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"Portland St. Patrick has a good system and they are proven winners, so we knew we had to play our best game tonight," said Kohlmann after his team's 45-29 win over the Shamrocks. "Our game plan tonight was to be patient on offense and get good ball movement until we had an open shot. We knew every possession tonight would be important."

Portland, a perennial power that had racked up eight consecutive regional titles coming into the contest, played most of the game with an active zone defense intent upon taking away NL's outside shot.

But the Hornets, after a shaky opening four minutes of play, effectively utilized the entry pass to the high post to break down the defense and open up the court for back-door lay-ups. When the high-low pass was unavailable, the Hornets simply kicked the ball back out to the perimeter, where a series of rapid tic-tac-toe passes usually produced an open look at the basket.

"I think we came out a little tight, but once we scored, we settled down. We had to be disciplined enough to make the extra pass tonight and not rush things. I thought that our ability and willingness to do that was the key to the game," commented Kohlmann.

New Lothrop's patience and composure was severely tested right from the start as St. Pat's scored the first three baskets and led 6-0 just two minutes into the game. Kayla Gross finally put NL on the board with a basket at 4:40 of the first quarter, but Portland responded just 20 seconds later to go up, 8-2. Meanwhile, the Hornets were not getting their usual number of possessions due to Portland's machine-like pass-and-screen offense which usually held on to the ball for several seconds before finally putting up a shot.

But New Lothrop stubbornly fought through the gauntlet of screens and demonstrated a stifling defense that kept the game in check until its offense began to click.

From there, it was all New Lothrop for the rest of the night.

Kayla Gross's put-back basket with exactly two minutes left in the first quarter gave her team its first lead at 9-8 and the Hornets ended the stanza with a 13-10 lead. The stubborn Shamrocks hung close throughout the second quarter, but Ashley Root's triple one minute before intermission eventually gave NL its biggest lead at 24-15. St. Pat's scored a late basket to narrow the gap to 24-17 at halftime.

New Lothrop's offense was quiet for the first three minutes of the third quarter and Portland pulled to within 24-20. Then the Hornets put the game away with 12 unanswered points over the next 2 1/2 minutes. Root, Kayla Knieper and Kayla Krupp each tallied four points during that stretch and when the dust cleared, NL held a comfortable 36-22 advantage. Portland never threatened again as the Hornets coasted to the 16-point triumph.

Root led all scorers with 13 points, burying a pair of critical first-half treys in the process. Krupp and Gross scored 10 markers each, Knieper had seven, Monica Confer tallied three and Amber Sammons sank a pair of free throws.

The quick-handed Hornets forced Portland into 18 turnovers in the game while committing just nine miscues of their own.

The victory is the 24th in a row after a season-opening loss to Clare. The Hornets now turn their attention to the state quarterfinals held at Lansing Eastern on Tuesday where they will take on St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic.

"I have the utmost respect for (Portland coach) Al Schrauben and his team," concluded Kohlmann. "This was a huge obstacle we overcame tonight and it will give us confidence for what lies ahead."

The quarterfinal contest on Tuesday will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of a Class A game that begins at 6 PM. Approximate start time for the New Lothrop-St. Joseph game is 7:45 PM. To get to the Lansing Eastern H.S. gym, take I-127 south to M43. Get off on Exit 78 at E. Grand River Ave. and go west to Pennsylvania Ave. Turn left (south) onto Pennsylvania and look for the school, which is located just south of E. Shiawassee.

NL guys win thriller to capture district crown

NEW LOTHROP - Ryan Praski stole an in-bounds pass at his own end of the court and drove for the winning lay-up with just eight seconds left to give New Lothrop's varsity boys basketball team a thrilling 51-49 win over Fowler in the district championship game at New Lothrop last Friday.

Praski's heroics put the cap on a nail-biting evening of basketball in which the lead changed hands six times in the second half alone.

"Ryan made a great individual play at the end," said Hornet mentor Joe Corkran after the game. "We figured #12 (Matt Simon) would get the ball on the in-bounds play and Praski just made a heckuva break on the ball to win it for us at the end. But this was a night where both teams made a lot of outstanding plays."

New Lothrop trailed, 15-9, at the end of the first quarter and the situation was beginning to look bleak for the Hornets when they fell behind by a 20-13 count with six minutes to go in the second stanza. But Fowler didn't score for the rest of the period and NL ran off a dozen unanswered points to take a 25-23 lead into intermission.

Fowler found its way into the scoring column quickly at the outset of the third quarter, scoring nine points in the first 2:30 of the period to take a 32-29 lead. But the Hornets then made perhaps their most important push of the night, running off nine straight critical points to go ahead, 38-32. The quarter ended with NL still up, 40-36, thanks in large part to Praski's nine points in the stanza.

But Fowler refused to go away over the final eight minutes of play as there were two lead changes and three ties during the last six minutes of the game. New Lothrop, which committed just 11 turnovers for the entire game, hurt itself by turning the ball over four times down the stretch.

Fowler's Michael Simon sank the first of two free throws to tie the game at 49-all with 17 seconds remaining, and when the Eagles pulled down the rebound on the missed second shot, it appeared Fowler would be able to put up the last shot of regulation with a chance to win it. But after a Fowler time out with 13 seconds on the clock, Praski stole the in-bounds pass, dribbled three-quarters of the court and scored to give his team the 51-49 victory. When Fowler's desperation 30-foot shot at the buzzer caromed off the rim, the NL student body rushed onto the court to celebrate the Hornets' district title.

Praski led all scorers with 17 points, 13 in the second half. Brian Sheridan scored 13 of his 15 markers before intermission. Kyle Moore tallied eight points while Tyler Henige hit a pair of treys to account for his six points.

The NL defense harassed Fowler into 17 turnovers, while the Eagles out-rebounded the Hornets by a 28 to 22 margin. Both teams were hot at the free throw line, with the Hornets connecting on 9 of 11 freebies while Fowler sank 9 of 12 charity tosses.

"Awesome win. Fowler is a good team, so this is a big win for us," concluded Corkran. "We missed some shots tonight, but everyone played hard and it was a great game."

The win advances New Lothrop to the regionals in Leslie where it will play Adrian Lenawee Christian on Monday. Game time is at 7 PM.

Tribe guys bow out after seesaw battle with Hemlock, 71-58

HEMLOCK - The final score didn't do justice to just how hard of a time Chesaning's varsity boys basketball gave host Hemlock in Wednesday's district semi-final contest on the Huskies' own floor.

Several lead changes occurred throughout the evening before Hemlock finally pulled away to a 71-58 triumph in the waning minutes of the game.

Jason Danek's Indians fought the Huskies tooth-and-nail and held a 33-32 edge at intermission in the rubber match between the two TVC rivals. Hemlock grabbed a 49-44 advantage at the end of the third quarter, but the Indians were within 53-51 when Cal Bishop fouled out with 5:30 remaining in the contest. Bishop's departure was especially painful because the senior front-liner had scored the first seven points of the quarter for the Indians to that point.

Chesaning was still within 55-51 when they failed to score on four straight possessions. From there, the Huskies steadily increased their lead.

"This was a difficult loss for us because our players wanted this game badly," said Danek, whose squad had beaten Hemlock in its previous meeting in January. "Nonetheless, our guys deserve a lot of credit for how hard they competed and how well they played."

The Indians committed just seven turnovers in the game, but they did not shoot the ball well, making just 15 of 54 field goals for a lowly 28%. Chesaning connected on 13 of 22 free throws.

Joe Devota and Bishop shared scoring honors for the Tribe with 13 points each. Nine of Devota's points came on triples. Joe Bitterman recorded 12 points, 11 rebounds and 3 steals. Cody Stoddard scored seven points and Chuck Harris finished with six points and three assists.

Despite the loss, Danek says that the season has been a good one.

"We got in some foul trouble and things didn't go our way tonight, but it's been a good year," said Danek. "This has been a really enjoyable group to coach."

Chesaning finishes its season with an 11-9 overall record.

Wing, Hickmott qualify for states in bowling

BRIDGEPORT - Two Montrose bowlers qualified for states as a result of their strong showings at the Region 16 tournament held at Candlelight Bowl in Bridgeport on Saturday, February 22.

Corky Hickmott led all qualifiers with a sparkling 1243 score, averaging better than 207 per game. Meanwhile, Rachel Wing also qualified for states by posting a 1012 series.

The two Montrose stand-outs participated at the state finals this past Friday and Saturday at Airport Lanes in Jackson.

See next week's Citizen for coverage of that event.