Lake Leelanau St. Mary (10-1) defeated Glen Lake (9-4) 52-42 in an all-Leelanau battle last Wednesday.
The Eagles were led by senior Delana Kirt with 18 points, 14 rebounds, and eight steals.
“We honestly stayed calm and just remembered that patience is our key,” Kirt said.
The Eagle victory marks the first win for St. Mary girls basketball over Glen Lake since its gym was built in 2003.
St. Mary went up as many as 18 points in the first half, before Glen Lake made a run and cut within four points of the Eagles in the fourth quarter.
Lakers making shots and Eagles missing free throws kept the door open for Glen Lake until the waning moments.
The Eagles led after the first quarter 13-10, before holding the Lakers to five points in the second quarter 28-13 St. Mary junior Kyla Barnowski was all over the court with 10 points, followed by Della Bunek scoring nine points, four steals. Leah Fleis was steady with eight points, and Muriel Korson contributed five points.
“We’ve been definitely marking this on our calendar for quite some time and it feels really good to just have it checked off another win,” Bunek said.
Glen Lake freshman Lydia Fosmore and senior Eleanor Valkner had double-doubles.
Fosmore managed 15 points, 10 rebounds, and Valkner added 10 points, 12 rebounds. Laker guard Hailey Anderson managed eight points.
“The positive was we played a better second half and came back,” Glen Lake coach Brad Fosmore said. “The disappointing part is we weren’t ready to go, but I give Lake Leelanau a lot of credit because they came out in the suffocating defense and it took us out of our game plan.”
St. Mary is off until Feb. 1 when Grand Traverse Academy comes to town.
