S-M, Leland roll; Northport and S-B teams eliminated.

PLAYERS ON the St. Mary bench cheer on their
teammates in front a packed crowd at the Leland
District. The Eagles defeated Traverse City Christian
to advance in the tournmanent.

Two seasons came to an end, and three more continued this week after the opening round of District play in girls' basketball.

In Class D action at Leland, St. Mary defeated Traverse City Christian, 65-55, and Leland downed Northport, 59-34, to set the stage for a big county showdown on Friday. The Comets and Eagles will square off for the third time this season at 7 p.m. in Leland. St. Mary has dominated Leland this season, a fact that hasn’t escaped Comet coach Jon Kiessel.

“This whole playing a team three times thing doesn’t mean a lot when one team has played as well as St. Mary. We will need to bring our best effort to get the win,” he said.

St. Mary coach Paula Korson said after watching her team pull out the win against the Sabres on Monday, she is looking for Leland to throw everything it has at the Eagles.

“It’s always tough against Leland. We can not have a first half like we had against Christian, or we will be in trouble,” she said.

On Monday, St. Mary led 22-14 after the first quarter. The Sabres got hot in the second quarter, and nearly erased the 8-point deficit by halftime.

“(Coach) Tom Finney has done a nice job with the young girls he has and they cam out strong, stronger than our girls were prepared for,” said Korson.

SHAUNA SITAREK of Northport dribbles past Chelsea
Peabody of Leland Monday night in a District game.
Leland eliminated Northport, 59-34.

The Eagles came out focused in the second half and outscored the Sabres, 31-22, to secure the win and move on to the District final. Brooke Fortner scored 15 points and had 13 rebounds to lead St. Mary. Alyssa Korson and Christy Miller each had 12 points, with Korson adding 6 steals. Susan Herman had 11 points, and Allison Korson contributed 8 points and 11 rebounds.

In the nightcap, Leland and Northport battled in the first quarter with Leland taking a 10-7 lead. The Comets used a pressure defense and the Wildcats only managed three points in the second quarter as Leland took a 30-10 halftime lead.

The Comets were without Erica Breen, who was sick, but Kiessel said three players stepped up to fill her shoes – Becky Stillin, Ellen Duperon and Kaleigh Stinson. “We needed someone to step up with Erica out. All three of those girls stepped up and they played their best this season,” he said.

“It boils down to scoring three points in the second quarter. We didn’t handle their half-court pressure very well. But, we played hard, scrapped hard. They only out scored us by five points in the second half,” said Northport Coach Gary Longcore.

For the game, Emily Stowe, Shauna Sitarek and Monni Raphael each scored 9 points for Northport. For Leland, Erin Sneed had 19 points, Stillin added 14, and Stinson and Duperon each tallied 10.

The season also came to an end for Suttons Bay in the opening round of Class C District play at St. Francis, with the host Gladiators winning, 37-30. For Norseman coach Fred Wille, a late fourth-quarter charge by the Bay summed up his team’s season.

“We started slow, had a terrible middle, then started coming on strong at the end,” he said. St. Francis had an 11-8 lead after one. Suttons Bay was held to five points over the second and third quarters. “St. Francis was up by 14 points with three minutes to go when we went on a scoring blitz,” Wille said.

Sisters Arianna Guillen and Biri Luna netted five three-pointers between them during the game. Guillen scored all three of hers in the final three minutes of the game. “We got to within five and Arianna had a chance to hit a three, but missed. Frannie (St. Francis) got the ball back with a about a minute to go and kept it for the rest of the game,” he said.

Luna scored 10 points and Guillen had 9 points, 9 steals and 5 assists.

Glen Lake took on St. Francis last night in District play. The Class C District championship will be held on Friday at 7 p.m. at St. Francis.