Lakers stun Portagers

Babinec keys late rally for Bear Lake

By MATT WENZEL
Manistee News Advocate Sports Editor
Published: Saturday, December 4, 2010

ONEKAMA — Yumi Babinec had the green light to shoot if she was open.

With the game on the line, the Bear Lake senior didn’t hesitate.

Babinec scored nine of her 13 points in the final 2:41 of the game to drive the Lakers to a thrilling 45-44 West Michigan D League win against rival Onekama on Friday night. She drilled the game-winning shot with 17 seconds to play to cap a comeback as the Lakers rallied from nine points down with less than three minutes to play.

“My coach (Scott Brown) always tells me to shoot when I’m open, so I figured I would try it and they started falling,” said Babinec, who also turned in team highs with 11 rebounds and five assists. “I just kept going. I guess it worked.” Onekama senior Taylor Hagen had a chance to tie the game with a pair of free throws with 8 seconds left. Hagen, who poured in a game high 24 points, made the first but was iced between shots when Brown called a time out.

I was not happy with the timeout,” Hagen said.

Hagen missed the second attempt and the Portagers never got the ball back while dropping their season opener and first game in their new gym.

“Taylor played a good game,” said Onekama coach Nathan Bradford. “I told her it didn’t come down to that last free throw anyway.

“I think we got a little hesitant at the end and the ball bounced their way.”

Both teams had trouble finding the bottom of the net early as Hagen scored six and Onekama took an 8-4 lead at the end of the first quarter. That changed over the next eight minutes as the teams combined for 29 points and Bear Lake had six different players score.

Jaimey Ferguson finished the game with 13 points and eight rebounds, Hannah Harrington had seven points, Sarah Hilliard six, Tobi Schoedel four and Briann Bowling two.

“It was a great team effort,” Brown said. “I like a balanced team.”

The Portagers didn’t spread out the points as much with only four scorers.

Jennica Mathieu had nine points, Danielle Ward seven and seven rebounds while Lindsay Nesburg chipped in four points and eight rebounds.

After holding a 21-20 lead at halftime, the Portagers led by as many as six on two different occasions, but couldn’t put Bear Lake away.

Onekama's Taylor Hagen scored a game-high 24 points against Bear Lake. (Matt Wenzel/News Advocate)

“We knew that we had to keep hustling,” Hagen said, “because we knew they were going to come out strong and they wanted it bad.”

Hagen knocked down her third 3-pointer of the night and Mathieu followed with a basket inside to give the Portagers a 43-34 lead with 3:38 to play when Brown called a timeout.

“It’s now or you’re done,” Brown told his team. “You have to attack them from one end to the other and not give up.”

Babinec drilled back-to-back baskets and Schoedel made a pair of free throws to pull the Lakers within three points with 1:10 left. Babinec then drained a triple to tie the game and followed with a contested jumper in the lane with 17 seconds to give Bear Lake its first lead since early in the third quarter.

“I said ‘when you get the ball and you’re open, shoot it,’” Brown said of Babinec, who fouled out with 8.1 seconds left. “She came through in the end.”

The Portagers will look back at the last few minutes as a missed opportunity.

“I thought for sure we had them,” Bradford said. “I think we got a little hesitant and didn’t attack the basket.”

The Lakers, on the other hand, never gave up despite trailing late. “I knew we could do it,” Babinec said. “I didn’t let down faith in us.”