ONEKAMA — It didn’t make much
sense for Brethren to be leading with five minutes to go in the
fourth quarter of Wednesday’s Class D semifinal against No. 6
Manistee Catholic Central.
Or did it?
Consider the Sabers’ regular season record: an unblemished 20-0,
including a pair of 20-plus-point wins against the Bobcats.
But also consider the stakes of a win-or-go-home situation. All of
those accolades fall by the wayside. A hungry Brethren team gave the
Sabers all they could handle Wednesday, but MCC held on for a 50-42
win--a victory more important than the 20 they notched previously.
“I think this raises the bar for
these kids, and says we’re really going to have to work hard for it
now,” Sabers coach Todd Erickson said of escaping the scare, and
earning a spot in Friday’s district final against Frankfort.
“(Brethren) had a great desire to score tonight. And I think we were
a little slow on our feet.”
MCC led the entire second quarter before Brethren’s Annie MacNeil
scored six straight points for Brethren in the final three minutes
of the third to help cut the gap to 32-27 heading into the fourth.
With six minutes remaining, the Bobcats’ Elana Hickok drilled her
second triple of the evening to knot the score at 34, and a minute
later, teammate Sarah Costello converted on the front end of a pair
of free throws to take a one-point lead.
That was MCC’s cue to rally, as it gained as much as an eight-point
lead with three minutes left. After that was cut to two with 1:20
remaining, the Sabers connected on late-game free throws to survive
the semifinal.
“They had to show composure, too. That was a big thing tonight with
not being in that situation much this year,” he added. “We’ve been
down in the first quarter many games and then came back in the
second or third, then put it away in the fourth, but tonight was a
different style ball game.”
Leading the charge in the fourth for the Sabers was Brooke
Etheridge, who scored 10 points in the final frame (including a
string of nine straight for MCC) en route to a game-high 17 to go
with five rebounds.
“I’m a little embarrassed by
the fact we came out that slow,” Etheridge said of the Sabers’ low
scoring output in the first half. “I don’t know if we were just all
tired or what. We just lost our intensity.”
Also for MCC, Alex Barnett scored 14 points with six rebounds and
three steals, Haley Doyle scored 12 with six boards and three
assists, Jennifer Alway scored four, Mimi Modjeski two and Jordan
Barnett one.
