St. Mary is in the middle of its first losing streak of the season after dropping two straight girls' basketball games. And Glen Lake's Kaelyn Thayer is a major reason why.

The 12-3 Eagles made their first journey into the state rankings this week in Class D, earning an honorable mention listing, but lost at home to Glen Lake on Tuesday, 61-46, and to the Traverse City Bulldogs on Thursday, Jan. 24, 63-53. In the loss to Glen Lake, Thayer had 19 points and 18 rebounds.

St. Mary coach Paula Korson said the Eagles are without the services of Alyssa Korson, who injured her ankle in the Bulldogs game. Korson is currently the leading scorer in the county, averaging 18 points.

“I sat her against Glen Lake on Tuesday. The girls did a great job of trying to fill that hole, but Glen Lake played very well and gave us all we could handle,” coach Korson said. She plans to keep Alyssa Korson out of action until later this week, when she is scheduled to visit her doctor for an update. The coach didn’t know when Korson would return.

While Glen Lake secured the victory, Laker coach Pete Woessner said much of the game belonged to St. Mary. The Eagles held a 13-8 advantage after the first quarter and maintained it through the third with scores of 28-26 and 42-38 at the breaks.

Coach Korson said the Lakers used an aggressive press to stifle St. Mary’s usually potent scoring attack. “They shut us down,” she said. The Lakers’ defense, combined with Thayer’s strong play, fueled the Glen Lake win.

“We were able to get a small lead and hold onto it until St. Mary’s had to foul. We were nine of 14 from the line in the fourth quarter,” Woessner said. St. Mary had no answer for Thayer, so Glen Lake kept feeding her the ball inside. Woessner said the girls were excited over the win.

“St. Mary is so well coached. They are fundamentally sound and they are relentless on the boards. We were fortunate to come away with a victory,” Woessner said.

Laker Paige Stachnik netted 14 points for the Lakers, including a 4-for-4 effort from the free throw line in the final minutes of the game. For St. Mary, Christy Miller scored 10 points, Bradi Pasch had 8, Allison Korson had 7 points, 6 steals, 4 assists, Breanna Korson had 6 points, and Brooke Fornter had 6 rebounds.

The Eagles’ loss to the Bulldogs was the second time this season they’ve fallen to the home-school team. St. Mary held a 11-10 lead after the first, then the Bulldogs took over with scores of 26-23 and 45-35 at the quarter breaks. Alyssa Korson scored 19 points to lead the Eagles before she was hurt, and Susan Herman and Fortner both scored 8. Fortner also had 12 rebounds.

The Bulldogs chewed up another Cherryland Conference team on Friday when they won at Northport, 69-25. Wildcats coach Gary Longcore said the Bulldogs have a trio of great players who all contribute.

“We try and shut them down inside and they would just stop and pop ‘em from the outside. We would shut them down on the outside and they would drive to the hole,” he said.

Longcore said Northport did a good job of moving the ball down the court. “We moved the ball very well on offense, we just didn’t get the baskets in the end,” he said. He also praised Northport’s rebounding. “We’re shooting really well in practice, we just have to duplicate that during games,” he said. Emily Stowe scored 19 points to lead Northport.

St. Mary was scheduled to host Suttons Bay last night, but the game was canceled due to poor weather. St. Marys will play at McBain on Tuesday. The Leland at Northport game scheduled for last night was also called off because of weather and has been rescheduled to Feb. 11, with junior varsity play starting at 6 p.m. Northport will play at T-C Christian tonight.