Portagers bow out

BEAR LAKE – The Onekama Portagers struggled in the first half of their Class D district quarterfinal against the Frankfort Panthers.

The slow start was too much to overcome on Monday, despite a hard-fought comeback attempt, as Onekama was defeated 46-35.

“They beat us bad early in the season,” said Frankfort coach Tim Reznich. “They are athletic and most of them are young with a lot of energy. They’re tough kids and we were expecting a battle.”

That is exactly what the Panthers got, as the determined Portagers bounced back from a slow start to make for an exciting second half, right down to the final minutes.

Neither team got off to a smooth start, with the Panthers having a small 9-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. In the second, however, the Panthers found their groove and managed to put up 15 points, taking a 24-12 advantage into halftime.

“Frankfort was playing an aggressive defense and I said we had to get aggressive right with them,” said Onekama coach Nathan Bradford. “We had one too many careless turnovers during that first half. I give (the Panthers) credit, they played great defense.”

The Portagers slowly fought back in the second half, not once looking as if they would give up. Late in the fourth quarter they were down by just six points, thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomore Caitlin Zielinski, making it 41-35. That was as close as the team came, but the determination from the Portagers is a good sign for next year, Bradford said.

“We didn’t back down and we were able to battle back,” he said. “I told the girls to learn from this one and next year we’ll come back from it.”

Zielinski finished the night with eight points. Sophomore Kayla Kosiboski led Onekama with nine points and Alexis Tribfelner scored seven points for Onekama.

“We’re younger and I think the girls were a little nervous at first, but they got into it, especially during the second half,” Bradford said. “But that didn’t stop us as much as just mistakes. Most of these girls will be back, so we’ll get better from this together.”

Frankfort will play Buckley in a 7:30 p.m. semifinal on Wednesday at Bear Lake following the 6 p.m. semifinal which will feature Bear Lake against Forest Area, which beat Mesick 43-29 in Monday’s other district quarterfinal.

Posted by Manistee News Advocate on-line
February 25, 2013