St. Mary has dominated competition through the first part of the girls' basketball season.

Alyssa Korson of St. Mary has a shot rejected by Reed
City's Lyndsay LaCourse in the finals of the tournament at
St. Francis last week.

After beating St. Francis 54-45 in the opening round of the Katie Heintz Holiday Tournament, St. Mary coach Paula Korson was concerned about their next opponent, Class B Reed City. Turns out her concerns were well grounded as the Coyotes allowed the Eagles to hang around for the first quarter before stepping on the gas en route to a 72-44 win last Thursday night in the championship game. St. Mary is 8-1 overall.

“The first 14 shots we put up did not go in. We needed those shots to go in … if those shots go in that sets a different tempo for the game,” Korson said.

Reed City took a 10-9 lead after one quarter, then outscored St. Mary in the next two quarters, 20-5 and 28-14, to take control of the game.

Korson said one good aspect of the game was the team was able to watch the game tape Monday as part of practice. “What is so encouraging to me as coach is the girls were pointing out where there were problems and how they could address those problems,” she said.

For the game, Alyssa Korson had 20 points and 7 rebounds to lead the Eagles while Bradi Pasch had 10 points, 3 steals and 6 rebounds.

In the Wednesday night matchup with the host Gladiators, St. Mary won, 54-45. Coach Korson said it was no cake-walk, though.

“We had to tough back-to-back games, and I thought the girls played fairly well given the schedule,” she said.

St. Francis took a 6-1 lead after the first quarter, but St. Mary found its rhythm and led at halftime, 21-19. The Eagles increased their edge to 37-33 after three quarters, and hung on for the win.

“We were tied with about a minute to go when St. Francis had to start fouling. They fouled Alyssa six times, but she really came through for us in that final minute,” Coach Korson said. Alyssa Korson made 5-of-6 free-throws to secure the win for St. Mary.

Korson had 33 points, 9 steals and 8 rebounds for the Eagles. Pasch had 9 points, Brooke Fortner grabbed 15 rebounds and Susan Herman had 5 steals.

“Brooke is a sophomore and she is our starting post player with Sarah (Schaub) out for the rest of the season with her injury. To come off the bench and play as well as she did is amazing,” Coach Korson said.

Korson also praised the on-court presence of Herman. “Susan is one of our seniors and she made some real ‘captain calls’ on the floor. Not only did she get the ball to the right people, but she also had words of encouragement for everyone while she was out there,” Korson said.

St. Mary will play at Northport on Tuesday. Glen Lake returns to action at Leland tomorrow night, and Suttons Bay will play at Frankfort tomorrow as well.