Posen and Onaway to clash for girls district title

February 27, 2014 Editor featured

A pair of Presque Isle County teams will square off in Friday’s district championship game in Wolverine.

0914-girls-11 — Coaches Marty Mix and Scott Szymoniak get a good look as Devin Bristley races past. (Photos by Richard Lamb)

With one hurdle down, the Onaway Cardinals (11-10) now face an even larger hurdle. A first-round 60-28 win in the district girls’ basketball tournament over host Wolverine has the Lady Cards set to face undefeated and second-ranked Posen at 7 p.m. Friday.

Stopping Posen (22-0), and all-state center Korynn Hincka, is something no team has done so far this season. Hillman led at halftime of its game against Posen Monday before the Vikings kicked in the defensive pressure to cruise to a 63-45 win. The Vikings defeated Rogers City (14-6) 49-32 in the other district semifinal game.

0914-rcposen2 — A clash of Posen and Rogers City players crash the boards in Wednesday's district semifinal game at Wolverine.

Wednesday in Wolverine, the host team didn’t put up much of a fight for coach Marty Mix’s charges. Onaway overcame some turnover problems in the first quarter to jump out to a 12-2 lead heading into the second period. The Cards effectively crashed the boards while applying tough pressure defense.

Erika Price had eight points and Lexi Szymoniak added the other four as the Cards took charge in the final minutes of the first quarter. A hard spill to the floor sent senior forward Devin Bristley to the floor midway through the first quarter and she didn’t return until the second half, but her teammates picked up the slack.

Price has 21 points to lead the Cards in scoring while Szymoniak had 13 and Bristley added seven.

In the second game of the night, Posen ran off the game’s first eight points in defeating the Hurons for the third time this season. Sparked by Jenna Hincka’s six points and Austin Sharpe and Ashley Meyers, who scored four points each, the Vikings jumped out to a 15-3 lead after the first quarter. With the Huron defense concentrating on Korynn Hincka down low, the center was able to find teammates for open jumpers.

The Hurons didn’t press Posen, allowing the team to walk the ball up-court and get into a set offense.

Rogers City did make a run in the second quarter, but Posen snuffed out the momentum. The Hurons ran off seven consecutive points on buckets from Megan Quaine, Morgan Hall and Cassidy Purgiel, while Alexa Quaine added a free throw. That cut the lead to 18-10 with 5:10 left in the first half.

0914-jennalogan — Posen's Jenna Hincka makes a pass by Huron Logan Fleming in Wednesday's district semifinal game.

But then Posen dug in, going on a 22-5 run which ended with a 40-15 lead at the end of the third quarter. Rogers City managed only a three-pointer from Logan Fleming in the second period and two free throws from Fleming with 3:43 left in the third period.

Korynn Hincka led all scorers with 14 points. Sharpe added 12 and Meyers had nine for Posen. Fleming’s 12 points paced the Huron attack while Courtney Streich scored six.

The winner of the district plays in Pellston in the first round of the regionals March 4 at 8 p.m.