Portagers fall to unbeaten Bulldogs

Posted by Dylan Savela, Manistee News Advocate
January 13, 2012

ONEKAMA — The fourth quarter kicked off with a different tone than the first three had Friday night.

With the frame’s first six points, the Portagers seemed to be surging and ready for a late-game rally. But ultimately, Onekama couldn’t overcome the early hole it dug, falling short to the undefeated Traverse City Homeschool Bulldogs, 47-33.

The Bulldogs moved to 11-0 on the season with the win, while snapping the Portagers’ two-game winning streak. And they did so by holding Onekama to single digits in game’s first three frames.

“I’ve been telling the girls that unforced turnovers have been what’s hurting us,” Onekama coach Nathan Bradford said of the loss. “It’s giving them another chance to score without letting us get a good look at the basket.”

Senior Jennica Mathieu had a pair of team-highs for the Portagers with 10 points and eight rebounds, while freshmen Tawny and Hailey Kott scored seven and six points, respectively. The Bulldogs, however, were led by a pair of double-digit scorers in Rachel Crosby and Mary Raetz who had 17 and 16, respectively.

“I think composure was a big thing tonight,” said Traverse City coach Kris Crosby, citing his team’s veteran leadership. “It got a little physical at times, but overall it was about sticking with it. Our seniors at the end there helped. We’ve got some younger players, but you try to get the ball in the seniors’ hands at the end of games and that’s what we had tonight.”

 Buckets were few and far between for Onekama early on, as Traverse City jumped to an 11-2 lead and never looked back. The Portagers trailed 16-8 after the first quarter, and 23-15 at the half.

“The last couple games, we have spurts where we play really good,” Bradford said. “but then there’s times where (the opposition) is putting up a lot more chances than us.”

The third quarter proved to be one of those latter stretches for the Portagers.

Onekama scored just six points in the frame, while on the other end, the Bulldogs netted 14 to take a 37-21 lead into the fourth.

The Portagers’ offense finally got rolling, however, as Danielle Ward scored the first four points of the final eight minutes before teammate Kelly Koon knocked down a pair of bonus free throws to cut the gap to 37-27.

The Bulldogs scored the next two field goals in a span of more than two minutes before Tawny Kott knocked down a 3-pointer to bring Onekama within 10 again. But it was as close as the Portagers would get down the stretch, despite outscoring Traverse City 12-10 in the quarter.

Bradford cited that the difference in the fourth was his players capitalizing on their open shots.

“When girls are open they’ve got to have confidence to shoot it,” he said. “Sometimes they’re a little hesitant, but like I said, we’ll take looks over turnovers.”

Onekama’s junior varsity team rolled to a 68-20 victory over the TC Bulldogs Friday, as Caitlin Zielinski led the charge with 27 points. Alexis Tribfelner and Kaylor DeWitt also scored in double figures for the Portagers with 18 and 10 points, respectively.

 

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