MCC’S Alysha Heck (center)
drives between Hailey Kott (left) and Kayla Kosiboski on
Thursday. (Dylan Savela/News Advocate)
Posted by Dylan Savela
MANISTEE — Onekama looked every bit the spoiler Thursday night at
Manistee Catholic Central.
As the Sabers looked to clinch at least a share of the
West Michigan D League title and MCC senior Haley Doyle chipped away
toward 1,000 career points, the Portagers nearly put a stop to both.
In the final three seconds, however, that changed.
Down two, Doyle knocked down a go-ahead triple, and a
second later, sunk a pair of free throws to meet her milestone in the
Sabers’ 46-43 win.
MCC can win the league title outright with a road win
Saturday against the struggling Baldwin Panthers, who have just one
victory all season.
“It was the conference title, and we went after it,”
Sabers coach Todd Erickson said. “We tried different combinations
tonight and that last group clicked really well in the fourth quarter
for us, so it was nice to come together as a unit.”
Despite struggling to find the bottom of the net early,
Doyle led the Sabers with the 11 points she needed for 1,000 career
points to go with 11 boards. Ashlyn Jansma scored 11, Hannah Janicki
scored eight, Alysha Heck had seven points and four assists, and Amber
Robke scored six with six boards. |
After trailing 10-8 after a nip-and-tuck first, the
Portagers led the majority of the way with a 25-20 advantage at the
break and a 33-28 cushion heading into the fourth.
Hailey Kott had a game-high 13 points with two assists
for Onekama while Caitlin Zielinski scored 10. Kayla Kosiboski scored
six points with five blocks, three rebounds, and two steals before
fouling out early in the fourth.
Fouls, and in turn free throws, became an added challenge
for the Portagers down the stretch, with discrepancies of 20-7 and 27-5,
respectively, falling out of Onekama’s favor.
“We played hard all the way through until Haley hit the 3
at the end,” Onekama coach Nathan Bradford said. “All you can tell them
is to keep their heads up. A few things didn’t go our way, but they
battled hard and had a lead the entire game that just squeaked away.”
MCC (17-2, 14-1)took its first lead of the fourth on a
3-pointer from Heck at 4:50 that put the Sabers up 36-35. Onekama (13-6,
9-6) responded with two straight buckets, but MCC went on a 5-0 run
capped by Jansma’s steal and fastbreak layup at 1:13 for a 41-39 lead.
Kott knocked down a long two with a toe on the line to
knot the score with a minute left, and 30 seconds later, stole the ball
and scored a layup that looked to be a game-winner for Onekama. Doyle,
however, responded with her heroics.
“I’m glad we weathered the storm tonight, because we were
flat in that first half,” Erickson said. “A lot of variables were
involved with that, but they shook it off and finished well.
“We’re happy (with a league title),” he said. “You start
somewhere, and we’ll start there. We’ll practice hard the next few days
until we see who we play in that district.”
Onekama’s junior varsity team topped MCC 46-40 as Emma
Putney led the Portagers with 16 points and Alyssan Clarke scored 10.
MCC was paced by Jodi Janowiak with nine points while Renee Seymour
scored eight. |