Lakers run away from Portagers

Posted by Dylan Savela, Manistee News Advocate
December 16, 2011

ONEKAMA — Emileigh Ferguson’s early foul trouble Friday night probably should have worried Bear Lake coach Scott Brown.

After all, the sophomore averaged 26 points and 13 rebounds through the Lakers’ first four games.

But Brown wasn’t worried. And as it turned out, for good reason.

Bear Lake’s well-rounded effort extended its undefeated start to the season to five games in a 63-38 win over county rival, and West Michigan D League foe, Onekama.

Bear Lake’s Hannah Harrington picked up more than enough slack in the win, scoring 17 points to go with 17 rebounds along the way.

Despite missing some minutes due to early fouls, Ferguson still managed to put up 17 points with 12 rebounds and two blocks against the Portagers.

“They boxed out well and were aggressive against her,” Brown said of Onekama’s defensive strategy for the Laker center. “They did a good job getting prepared for her. But that’s what we’ve been talking about,” he added of the team effort. “We’re very well rounded. I was able to keep Emileigh out for a while tonight, knowing that without her the rest of these girls can score too. (Harrington) did a great job, Jaimey (Ferguson) played strong down low — all of them. That’s what I like about this team. We’re not really huge, but we’re well-rounded, overall.”

Onekama put in the second quarter’s first three buckets to cut the gap to 18-13 but it proved to be as close as the Portagers would get.

“We got down right away by still having some trouble putting the ball in the hole,” said Onekama coach Nathan Bradford. “With some young girls up, I think we’re still building our chemistry a little bit and just need to get some more confidence shooting the ball.”

 Onekama was led by freshman Hailey Kott who scored 16 points to go with four steals and three rebounds. Her twin sister, Tawny Kott had seven points, Lindsay Nesburg scored six and senior Jennica Mathieu led the team in rebounds with six.

“They’re still adjusting to the speed of the game,” Bradford said of his younger players. “We played probably our hardest four teams to start the season. Our record is 0-4, but we’ve seen a lot of good things. We need to keep our head up and keep playing hard.”

With four minutes remaining in the first half, Emileigh Ferguson, who had scored 11 points, picked up a third foul and had to safely sit for nearly the remainder of the quarter. From there, the Lakers built on the 27-13 lead and took a 36-16 advantage into the locker rooms.

Ferguson didn’t play the majority of the third quarter either after picking up a fourth, but Bear Lake had a comfortable enough lead to keep Onekama at bay.

“Once we got into the second half I told the girls that time was on our side,” Brown said. “We didn’t have to force things that weren’t there. We were in control of our destiny at that point, so if we keep moving the ball they’ve got to come to us and that started to open things up underneath.”

The Lakers ended the third quarter with a 51-25 lead and comfortably held on to the win through the fourth.

Bear Lake found contributions from senior Jaimey Ferguson who scored eight with four assists and a game-high 20 rebounds while freshman point guard McKaya Groenwald had nine points and four assists, and Breanna Fink and Taylor Anderson each scored six.

“I knew tonight was going to be a big test,” Brown said. “With Onekama, we co-op in a lot of sports and there’s still that rivalry in the ones we don’t. So I knew this would be a big test for our girls and I’m proud of how they handled it.”

The Onekama junior varsity team ran away with a 47-25 victory over Bear Lake as the Portagers’ Caitlin Zielinski led the way with 21 points. Bear Lake’s Alyson Fink scored a team-high eight points.

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