Frankfort tops Onekama in district final

By DYLAN SAVELA, News Advocate Sports Writer
Published: Saturday, March 6, 2010

MANISTEE — Same venue. Same match-up. Same outcome.

Much like a season ago, Frankfort topped Onekama Friday night, 66-41, in the Class D district final at Manistee Catholic Central.

And as the Panthers hoisted their second straight district trophy, the Portagers were again on the short end — and not only on the score board.

“I think we were a few inches too short,” Onekama coach Nathan Bradford said of being outsized by Frankfort. “Once they get the ball close to the basket, it’s hard to stop them. They do a good job of getting the ball above their head and finishing.

“For the most part though, I thought we never quit,” he added. “The girls battled hard the whole time. They played tough.”

Onekama (13-7) traded the first handful of buckets with the Panthers (17-5), and held a brief 5-4 lead within the opening three minutes. However, Frankfort rallied, scoring the next 11 points to close out the first quarter up 15-5 — an advantage they wouldn’t relinquish.

With the help of seven blocked shots in all, the Panthers managed to hold Onekama without a field goal for nearly 11 minutes, spanning between the first and second quarter.

The Portagers managed to find points however, as Frankfort fell into foul trouble midway through the second, allowing Onekama to pick up eight straight from the stripe, which closed the gap to an 18-13 Panther advantage.

“I think I might have psyched my girls out a little bit, telling them to be careful and watch their hands,” Panthers coach Tim Reznich said. “I think I had them freaked out into playing a little passive, and the Onekama girls took it right to us. They were aggressive and went right at us.

“We were expected to win this game and (Onekama) played a little looser,” he added. “They had nothing to lose. We were playing passive and that’s not our game. We showed (at the beginning) we were under a little pressure.”

Onekama’s Danielle Ward (34) looks to pass in front of Frankfort’s Sara Loney (40) during Friday’s Class D district final at Manistee Catholic Central. (Dylan Savela/News Advocate)

Even with the potential pressure, the Panthers were able to take a 31-19 lead into the locker rooms, which only grew in the game’s latter half.

“Our strength is our post,” Reznich said. “I have four sets of legs there that can fly up the court and they can all finish. So (in the second half) we wanted to get our bigs set up before they got set in their zone.”

Frankfort’s Tami Bankston led the way with 15 points while teammate Sara Loney contributed a well balanced 11 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three blocks.

“I have the exact same team that I had last year,” Reznich said of the two-year run. “It’s the experience we have. You can’t say enough about having seven seniors on the court.”

The Panthers will move on to regional action at Traverse City Central on Tuesday.

For Onekama, senior Sherece Revolt finished her career with a game-high 22 points while Taylor Hagen had 10, Danielle Ward had six, senior Katie Prielipp and Emily Pomeroy had three apiece, and Jennica Mathieu added two.

“I thought all-in-all we had a good season,” Bradford said of his team. “You always have a few bumps in the road, but the girls always responded well to adversity and bounced back to do a great job.

“We’re going to miss our two senior starters,” he said of Revolt and Prielipp. “Sherece was our go-to scorer and Katie played hard no matter what. But, we’ve got a pretty good nucleus coming back for next year.”