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Ithaca opened with a 7-2 lead in the first quarter, then out-gunned the 'Dawgs 11-9 in the second. Both squads found their shooting touches in the third, but Ithaca prevailed 18-15. The 'Jackets finished with a 16-13 advantage in the fourth.

"We started out horribly," admitted St. Charles coach Larry Mishler. "We couldn't shoot to save our souls. In the first half, we couldn't have shot 20 percent. It was pretty disheartening."

Things got better for the Bulldogs in the second half. They were able to cut the lead to four at one point, but Ithaca pulled away again.

Sophomore Ashley Wachowicz, up from the JV squad to round out the depleted roster, led the Bulldogs with 17 points, seven rebounds and two steals. Jordan Mishler added 10 points with five boards. Megan McSweyn chipped in eight points and three boards, despite battling a bug.

Kasey Lenhart, another sophomore up, provided four points and three boards. Natalie Trier canned three points. Jade Tribfelner grabbed four boards and passed out two assists.

Despite the sluggish start, the Bulldogs finished the night shooting 40 percent from the floor. However, they hit only 45 percent from the line.

The St. Charles squad was without the services of Kaleigh Bashans and Brooke Braley.

"Having Kaleigh out really hurt," Coach Mishler said. "She handles the ball for us, so we didn't really have a ball handler tonight."

The Lady Bulldogs close out the regular season with a 4-16 record, 3-11 in the Tri-Valley Conference West Division.

They travel to Merrill on Monday night to face Sanford Meridian in the Class C district opener at 6 p.m. The winner of that contest faces St. Louis on Wednesday at 8 p.m., with the finals slated for Friday at 7 p.m.

Breckenridge, Coleman and the host Vandals round out the other side of the bracket.

Tribe cagers can't overcome deficit in 57-50 loss to O-E

CHESANING -- Chesaning's varsity cagers fought back late in the game, but couldn't get out of the hole they dug themselves in Friday's 57-50 loss to Ovid-Elsie.

The Marauders out-scored the Indians 12-8 in the first period and 15-8 in the second for a solid 27-16 lead at the intermission. The Indians got back in it in the third with an 11-11 tie, then owned the fourth, 23-19, but couldn't overcome the deficit.

"We didn't attack offensively, we didn't shoot very well, and we didn't communicate on defense," admitted Chesaning coach Jason Danek of the first half. "We got ourselves in a big hole."

He added, "I thought we played hard in the third quarter, and we tied the game in the fourth, and were down by one a couple of times, but we couldn't get over the hump."

Joe Devota led the Tribe with 15 points and seven rebounds. Cal Bishop added 13 points with five boards and three steals.

Joe Bitterman chipped in seven points and seven boards, while Andrew Guzdial canned seven point and five boards. Chuck Harris added six points in his first game since the last O-E contest.

Chesaning finished up shooting 18 of 66 from the floor, and 8 of 17 from the line.

The loss drops the Tribe to 10-8 on the season. They will close out the regular season on Thursday at Swan Valley.

Bulldogs bow to 'Jackets, 62-51

ITHACA -- The St. Charles varsity cagers couldn't overcome a slow start Friday night in a 62-51 loss to host Ithaca.

The Yellowjackets ledt 21-4 after the first quarter and were up 36-16 at the break. Ithaca out-scored the 'Dawgs 11-10 in the third. St. Charles roared back in the fourth, out-scoring the 'Jackets 25-15, but couldn't make up enough ground.

Tyler Nieman led the Bulldogs with 14 points. Justin Hedrich chipped in 11 points with one block. Matt Schalow, Marshall Davenport and Dugan Roosa each added six points.

Schalow had a team-high six boards to go with four blocks and three steals. Davenport grabbed four steals. Roosa added foru boards and two assists.

Ryan Humpert also passed out two assists to go with three steals.

The Bulldogs finished up shooting 20 of 64 from the floor and 9 of 12 from the charity stripe.

Ram roundballers catch fire in second half, win third straight

LAKE FENTON - Montrose's varsity boys basketball team found its shooting touch in the second half last Friday at Lake Fenton and posted a dramatic 52-49 comeback win.

The Rams have now won three straight league contests and have moved from last place to second place in the GAC-Red during that span.

Montrose found itself in a 26-18 hole at halftime, thanks in large part to its inability to find the basket. The Rams made just 6 of 28 shots from the floor in the first half for a paltry 21% average. The second half was a different story altogether, as Montrose scorched the nets at a 52% clip, hitting 13 of 25 field goal attempts.

Still, the Rams were unable to take the lead until a Preston Taylor basket gave them a 50-48 advantage with just 30 seconds left in regulation. Cody Groulx's lay-up with nine seconds to go bumped the cushion to 52-48 and, after a Blue Devils free throw, the Rams had their third straight conference victory.

Taylor led the way for Montrose, registering 20 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Keith Boswell continued to fill the gap left by injured Cory Hargraves, who sat out his second straight game with an injury. The freshman center scored nine points and hauled down six rebounds for his team. Cody Groulx was also a force underneath, scoring seven points, grabbing six rebounds and dishing out three assists. Brandon Rose turned in an outstanding floor game with seven markers, four caroms, four steals and a pair of assists. Jared Barber scored six points and Adam Campbell contributed three points and three boards.

With the win, Montrose climbs to 8-7 in the conference and to 9-9 overall.

Ram gals lose pair of roundball tilts

MONTROSE - Montrose's varsity girls basketball team lost a pair of home contests last week, dropping a hard-fought 48-40 decision to Mt. Morris on Monday before falling to Lake Fenton by a 46-27 count on Wednesday.

In Monday's game, the Rams fell into a 12-5 hole at the end of the first quarter and then spent the rest of the contest making a series of runs at the visiting Panthers. Senior guard Steffanie Anderson buried five triples as part of a career-high 18-point night as Montrose stayed within striking distance throughout the evening.

The Rams put up 16 points in the second quarter to close to within 26-21 at halftime. The teams played to a virtual draw in the second half, but Mt. Morris was able to cash in at the free throw line to hold on to the lead.

"I was pleased with the effort and we competed well in all four quarters," commented Ram mentor Stephanie Miller. "We played a solid game, won the war on the glass and forced them into quite a few turnovers. We just fouled them way too much."

In addition to her 18 points, Anderson pulled down four rebounds. Chelsea Demura scored 7 points and led the battle on the boards by grabbing 13 rebounds. Kayla Setzke tallied 5 points and a whopping 10 steals while Taryn Handyside recorded four markers and eight caroms.

Two days later, Montrose again struggled in the first quarter, falling behind, 10-3, before turning in another solid second stanza. The Rams outscored the Blue Devils, 13-10, in the second to narrow the gap to 21-16 at intermission. Montrose went ice-cold in the second half, however, scoring just 11 points as Lake Fenton steadily pulled away for the win.

Handyside turned in a strong performance with seven points, six rebounds and two assists. Demura again patrolled the glass, pulling down 14 rebounds while recording four points and four steals. Beth Hall tallied four markers and eight boards and Setzke chipped in with five points, three assists and two steals.

The loss completes the regular season for Montrose, which opens district play at Swan Valley against Ovid-Elsie. Game time is 6 PM.

Hornet cagers whip Linden, 59-49

NEW LOTHROP - Three Hornets reached double figures in the scoring column last Friday as New Lothrop's varsity boys basketball team defeated visiting Linden on Parents' Night. The contest was more lopsided than the 59-49 final score might indicate.

"I'm very pleased with our performance tonight," commented Hornet mentor Joe Corkran after the game. "We won by 10, but we were ahead by 18 with three minutes to go and it felt like we were in good control most of the night."

Linden held the lead after the first quarter, 15-12, but the Hornets outscored the Eagles in each of the next three stanzas to steadily take charge of the contest. The Hornets sank eight treys in the game, highlighted by four triples from Tyler Henige in the fourth quarter.

Henige, who had sat out the past eight games with an injury, scored all 12 of his points in the final stanza. Meanwhile, Brian Sheridan enjoyed what his coach called his "best game of the year" by scoring 15 points and pulling down 8 rebounds. Brandon Baryo was solid with 11 points, 5 boards and 4 steals while Ryan Praski sparkled with 7 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists. Kyle Moore and Trevor Vincke each finished with six points and three assists.

"Brian and Ryan both attacked their defense well and made great decisions with the ball, and Ryan attacked the boards, which is great to have from your point guard," praised Corkran. "Actually, a lot of our kids performed extremely well tonight. And it was also great to get Tyler back and healthy."

The Hornets also took good care of the basketball, limiting their turnovers to just twelve on the night.

The nonleague win bumps NL's record to an impressive 17-1 mark heading into the final week of the regular season.

Chesaning girls soar past O-E as Jastrzembowski breaks scoring record

CHESANING - Brooke Jastrzembowski set a new school scoring record last Friday night, highlighting an evening of special moments for Chesaning's varsity girls basketball team.

"It was Parents' Night and we had some pretty neat moments before the game and at halftime," said veteran Tribe coach Wayne Scanlon, whose team's 61-35 dismantling of visiting Ovid-Elsie was just part of the proceedings. "Then to top it off, Brooke breaks the scoring record."

Jastrzembowski hit a driving lay-up off a steal and pass from fellow senior Brooke Beckman midway through the second quarter to break Melissa Sager's old scoring mark of 1039 career points. By that time, the Indians were well on their way to an easy win. Jastrzembowski finished with 17 points on the night, giving her a total of 1044 as the regular season comes to a close.

Meanwhile, Beckman was also enjoying a monster night, registering 10 points, 13 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists. Eight of Beckman's points came during a third-quarter stretch where she hit baskets on four consecutive trips down the court.

Megan Newton and Whitney Pacek each scored eight points, with Newton also grabbing seven rebounds. Sydney Pacek and Sabrina Aguilar chipped in with seven markers each.

"We had a pretty emotional ceremony before the game where our players spoke about our two seniors (Jastrzembowski and Beckman) who were about to play their last home game tonight. Then we're supposed to regain our composure and go out and play a basketball game," explained Scanlon. "Then we had another ceremony at halftime where each of our players honored someone special to them. There was a lot of emotion and a lot of special things going on tonight-it was pretty neat."

Chesaning only led by a 12-8 margin at the end of the first quarter, but then the Indians accomplished a feat that was special and very rarely seen on a basketball court. Over the span of the second and third quarters, Chesaning connected on 15 of 17 field goals for an unheard-of 88% shooting average. They also sank five of six free throws during that span. Not surprisingly, by the end of the third quarter, the Indians held an insurmountable 51-24 lead.

The victory closes out the regular season for Chesaning, which finishes with an 18-2 record, its only losses coming to undefeated Bullock Creek. The Indians will begin district play this Wednesday when they take on the winner of Monday's contest between Swan Valley and Corunna. Wednesday's contest will take place at Swan Valley High School. Game time is 8 PM.