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www.cadillacnews.com | wednesday, december 11, 2013

NMC girls
topple Evart

Bucks
blast
Hornets

apiece while Sydney Dick

added six points.
Evart coach Paul Higgins
MCBAIN Northern
Michigan Christian used is pleased with the way his
strong defensive pressure team keeps working.
"We've definitely seen
to score a 64-41 win over
improvement," he said.
Evart in the Highland
"We go from scoring six
Conference girls' basketball opener for both teams points to 29 to 41 tonight.
"We just had a little
Tuesday night.
bit of trouble with their
The Comets were up
12-7 after the first quarter press and lost Mara
but stretched that to 26-11 (VanOrder) in the first
half. Her presence on the
at halftime.
floor in the second half
"We pushed the pace
and forced 25 turnovers," helped the team relax,
though."
NMC coach Casey SigaVanOrder paced the
foose said. "The story was
Wildcats with 10 points
our defense, though.
while Tabatha Turley
"Adri (Sigafoose) and
Rachel (Westmaas) played added nine.
NMC is at Marion on
great."
Friday while Evart is at
Sophomore Sarah
Beal City.
Pluger paced NMC with
24 points and 12 rebounds
NMC won the JV game
while Emma Towers had
54-14. Melaine Heuker
nine points. Brittany
paced the Comets with 30
Hoekwater and Emily
points and Rebecca DietMorgan added five steals
erman had 11.
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LEROY Some of it was

first-game issues.
Brian Goodenow is looking for better, though.
Pine River opened the
boys' basketball season
with a 58-37 win over Harrison in non-conference
play Tuesday night.
The Bucks struggled
with some of their outside
shooting and turned the
ball over too many times,
Goodenow said.
"We had some first-game
jitters and didn't shoot the
ball well," he said.
"Opening at home, that
kind of surprised me.
"It was a good learning
experience as the game
went on, though."
Pine River led 17-4 after
the first quarter and 25-9
at halftime before taking
a 44-19 lead into the fourth
quarter.
Brandon Hoaglund led
the way with 17 points and
11 rebounds while Mitchell
McDonald added 13 points,
12 rebounds, five assists
and six steals.
Skyler Nelson also had
nine points.
The Bucks are at Traverse City Christian on
Thursday.
Pine River won the JV
game 71-60.

Trojans top Marion

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marc vieau | cadillac news

Pine Rivers Lucas Harris puts up

a shot over a pair of Harrison
defenders during Tuesdays nonconference contest. The Bucks
beat the Hornets 58-37.

Lake City takes care of Forest Area

"We had a pretty good start and
then we saw some good things in
the second quarter," Lake City
FIFE LAKE Lake City hit the
coach Dale Eising said.
glass hard and scored a 59-47 win
"In the third quarter, we didn't reover Forest Area to open its boys'
bound well and rushed some shots
basketball season Tuesday night.
to let them back in it."
The Trojans outrebounded the
Lake City led 13-11 after the first
Warriors 36-22 with 16 of those comquarter and 32-14 at halftime.
ing on the offensive end.
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Drew Marion paced the Trojans

with 24 points and eight rebounds
while Kevin Kunkel added 14
points. Austin Booms had seven
points and five rebounds.
Lake City hosts Mancelona on
Thursday.
Lake City won the JV game 4736.

Marion boys beat Big Rapids Crossroads

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BIG RAPIDS Ethan

Russell poured in a gamehigh 27 points, and the
Marion Eagles rolled past
Big Rapids Crossroads,
47-36 in a non-conference
boys' basketball contest
Tuesday night.
Opening on the road,

the Eagles got off to a

slow start, leading just 7-3
after the opening quarter.
But a 15-9 run in the
second pushed the lead
to double digits, and the
Cougars could get no
closer.
Marion led 35-25 heading into the final stanza.
Though pleased with

the win, Eagles coach

Harold Dodde knows his
team has plenty to work
on in the coming weeks.
"We were our own worst
enemy at times," he said.
"We played good defense
for most of the game, but
we threw a lot of passes
away and I wasn't real
pleased with that.

"It was all right for a

first game."
Tyrell Hall added 14
points for the Eagles,
while Brad Fall grabbed
14 boards and Russell
added nine rebounds.
Marion (1-0) stays on the
road as they head north to
Traverse City to take on
the Bulldogs Friday.

MARION Lake City

knew it was going to be
tough and it was.
The Trojans found a
way to win, though, as
they opened Highland
Conference girls' basketball play with a 38-30 win
over Marion on Tuesday
night.
"For us, it's always
tough playing over in
Marion," Lake City coach
Luke Prielipp said. "We
knew we were going to
have to grind out a win.
"Our bench players
stepped up and so tonight
was a real team effort."
Haley Guest paced Lake
City with 13 points while
Makayla Schichtel added
eight points and eight
rebounds. McKenzie Mc-

Cord added seven points

and eight rebounds.
Marion coach Brian
Miller was pleased with
his team's play.
"We wanted to control
the pace of the game and
keep it a little slower," he
said.
"That kind of worked
in our favor and the girls
played really good defense
tonight.
"The girls stepped into
their roles, too, and they
are become more defined
there."
Kassidy Duncan paced
the Eagles with eight
points while Chloe Johnson had six and Anissa
Keeler added five.
Lake City is at Manton
on Friday while Marion
hosts Northern Michigan
Christian the same night.

Evart beats Farwell

the free throw woes kept
the Eagles within shouting distance, and the
EVART They'll take
visitors trailed just 34-33
the win.
heading into the final
Now they'll go work on
stanza.
the weaknesses.
"We had 24 turnovers,
Evart overcame some
and shot 2 for 16 from the
struggles at the free throw
line to come away with a 48- line," Evart coach Kris
39 win over Farwell in non- Morgan said. "There's
conference boys' basketball definitely room for improvement."
action Tuesday night.
Both teams started slow,
The Wildcats used a 14-6
with the Wildcats leading run to close out the win.
just 9-6 after the opening
Tre Dyer paced Evart
quarter before the lids
with 11 points and 11 rewere evidently removed
bounds, while Jacob Hopfrom the baskets and
kins had nine points and
shots began to fall.
pulled down 11 boards.
Evart led 30-24 at the
Evart is at Boyne City
half, but turnovers and
Thursday.
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Mesick boys fall to Kalkaska NMC boys fall to MCE in opener

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MESICK Jordan
Calhoun had 21 points,
Clay Wagatha added 20,
but the Mesick Bulldogs
just couldn't keep up with
Kalkaska on the scoreboard, falling 60-54 in a
non-conference boys' basketball contest Tuesday
night.
"We were 13 out of 31 on
the (free-throw) line," Me-

sick coach Rene LaFreniere III said.

"We make half of those,
and it's a different game."
The Bulldogs never let
Kalkaska get too far out
of reach, trailing 15-8 after the opening quarter,
28-21 at the half, and 49-40
entering the final quarter, but struggled to close
the margin.
LaFreniere, though,
wasn't entirely displeased

with his charges' first effort of the season.

"We did some things
well," he said.
We learn on the fly,
and we put things together."
Brad Harris added 13
points.
Mesick (0-1) hosts Leland in a Northwest Conference contest Tuesday.
Mesick won the JV
contest, 46-25.

Timberwolves beat Pistons 121-94

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AUBURN HILLS The Detroit Pistons

are building their franchise around a talented frontcourt.
On Tuesday night, the Minnesota Timberwolves gave them some tips on how
that's done.
Kevin Love had 26 points and 16 rebounds, while Corey Brewer and Nikola
Pekovic combined for 29 points as the
Timberwolves routed the Pistons 12194. The Timberwolves didn't dominate
inside, matching Detroit's 44 points in
the paint, but the Pistons struggle to win
games if they don't have a major advan-

tage in the post.

"We were trying to make them take
outside shots," Timberwolves coach Rick
Adelman said. "They made a lot in the
first quarter, but our whole point is transition defense, getting back and trying not
to give them anything near the basket."
As it often does, forcing the Pistons to
shoot jumpers turned their offense into
chaos.
Detroit hit just 38 percent of its outside
shots, and 29 percent from 3-point range.
In the meantime, the Timberwolves were
shooting almost 50 percent from 3-point
range and took 33 free throws to Detroit's
16.

Turnovers, though, would doom the

Comets.
NMC turned the ball over 11 times in
CUSTER So close.
the first half, and coach Dale Veddler
Northern Michigan Christian nearly
made those mistakes the focus of his
erased a late six-point deficit to force
halftime speech.
overtime against Mason County East"I told them at the half if we take
ern, but the Comets comeback came up
care of the ball, we'll win this game," he
short in a 54-50 loss to the Cardinals in
the teams' boys' basketball openers Tues- said.
Unfortunately, the Comets struggled
day night.
with MCE's press in the second half,
Trailing 53-47 in the final minute, the
Comets got a triple from the top of the
turning the ball over 20 times in the final
key from Jordan Eisenga to cut the lead
two quarters to keep the Cardinals close.
to three, then took advantage of a CardiA triple by MCE's Justice Gilchrist
nals defensive breakdown to find Jonawith the score tied at 45-45 and four minthan Dracht open for a 3-pointer on the
utes remaining was the turning point.
baseline with eight seconds to go.
Veddler credited junior Kade Ellens
The sophomore's effort, though,
for his effort defensively on Appledorn,
rimmed out after nearly falling.
noting it took a team effort to keep the
Still, the Comets who don't feature a big man from dominating down low.
single player over 6'2" held their own
Both teams struggled from the line,
against the Cardinals and their 6'9" cenwith the Comets hitting on 6 of 15 and
ter Jimmy Appledorn.
the Cardinals making just 13 of 30 charEarly, it looked like the visitors might
ity tosses.
run the hosts out of their own building.
Eisenga and Ellens paced the Comets
NMC took a 15-12 lead after the first
with 12 points each, while Lucas added
quarter, then scored the first six points
11.
of the second keyed by a pair of steals
NMC (0-1) hosts Manistee Catholic
and layups from Dylan Lucas to exCentral Friday.
tend the lead to 21-12.
NMC won the JV contest, 45-32.
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