as the Indians captured a TVC crossover win against visiting Carrollton last Thursday, 48-41.

Wayne Scanlon's squad suffered through a 1-for-22 shooting virus in the second half as its 12-6 first-quarter lead morphed into an 18-16 halftime deficit. But the Indians rallied to take a 31-27 advantage at the end of the third quarter, sparked by a pair of treys from Katie Vincke and an additional triple from Brooke Jastrzembowski. The Tribe later went into a stall with five minutes left in the game, forcing Carrollton to foul several times down the stretch. The Indians cashed in at the charity stripe and walked away with the victory.

"Carrollton's quickness caused us some problems and we were also not as focused as we should have been tonight after beating Swan Valley on Tuesday," Scanlon remarked. "But a win is a win. I'm glad we had the resolve to get it done."

Jastrzembowski, in particular, got it done for Chesaning, scoring 17 points in the contest and making five key consecutive free throws in the fourth quarter. Sydney Pacek scored 14 points and was also clutch at the free throw line in the fourth quarter, canning 6 of 7 freebies in the final stanza. Vincke finished with 13 points, including three triples along the way. Brooke Beckman scored just two points, but dominated the glass by grabbing 17 rebounds. Megan Newton also scored a pair of markers to go with a dozen rebounds and three blocked shots.

The Indians shot just 25% from the floor, making 14 of 56 field goal attempts, but the Tribe put the game away by swishing 16 of 19 charity tosses.

Chesaning is rated Honorable Mention in Class B and now stands at 11-1 overall and 7-1 in the TVC.

St. Charles gals drop pair of hardcourt nailbiters

A pair of potential wins slipped through the fingers of St. Charles' varsity girls basketball team this past week as the Lady Bulldogs dropped a TVC contest at Merrill on Tuesday, 45-40, before falling in overtime, 50-48, to TVC crossover rival Shepherd on Thursday.

St. Charles carried a lead into the fourth quarter of both contests.

"We started the Merrill game with our worst quarter of the year, then played our best by far to take the lead at halftime," commented 'Dawg coach Larry Mishler, whose team trailed 9-0 at the end of the first quarter before exploding to a 22-17 lead at intermission. "Then we come out flat in the third quarter when we had a chance to put them away. We did some things better than we have all year, but then would shoot ourselves in the foot at critical times."

Despite their lackluster third quarter, the Lady Bulldogs still led, 26-23, heading into the fourth quarter. But Merrill, which came into the game with eight wins on the season, heated up on offense in the fourth quarter to pass St. Charles and grab the victory.

Megan McSweyn spearheaded the offense for the Lady Bulldogs, scoring 19 points, grabbing 14 rebounds and dishing out a pair of assists. Kaleigh Bashans scored a dozen points, hauled in five caroms and recorded three steals. Jordan Mishler snared 10 caroms and passed out three assists while Brooke Braley had seven boards.

The Lady Bulldogs shot 14 of 43 from the floor for 41%, but hurt themselves at the free throw line where they converted just 6 of 16 attempts.

More frustration awaited St. Charles two days later at Shepherd in a TVC crossover encounter with the Bluejays.

St. Charles held a 34-29 lead heading into the fourth quarter, but once again couldn't hold the lead. The two teams were deadlocked at 42-all at the end of regulation before the host Bluejays finally pulled out the two-point victory in overtime.

McSweyn once again led the offense by scoring 22 points, hauling down 11 rebounds and distributing 3 assists. Bashans and Lexy Burch each scored six points while Mishler had a solid floor game with 4 points, 12 boards and 6 assists.

St. Charles committed 27 rebounds and missed 16 of 33 free throws, which proved too much to overcome.

"We had a golden chance to take a big lead early with 26 free throws in the first half, but we only made 12 and that really hurt," said Mishler. "There are no excuses. We have a lot of potential, but it's time to put up or shut up. We seem to find a new way to lose too often. It's time to find a way to win."