Lady Hurons get second win of season over Hillman

 

Huron forward Courtney Streich finds heavy traffic in the Hillman game. (Photo by Richard Lamb)

by Richard Lamb–Advance Editor

If only the Hurons could transfer their success against Hillman to other opponents, fans might think. The Huron girls’ basketball team took its second win of the season against the Tigers, a 42-39 decision after defeating them in the second game of the season way back on December 4 of last year. The win ends a 16-game losing streak for third-year coach Dave O’Bryant and his team.

“I really think we hustled for loose balls, diving on the floor, getting some extra possessions for us,” O’Bryant said.

“It has been a rough season, a long season. Losing Lindsey (Claus to a season-ending knee injury in the first month) hurt us and set us back a few games. Overall we played well in the last four games. We need to put four quarters together against Rudyard and put four quarters together against Onaway in the districts.”

Rogers City (2-17) travels to Rudyard for the final game of the regular season. They are in tournament action in Onaway Feb. 27 at 6 p.m. playing the winner of Monday’s 7 p.m. Onaway vs. Atlanta game. The winner of the Hillman vs. Posen game, set for Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. plays in the district championship game Friday, March 1 at 6 p.m. in Onaway.

THE DISTRICT winner advances to the Region 31 tournament to play the winner of the Alanson district on March 5 at 6 p.m. at Gaylord High School. The Alanson district features Pellston, Harbor Light, Wolverine and Alanson. The regional final is March 7 at 7 p.m. at Gaylord High School.

Against Hillman Monday, in a “Purple-out” game honoring cancer victims, and to raise funds to aid students in honor of the late Tom Radka, a longtime school employee, the game went back and forth in the final quarter.

A bucket by Cassidy Purgiel, set up on an inbounds play with seven seconds left in the third quarter, giving the Hurons a 30-24 lead. Then the Tigers reeled off the next 11 points to take a 35-30 lead with 4:34 left in the game.

A cutting Brooklyn Idalski scored on a backdoor play to break the run. Rebecca Meredith snared an offensive board and hit a banker to pull the Hurons within one at 39-38. After a Tiger turnover, sophomore point guard Logan Fleming was fouled on the way to the basket. She hit both free throws with 25 seconds left in the game to give the Hurons a lead they would not lose.

Another Hillman turnover in the back court gave the Hurons the ball with 22 seconds left, and a 40-39 lead. Again Hillman fouled Fleming and again she nailed both free throws.

Fleming led the team with 12 points while Idalski and Courtney Streich added six each.

Jensen Tchorzynski led all players with 14 points on 14-of-14 from the line.

THE HURON junior varsity improved to 10-9 for coach Karl Grambau with a 41-7 win over Hillman, shutting out the visitors in the second half.

Sarah Meredith led the team with 14 points while Sami Bober had 10 and Brooke Dubie added six.

Last Thursday, the Huron varsity led twice and were tied 31-31 going into the fourth quarter, but lost 41-35 to Cheboygan. A basket by Purgiel gave the Hurons a short-lived 13-11 lead with 1:06 left in the first quarter. Cheboygan would tie the score moments later to knot the score at 13-13 after one.

An 8-0 Cheboygan run made the score 21-15 before the Hurons scored six in a row. Fleming set up Brenna Hincka’s bucket with a perfect pass and Nikkie LaLonde and Streich followed with baskets to tie the score again at 21-21 with 1:14 left in the first half.<

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Cheboygan nailed a 3-pointer from the corner in front of the Huron bench with two seconds left in the half to make the score 25-22 at halftime.

An inside move by         Streich netted a basket to tie the score at 29-29 and then two free throws from Fleming gave the Hurons a 31-29 lead with 1:13 left in the third.

Cheboygan took the lead with 6:12 left in the fourth quarter and out-scored the Hurons 7-2 over the game’s final four minutes.

Streich had nine points while Fleming added eight points in the game. Rogers City made 6-of-14 free-throw attempts while Cheboygan was 7-of-15.

The Huron junior varsity lost 24-15 in a slow-paced game with Cheboygan. Rogers City led 5-4 after the first quarter, but stalled in the second quarter, trailing 12-6 at the half.  Sarah Meredith had nine points to lead the team in scoring.