Portagers survive off night at MCE

Onekama’s Hailey Kott (right)drives to the basket during Thursday’s win against Mason County Eastern. (Dylan Savela/News Advocate)

Onekama wins fifth straight, improves to 10-1

CUSTER — Mason County Eastern dictated the type of game played Thursday night, but Onekama found a way to win it.

In what was far from a shootout, the Portagers held on for a 36-32 West Michigan D League victory and season sweep of the Cardinals.

“Tonight, it seemed like we never found a flow at all,” Onekama coach Nathan Bradford. “We didn’t really run our offense, couldn’t really execute.

“I give (MCE) credit, they played hard,” he added, “but we just need to be strong with the ball, and get back to the basics.”

Onekama (10-1, 7-1 WMD) was paced by a pair of double-digit scorers in Hailey Kott and Kayla Kosiboski, who each had 11 points. Kosiboski grabbed eight boards with four blocks while Kott had six steals and four boards.

The Portagers made nine total field goals in the game, including just one in the second half, and went 14-of-28 from the line. But, finding a way to win is a staple of a solid team.

“We’re playing hard, we just need to get a game where we’re clicking again,” Bradford said. “I’d rather do that than squeak them out like we have.”

The most offensively productive quarter for both teams was shared in the first, as Onekama took an 11-9 edge.

The Portagers scored the first four points of the second, and closed the quarter on a 5-0 run while holding the Cardinals to just three in the meantime for a 20-12 advantage by the break.

Baskets, however, became hard to come by from there.

The Portagers split a pair of trips to the line in the third for their only points in the quarter.

The Cardinals (4-8, 3-6 WMD), who were led by Elena Luce’s 18 points on the night, scored six in the frame to cut the gap to 22-18.

“It would have been very easy for us to fold up the tent and go home,” said MCE coach Matt Millspaugh of the first half. “But, the girls kept working through an ugly, sloppy game, which is kind of the type of games we’ve been in this year.

“That’s the way we’re wired this season, so those low-scoring games are the ones we’re going to win,” he added. “Our effort was much better through four quarters tonight; execution, at times, wasn’t.”

Onekama was in the double-bonus early in the fourth, which — aside from one triple — proved to be their only source of points down the stretch.

“Too many fouls in the third quarter probably did us in by the end,” Millspaugh said. “Putting them in the double bonus for the whole fourth quarter hurts.”

The Portagers could have made it easy en route to the win, but went 10-for-21 from the line in the fourth. On the defensive end, however, they held the Cardinals at bay.

“This week was a bit hectic, and I think this is where you run into kind of a mid-season grind,” Bradford said. “We’ve got to make sure we stay focused, and take care of business when we have a chance.

“Luckily, we’ve squeaked some of these out, but I told them down the road we might not be able to, playing this way.

“We’ve got to keep executing.”

MCE was within a possession twice in the final minute with three-point deficits, but Onekama made enough free throws to keep the cushion.

“To be there at the end of a basketball game is what we’ve been working on,” Millspaugh said. “If we clean up some mental things here and there, we might be up four by the buzzer instead of down four.”

Onekama’s junior varsity team cruised past the Cardinals, 52-32, Thursday night. Kaylor DeWitt led the Portagers with 17 points while teammate Emma Putney scored 12.

Visit the News Advocate photo gallery for more photos of this game taken by their reporters .