The St. Mary girls' basketball team is off to a 5-0 start, including a 1-0 mark in the Cherryland Conference.

BREANNA KORSON (10) streaks past a Traverse City
Christian defender in the Eagles' victory Tuesday night.

Northport, on the other hand, is still searching for its first win but the Wildcats did extend Bear Lake to overtime Thursday night.

St. Mary coach Paula Korson said while her team is doing several things well right now, she is a little concerned about how it starts games.

The Eagles beat Traverse City Christian Tuesday, 45-23, won at Onekama on Saturday, 68-48, and downed Elk Rapids Wednesday, 57-41. Korson said all three were quality wins, but in each game the team started slowly.

“It’s something we’ll figure out, but so far we haven’t had a good first quarter this season,” she said.

On Tuesday, St. Mary led at each quarter break, 9-2, 20-9, and 30-11. The Eagles’ trademark this season has been playing an up-tempo game and using a press defense to stifle the opposition. Korson said the Sabres were the first team to run with St. Mary this season.

“They ran with us. At the end of the game, even though we won, the girls were a little somber. They said it didn’t feel like a win because Christian was able to keep up with us. I had to remind them that we won and things weren’t so bad,” she said.

Alyssa Korson had 11 points to lead St. Mary. Susan Herman added 9, and Sarah Schaub had 8 rebounds.

Against Onekama, the Portagers kept the lead through the first half with scores of 12-10 and 26-25 at the breaks. St. Mary found its shooting rhythm and outscored Onekama 19-6 in the third to take the lead for good. “We wore them out. By the start of the fourth, they were tired and we took over,” coach Korson said. Alyssa Korson scored 17 points, Schaub had 16 and Herman 10 to lead the Eagles.

On Dec. 5 at home against Elk Rapids, the  Elks took a 14-9 lead after one, then watched as the Eagles grabbed a 26-20 halftime lead. Breanna Korson scored 14 points to lead St. Mary, while Christy Miller had 11. Brooke Fornter grabbed 10 rebounds.

When the last basket was made in Northport’s 54-48 overtime loss to Bear Lake at home Thursday, only two Wildcats were on the court – freshman Emily Stowe and senior Betsy Shiner.

Given Northport only had five girls to start the game, coach Gary Longcore said he was very pleased with the effort. “I’ve got to give these five girls credit. We held our own in the end,” he said.

Bear Lake had leads of  9-8 and 16-12 after the first two quarter breaks. At the end of three, the score was 26-20 in Bear Laker’s favor. The Wildcats started the final stanza with four players after one fouled out. With three minutes to go in the fourth, Northport lost another player to fouls, leaving only Stowe, Shiner and junior Shauna Sitarek on the floor.

I told the girls we can’t run our normal offense. ‘Get the ball to the Emily,’ I told Betsy and Shauna, and they should crash the boards to grab any rebounds,” Longcore said. The message worked as Stowe scored 11 of her 27 game-high points in the fourth to tie the game 38-all at the end of regulation.

Overtime was more difficult with Sitarek fouling out early, leaving Stowe and Shiner to do their best to cover the floor. “We had to hope that Bear Lake would make some mistakes in over time, and they did,” Longcore said. The same player committed two three-second rule violations under the basket, and Stowe made four free-throws. “After the second three-second violation, the player got mad and bounced the ball hard off the floor and got whistled for a technical. That put Emily shooting free throws again,” he said.

But, even with those mistakes, Bear Lake out scored Northport 16-10 in O.T. to secure the win. For the game Shiner had 10 points and Sitarek had 6. Longcore said when the Wildcats take on St. Mary tomorrow night they should have at least six or seven players available.    Northport will play at St. Mary on Friday, will travel to Wolverine Monday and will compete at Leland on Thursday, Dec. 20. After hosting Northport tomorrow, St. Mary will compete at Suttons Bay on Dec. 20.