6-foot-9 women's player was big Shimek backer.

While no Leelanau County residents made the trip, 4-H members from around the state took advantage of a special ticket package to attend the Michigan State University women's basketball game Saturday against Penn State. Barb Duvall, county 4-H advisor, said no members from the county signed up.

Those who did attend were part of a crowd of more than 11,000 — sixth largest in Spartan history. After the contest, literally thousands stood in a line that wound around the Breslin Center concourse and out of sight for an autograph of the Spartans’ star sophomore center, 6-foot-9 Allyssa DeHaan, from Grandville.

The only two people who rivaled DeHaan in height were her mother and father, who were nearby patiently watching their shy, blue-eyed daughter greet each young fan as though he or she was the first in line.

DeHaan’s mother said Allyssa was and remains a great fan of former Spartan standout Liz (Shimek) Moeggenberg from Maple City, who was a major reason she chose MSU over a long list of collegiate suitors. The DeHaans also vacation in Leelanau County.

Just a sophomore, DeHaan already owns the school single game (9) and season (145) records for blocked shots. But she has a way to go before moving ahead of two former Leelanau County prep stars in other categories.

Moeggenberg, who played at MSU from 2002-06 and is one of four former Spartans playing in the WNBA, holds the Spartan career points (1,780) and rebounds (1,130) records.

And Julie (Polakowski) Swanson, formerly of Leland, remains tied for fourth in the single game “field goals attempted” category. She got off 24 shots on March 6, 1986, against Indiana.

Moeggenberg and Swanson are together in another record book. As prep players, they were named “Miss Michigan Basketball” following their senior seasons as the best girls’ players in the state.

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It’s easy to see how the Glen Lake boys’ basketball team might have the road blues. Counting a game Tuesday night at Kingsley that was originally scheduled to be played in the Laker gym, Glen Lake will have played five of their first seven games away. Glen Lake and Kingsley switched their home and away dates to accommodate a conflicting wrestling match scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 16, in the Stags’ gym.

And it will be awhile before the schedule takes a turn for the better. Glen Lake will end up playing 10 of its first 13 games away from home. The bright side: The Lakers will be home for their final five Northwest Conference games against Benzie Central, Leland, Kingsley, Mesick and Suttons Bay.

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It must be winter as members of the Detroit Tigers baseball team will be at Wuerfel Park on Sunday around 4 p.m. as part of the team’s Winter Media/Fan Caravan. The Tigers players will be on hand meet and greet fans. The Tigers will also have their 2006 American League championship trophy on display at 3:45 p.m. If that’s not enough, Suntan and Sunburn, the Traverse City Beach Bums’ mascots, will be on hand from 3-5:30 p.m. as part of an afternoon of baseball fun and excitement. Former Leelanau Enterprise columnist Nick Edson and some of his friends will have a display of baseball memorabilia. Wuerfel Park is located three miles south of the Grand Traverse Mall off of US-31/M-37.

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Suttons Bay sophomore guard Noah Reyhl has been moved up to the varsity. According to boys’ varsity coach Ken Hunter, “He’s got speed and a good perimeter game.”

The Norsemen junior varsity squad has been very successful despite having freshman Dwaun Anderson on the varsity. The JVs are 7-1, with their only loss coming in their opener at St. Francis.