Advertisement

"I saw a little bit of everything out there tonight: rushed shots, panic decisions and wild turnovers to excellent passes, hustle plays on defense and an attacking mentality," commented Miller in reference to her team's 48-25 defeat at the hands of the Falcons. "LakeVille showed that they were the better team tonight, but we'll get better and better if we work this hard every night."

A rocky opening quarter hurt the Rams as they fell behind a more experienced and much taller LV squad, 17-6, after the first eight minutes of play. The two teams played on a much more even keel the rest of the way, with Montrose trailing 30-17 at intermission.

Sophomore Chelsea Demura scored a team-high six points and led the war on the boards by grabbing nine rebounds as the Rams out-rebounded the Falcons, 31-22, despite a noticeable size disadvantage. Kohl Dowell, also just a sophomore, scored five points for the Rams and Senior Beth Hall tallied five points and five rebounds.

LakeVille Senior Brooke Terwilliger led all scorers with 13 points. Each team committed 17 turnovers.

"We established tonight that the girls are committed to working hard, focusing on goals and building a foundation," concluded Coach Miller.

Cold shooting dooms Hornet gal cagers, 39-25

CLARE - New Lothrop's varsity girls basketball team suffered through a cold shooting night as host Clare rallied in the fourth quarter to hand the Hornets a 39-25 setback last Tuesday in a season-opening contest for both schools.

The Hornets connected on just 9 of 52 shots from the floor for a chilly 17% and didn't fare much better at the free throw line where they converted just 4 of 11 charity tosses.

Despite their shooting woes, the Hornets led at halftime, 15-10 and trailed just 20-19 after three quarters before Clare caught fire with 19 points over the final eight minutes of play. New Lothrop committed just eight turnovers on the night.

Kayla Knieper was the only Hornet to reach double figures, scoring 11 points while dishing out three assists. She also came up with a pair of steals. Kayla Gross and Monica Confer each had five points and six rebounds for New Lothrop.

Chesaning cage gals look sharp in opening win

CARO - Chesaning's varsity girls basketball team came out firing from the very beginning of its season-opener against Caro last Tuesday, shooting out to a 24-6 lead at the end of the opening quarter en route to an impressive 67-39 bombing of the host Tigers.

Wayne Scanlon's Indians buried five treys in the first eight minutes of play and eight different players scored as the Tribe posted a seemingly insurmountable lead.

Caro fought its way back into the contest in the second quarter, however, posting 19 points in the stanza to narrow the gap to 34-25 at intermission.

The Indians regained control of the game in the third quarter, led by Megan Newton's eight points, outscoring Caro 19-6 to take a 53-31cushion into the final eight minutes of play. Chesaning coasted home from there, easily putting the finishing touches on its victorious opener.

Brooke Jastrzembowski led the way with 20 points, six assists and a pair of steals. Newton sank a dozen markers, swishing all six of her free throws along the way. Brooke Beckman tallied 11 points, grabbed eight rebounds and pilfered a couple of steals on defense for the Tribe.

Other scorers for Chesaning were Katie Vincke, who registered seven points, five boards and two steals, Sydney Pacek (six points, six rebounds, four assists), Chelsie Harris (six points), Sabrina Aguilar (three points and two steals) and Chantel Amman (two points and two steals).

Chesaning committed just eight turnovers in the contest while harassing Caro into 24 miscues.

"It's hard to imagine us playing better in an opening game," concluded Coach Scanlon.

Lady 'Dawgs Vandalized in debut

ST. CHARLES -- The Lady Bulldogs got their 2007 campaign off to a slow start last Friday in a 50-39 loss to visiting Merrill.

The Vandals applied the pressure in the first quarter forcing the 'Dawgs into 17 turnovers.

"They pressed and we couldn't get the ball in bounds," admitted first year coach Larry Mishler. "It was pretty disheartening. We played sluggish and Merrill just hammered us."

The Vandals led 13-8 after the first quarter, then out-scored the Bulldogs 17-14 in the second for a comfortable 30-22 margin at the break. Merrill then added a 14-6 run in the third. St. Charles came back with an 11-6 fourth quarter, but couldn't gain enough ground.

"Actually, we played pretty good defense for most of the game," Mishler said. "We held them to 50 points, and they probably had 25 off the press. We just couldn't score."

Megan McSweyn led the Bulldogs with 13 points and eight rebounds. Jordan Mishler added nine points with seven boards. Kaleigh Bashans chipped in five points.

Coach Mishler also credited Natalie Trier with a outstanding game.

"Natalie's a post player, but we moved her to the point midway through tonight and she just took over. She did a good job of getting us into an offense."

Dani Rodosa led the Vandals with 20 points, including 16 in the first half off steals.

The early season doesn't get easier for the Lady Bulldogs. They travel to Hemlock on Tuesday and Valley Lutheran on Friday, with red-hot Chesaning waiting in the wings on Dec. 11.

Chesaning gals grab big cage win at Swan Valley

THOMAS TOWNSHIP - Visiting girls basketball teams seldom come to Swan Valley's gymnasium and walk out at the end of the night as winners. But, for the second year in a row, that's exactly what Chesaning's varsity basketball team has done.

Wayne Scanlon's Indians brought home a huge early-season win after defeating the host Vikings, 39-33, Friday night.

"I believe we were the only team to beat Swan Valley on their own court last year and to do it again tonight is a really good win for us," commented Scanlon.

The two teams fought to a 10-10 deadlock after the first quarter before the Tribe pulled out to a 20-16 lead at intermission. Chesaning continued to ward off the Vikings in the third quarter before Brooke Jastrzembowski's big basket at the end of the period gave the Indians a double-digit lead, 32-22, heading into the final eight minutes of play.

Swan Valley posted an 11-7 scoring edge in the fourth quarter, but it was too-little, too-late as Chesaning picked up a key TVC-Central opening win and upped its overall record to 2-0 on the season.

Jastrzembowski led all scorers with 13 points. Six of her points came on a pair of treys, the only two triples made by the Indians. Meanwhile, Swan Valley sank six three-point shots, but made just two other baskets from the floor. Each team had 22 free throw attempts, with SV sinking 11 freebies and Chesaning converting nine charity tosses.

Megan Newton added eight points for the Tribe and Scanlon cited Newton and Brooke Beckman for their contributions on the boards.

Chesaning is off until this Friday when they entertain Hemlock in another TVC-Central contest. The girls varsity team will take on the Huskies at 6:00 PM followed by the season opener for the boys varsity at 7:30 PM.