Portagers stay perfect
Onekama rallies in 2nd half to top
Bear Lake, move to 3-0
By MATT WENZEL, Manistee News Advocate
Sports Editor
Published: Saturday, December 12, 2009
BEAR LAKE — After a lackluster first half in
which the Portagers managed just 12 points and found themselves down 13
at Bear Lake, Onekama coach Nathan Bradford tried to revive his team in
the locker room.
“I had to give them a little pep talk,” he said. “I told them we have to
play with a little more emotion and hustle a little bit better.”
Apparently it worked, because the Portagers looked like a different team
over the last 16 minutes as they rallied for a 45-42 West Michigan D
League win over the Lakers to stay unbeaten.
Katie Prielipp knocked down a baseline jumpshot to give Onekama a
two-point lead with 42 seconds left and Sherece Revolt converted on both
free throw attempts with 25 seconds left for what proved to be the
winning points.
Onekama’s Jennica Mathieu (left)
goes up for a shot against Bear Lake’s Ashley Rupert during the
first half on Friday night. Mathieu led all scorers with 17 points.
(Matt Wenzel/News Advocate)
“We just played more as a team and just
fought for it,” said Onekama’s Jennica Mathieu. “When we came out in the
second half, we were ready to play.”
Mathieu scored 12 of her game-high 17 points in the second half to go
with eight rebounds and four steals.
“She gave us a big lift tonight,” Bradford said. “The outside shots
weren’t working, so I told them to pound it into her and she did a good
job.”
Onekama’s Taylor Hagen had 10 points, nine
rebounds and three steals, Revolt chipped in 10 points, eight rebounds
and three steals, Jaylee Brown scored four and Brooke Sedelmaier two. |
Onekama (3-0, 3-0 WMD) outscored Bear Lake
(1-2, 1-2 WMD) in the second half, 33-17.
“Like I told the girls, losing when you play with all your heart,
especially by three points, is not a bad thing,” said Bear Lake coach
Scott Brown. “Did we make some mistakes in the second half? Oh yeah, we
did. We made some mistakes in the first half too.”
Bear Lake had seven turnovers in the first half and 17 in the second as
Onekama extended its defensive pressure into the backcourt.
“We tried to force the ball on the offensive end,” Brown said. “Every
time we worked our offense, we ended up with a bucket or at least a
rebound, but you can’t come down and just throw one pass and throw it
up. That was our biggest downfall.”
Sarah Hilliard led the Lakers with 10 points, Tobi Schoedel had seven
points and nine rebounds, Jaimey Ferguson had six points and six
rebounds and Ashley Rupert scored six as well. Also for Bear Lake, Sarah
Babcock scored five, Shelby Dansby had four points, Ashley Ringel scored
two to go with seven rebounds and Yumi Babinec had two points and nine
rebounds.
Onekama jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead less than a minute into the game
on a pair of baskets by Mathieu, but the Lakers closed the quarter on a
14-5 run for a five-point lead. In the second quarter, the Portagers
managed just three points while enduring a 7:02 scoreless stretch, and
went into halftime trailing, 25-12.
“The first half, they outplayed us,” Bradford said. “I think we came out
a little flat.
“We couldn’t hit any outside shots, so I told them to keep pounding it
inside and we finally got a few to drop. It seemed like there was a lid
on the basket.”
With a focus on pushing the ball into the paint, Mathieu scored eight
points and Hagen added seven as Onekama cut the deficit to single-digits
by the end of the third quarter at 39-27.
“We were down by so many at halftime, I told them to keep chipping away
and try to knock it down halfway through the third quarter and they did
that and in the fourth quarter they had a little spurt,” Bradford said.
With two minutes remaining, Onekama was down just two points and Bear
Lake was attempting to use up the clock. However, after being whistled
for stepping out of bounds, Rupert slammed the ball out of frustration
and was whistled for a technical, which fouled her out.
“It gave us a little momentum,” Bradford said.
Revolt responded by knocking down both free throws to tie the game with
1:38 left and Prielipp’s jumpshot put the Portagers ahead for good to
hand Bear Lake its second straight loss.
The Onekama junior varsity team beat Bear Lake 28-16 on Friday night.
Lindsay Nesburg led the Portagers with 10 points and Kelly Koon had
seven. Samantha Mullet paced the Lakers with 10 points. |
