Lady Hurons to take on Sault Ste. Marie

by Richard Lamb, Advance Editor

The competition doesn?t get any easier for the Lady Huron basketball (0-4) team as Sault Ste. Marie comes to town Friday. The Lady Blue Devils, and 6-foot center Nicole Beaumont, will be looking to get into the win column after losses to Escanaba 49-43 last week and a 50-46 loss to Alpena Tuesday. Beaumont had 16 points in each of those games.

Rogers City is looking for its first win of the season, after a 41-23 loss in Hillman Tuesday. The Hurons started well but surrendered the lead midway through the second quarter and couldn?t recover. A FREE THROW by Meagan Koss got the Hurons in on the scoreboard, but it would be the only charity throw they would hit on the night as their next 11 shots failed to connect.

Becky Talaske?s short jumper, off a feed from Shelby Schleben, pulled the Hurons within one at 6-5. That came after a blocked shot by senior forward Emily Bark in the lane. Then two baskets from Rebecca Meredith and one off a rebound from Nikkie LaLonde gave Rogers City an 11-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, turnovers mounted as the Hillman press had the Hurons? press break stymied. Hillman scored 12 straight points to take a 19-13 lead before Meredith scored on a breakaway, off a long pass from Kelleigh Lamb. Rogers City, playing with just seven varsity players scored just eight points in the second half. Meredith led the team with a career-high 10 points, Talaske had six, LaLonde scored four, Schleben had two and Koss added one.

?WE MADE some adjustments to start the game. They adjusted to our adjustments and we just couldn?t overcome that. We have to be able to play on the fly and make those adjustments and be able to understand that. This being a young team, we can?t make that adjustment on the fly. So we are going to go into practice the next two days and make the adjustments again,? said coach David O?Bryant. ?Sault Ste. Marie is probably going to press the whole game, so we will see a lot of the similar situations and see where everybody steps up.? The coach praised the effort of his team.

?They played competitively again. The girls didn?t quit, they hustled and they are running the plays a little better, a little crisper. Now

we have got to work on some of the passing,? he said. LAST WEEK, the Lady Hurons suffered losses to Onaway and Alcona on the home court. Onaway used a hustling full-court press to run to a 60-26 win over Rogers City. After surrendering the first basket at the 6:59 point of the first quarter, Onaway pressed its way to a 12-2 lead. Great defense caused a pile of Huron turnovers as the quarter ended with the Cards up 12-4. The Hurons couldn?t solve the Cards? inbound press and had trouble getting off clean shots while Onaway?s hustle led to easy baskets on the other end. Schleben?s eight points paced the Hurons.

Alcona topped Rogers City 59-27 on Friday. Alcona led 12-4 after the first quarter and 25-11 at halftime. Talaske had eight points while Meredith?s eight rebounds led the team. THE JUNIOR varsity Hurons won all three of their games last week. In the Onaway game, Rogers City won by a score of 28-21 in a low scoring effort from both teams. Rogers City led 6-5 after the first quarter and 10-6 at halftime. Lindsey Claus had 12 points while Courtney Streich, Brooklyn Idalski and Monica Urban each scored four points. The Huron junior varsity took a 36-29 win over Alcona, coming back from a 10-3 deficit after the first quarter. Claus scored 20 while Streich added eight points in the win. Coach Karl Grambau?s charges made it three straight wins with a 31-19 win at Hillman Tuesday. Streich led a balanced scoring attack with eight points and Idalski scored six. Rogers City hosts Sault Ste. Marie Friday then plays at St. Ignace Dec. 17.