Lake Leelanau St. Mary girls basketball (13-2) soared downstate to play against a pair of MHSAA Division 3 teams, Ottawa Lake-Whiteford (10-7) and Temperance-Bedford (16-2) in a battle of David vs. Goliath.
In the first game, St. Mary had trouble waking up from the long bus trip and couldn’t connect from the floor, as well as being flat-footed on defense. St. Mary was down 13-2 at the end of the first quarter.
Eagle junior Cathryn Mikowski finally broke the ice with a lay up in the second quarter as the Eagles held Ottawa Lake to two points to go into halftime down 15-10.
In the third quarter, the defense again stood tall for the Eagles, holding Ottawa Lake to five points as St. Mary scored 15 to take a 25-20 lead. The Eagles had six different girls putting points on the board as St. Mary won 43-34.
St. Mary senior Delana Kirt led all scorers with 16 points, eight rebounds; Kyla Barnowski continued to dominate with seven points and 10 rebounds; Muriel Korson chipped in with seven points.
“Tough competition on the road, solid win,” St. Mary coach Clint Couturier said.
Bedford slaps Eagles
St. Mary came out strong against Division 3 top-10 team Bedford (15-2) with a 13-10 lead going into the second quarter.
St. Mary senior Della Bunek led the way as she would score 8 points.
The Eagles cooled down in the second quarter as Bedford took a 27-20 lead into halftime.
Bedford would stay rolling in the third quarter as the Mules scored 17 points, while Eagles struggled to get into an offensive rhythm by only scoring five points.
St. Mary would turn it around in the fourth quarter scoring 18 points, but it was too little too late against a solid Bedford team that won 60-43.
Kirt once again led scoring with 12 points; Bunek had 11 points; Mikowski six points; Kyla Barnowski 6 points and five rebounds.
Next game was at home yesterday against Onekama. Then next Tuesday, Senior Night, at home vs. Leland. The regular season wraps up with a trip to Sault Ste Marie, next Thursday.
