Lake Leelanau St. Mary girls basketball (5-3) stopped Leland’s undefeated start 31-26 (6-1) Tuesday in a defensive battle of the ages.
Snow didn’t deter a large crowd of relatives splitting between St. Mary and Leland from attending the game.
“These girls wanted it tonight. They had this one marked down on their calendar as soon as the schedule came out. Defensively, our effort was phenomenal,” St. Mary coach Matt Barnowski said.
St. Mary jumped out to a 19-10 start halfway through the second quarter and seemed to have the game in grasp as the Eagles went into the half leading 21-11.
St. Mary held Leland to zero field goals in the first half, and the Comets only scored on free throws.
St. Mary senior Kyla Barnowski led the Eagles with 13 points in the first half, hitting shots from all over the court.
“We knew they were gonna be good because they had the number one ranking, and we’re rivals, so there’s always some blood on the floor when we play. We got a lot to work on,” Barnowski said.
The Comets came out on fire in the third quarter, forcing multiple turnovers that turned into easy buckets to get within two points heading into the fourth quarter.
The Eagles connected on four throws in the fourth quarter while managing the time of possession. St. Mary senior Cathryn Mikowski and Barnowski iced the game from the free-throw line.
Eagle junior Mackenzie Schaub made a crucial twopoint basket with under two minutes to go.
“I don’t want to let my team down, and in a situation like that, I feel a lot of pressure, but I just don’t miss it,” Kyla said. “We definitely need to calm down and handle the pressure while staying under control and not forcing turnovers that are unnecessary.”
Barnowski led all scorers with 20 points.
Senior Elli Miller led Leland with 13 points.
The defensive affair was apparent all night, as both teams had roughly 20 turnovers.
Next week, St. Mary will have a hefty schedule as they play Gaylord St. Mary, Glen Lake, and travel to Ubly.
Leland has been exceptional so far this season. The Comets went into the game with an undefeated record and earned top wins over Onekama and Buckley early in the season. The Comets will have multiple important games next week as Leland plays Glen Lake.
St. Mary is coming off a 46-18 win over Lake City.
Barnowski scored 14 points; Lydia Bramer scored 14 points; Cathryn Mikowski scored 6 points; Mackenzie Schaub scored 7 points.
On Monday, Leland defeated TC Christian 50-15.
“We had a very well-balanced game against Traverse City Christian where we were able to get great contributions from everyone on both sides of the court. Our defense was instrumental in applying pressure, which helped create high percentage opportunities for us on offense, and we also did a great job of attacking their zone defense and breaking their press,” Leland coach Ryan Knudsen said.
The Comets started fast, 27-2, in the first quarter, and entered halftime with a 38-5 lead.
Leland was led by Ella Knudsen with 10 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals; Lilly Connor 10 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists; Elli Miller 7 points, 6 rebounds.
On Thursday, January 9 Leland played Buckley and Leland won 32-27.
“We continued our strong start to the season with another great game versus Buckley. Buckley is a difficult match-up for most teams with their combination of size, speed, outside shooting and athleticism, but we were able to control the pace of the game and did a great job of protecting the basketball against their defensive pressure and were able to break down their defense to create great opportunities on offense,” Leland girls basketball coach Ryan Knudsen said. “With this game we were also able to take an early lead in the Northwest Conference standings but we know that every game in the Northwest Conference always brings a new challenge and we will need to bring our best effort every day to practice to be prepared for each game this season.”
The Comets led went into halftime with a 16-13 lead and managed to hang on throughout the second half.
Lakers fall against Kalamazoo Hackett
Glen Lake girls basketball fell to Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Friday 55-31.
The Lakers were led by Jessie Pugh, 10 points, 4 rebounds; Avery Flores, 6 points, 8 rebounds; Laila Shimek, 6 points, 6 rebounds
