Hot start powers Posen to win over Lady Hurons

JUNIOR KORYNN Hincka (44), who had a triple double in Tuesday’s win at Rogers City, puts up a jumper up with three Huron defenders around, including Cassidy Purgiel (left) and Morgan Hall (right). (Photo by Peter Jakey)

by Peter Jakey–Managing Editor

Another hot start propelled Posen to a win over Rogers City in girls’ basketball Tuesday in Rogers City.

Fueled mostly by full-court pressure defense, the Vikings scored the first 16 points of the game on their way to a 30-point first-quarter.  They scored 32 in the first when the two schools met in Posen, Dec. 27, 2012.

Korynn Hincka scored eight of Posen’s points in the opening run and finished with a triple double. She ended the night with 27 points, 11 rebounds and 10 steals.

The Vikings, who improved to 11-0 on the season, moved up one slot in the Detroit Free Press Class D polls to fifth and remained at ninth in the Associated Press polls.

“We played well, passed well,” said Posen coach Karl Momrik. “We did a great job with our press and we’ve got one day off, and we have to get right back at it. I saw Mio play last night (Monday) against Johannesburg and Mio played very well. That’s a Joburg team that is unbeaten.” The Mio contest is tonight (Thursday) on the home floor.

Huron coach David O’Bryant said it was a long night against a really good team. “They played well and we didn’t execute on offense. Holding them to 60, I can live with that. Offensively, we’ve got to make shots and take the open shots.”

Rogers City is 1-8 overall and 0-4 in league play.

THE SCORE at the end of the first eight minutes was 30-8 and 44-14 by halftime. The Vikings went to the free-throw line 14 times in the second and made eight, while the Hurons went one-for-three.

Posen scored the first six points of the third, before Courtney Streich registered the first point of the second half with a free throw. Hincka put in the next two field goals before Kayla Lenard’s free throw put the Vikings up by 40 with 2:46 left in the quarter and started the running clock for the seventh time this season against an opponent.

There wasn’t much scoring after that as the quarter ended with Posen on top, 58-17. Austin Sharpe’s jumper and Cassidy Purgiel’s put back were the only points of the fourth.

Anna Couture was the only other player in double figures with 12, while Rebecca Meredith had six. Brooklyn Idalski chipped in five.

O’Bryant hopes he has his troops headed in the right direction, but said it has been difficult. “You sprinkle in St. Ignace, Sault Ste. Marie and Posen, and it’s so hard. If we can get a run at these games, and we can win a few, I think we’ll be headed in the right direction.”

Momrik was pleased to get so much playing time for all of his players.

“Because of how deep we are, our starters should be fresh for the tournament,” said Momrik.

The Vikings play their next two at home. They get Au Gres on Monday. They had last Friday’s game with Hillman canceled because of the weather. Rogers City hosts Rudyard Friday and travels to Alcona Monday.

LAST FRIDAY the Hurons nearly put one in the win column at Cheboygan. With less than 10 seconds left in the game and Cheboygan leading by two at 39-37, Streich snared an offensive rebound, drove the middle of the lane and hit a shot to apparently tie the game. Only, the basket didn’t count, as coach O’Bryant had called timeout before the shot.

The Hurons set up an inbound play, which resulted in a shooting foul for Logan Fleming. She missed the first free throw, then after a timeout, O’Bryant instructed her to miss the second shot intentionally. After she missed, Cheboygan knocked the ball out of bounds under the basket. But before the Hurons could inbound, an offensive foul gave the ball back to Cheboygan.

Rogers City was not done yet. A missed free throw for Cheboygan set up one last chance with one

second left on the clock. Fleming passed the ball inbounds to Streich cutting to the top of the 3-point line. Her jumper fell inches short, and so did the Hurons on the scoreboard.

Streich led the team with 12 points while Idalski and Rebecca Meredith each scored six.

Cheboygan led 10-7 after the first quarter, 26-16 at halftime and 35-31 after three quarters.

Cheboygan won the junior varsity (J.V.) contest by a score of 34-15. Alexa Quaine had six points while Sarah Meredith added five.

The Huron J.V. defeated Posen, 32-14 Tuesday on the home floor. Sarah Meredith had a game-high 13.

A score that was unavailable last week, the Posen J.V. knocked off Hale 33-10. Jolene Reese and Hunter Kaszubowski both had six each.