Girls win first game of winter basketball season

by Richard Lamb– Advance Editor

Afer a long, long layoff, caused by the change in sports season for girls? basketball and volleyball, the Huron girls? basketball team took to the court Tuesday at Hillman. Rogers City won a defensive struggle with the Tigers 33-23. ?I thought we would play good, solid defense. I knew we would be sound there,? said second year coach Paul Stempky after the win. ?I was unsure about our offense.? He was right on both counts. Defensively, the Hurons threw a stifling zone defense at the Tigers, shutting out the home team until the 6:08 mark of the second quarter. Rogers City broke out to a 6-0 lead in the opening four minutes, with sophomore guard Katie Tulgestke notching the first points points of the season and her varsity career with two free throws in the game?s first minute. Senior center Jenny Fleming hit a banker, after a steal by senior forward Moni Cercone, then Fleming nailed two free throws 30 seconds later for the only points of the quarter.

HILLMAN?S CLOSEST chance to score came on a last second bomb from halfcourt at the buzzer, which rimmed out. Sophomore guard Greta Grambau set up Fleming, who led all scorers with 18 points, for a bucket at the 7:20 mark. Then Fleming picked off one of her game-high 15 rebounds and hit the followup to make the score 10-0. Hillman closed the gap to 12-9 as the first half ended. Fleming, who got most of her points off rebounds, hit another follow shot to make the score 14-11 before freshman guard Casey Barrow snared a rebound and nailed a 10-footer. Barrow scored seven points in the game.

FLEMING ENDED the quarter on the receiving end of two pretty assist

s from senior forward Kaitlin Klingshirn to give the Hurons a 22-17 lead. Barrow, in her varsity debut, sparked the Hurons with five points in the fourth quarter. Two came on a deft steal and end-to-end layup and the other three came on a triple from the right corner. With the Hurons leading 31-22 and less than one minute remaining, the final Huron points came on a crunching play under the basket. On an inbounds play, Cercone set a solid pick which left her defender on the floor looking up as the pass came to Cercone for an easy shot. ?I?m very happy with the win,? Stempky said, ?It is a good start for the girls.?

IN THE JV game, coach Amanda Munger?s team suffered a 43-24 loss to Hillman. Hillman led 13-8 at the end of the first quarter and 25-14 at halftime. Leann Knopf and Sam Hall each scored six points in the game. The Hurons host Newberry Friday and they host Posen Tuesday.

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