Basketball roundup: Gaylord beats Cheboygan, St. Mary's falls in OT

GAYLORD ― The high school basketball season is officially in full swing, with the girls from Gaylord, St. Mary's and Johannesburg-Lewiston opening play last week with the boys scheduled to start this week.

Catch up with results from the latter half of the week

Gaylord

After opening the season with a home win over Grayling, the Gaylord Blue Devils traveled to Cheboygan on Thursday, December 1 for their first road matchup of the season.

Playing a program trying to get its feet underneath it under a first-year head coach in Walter Hanson, the experienced Gaylord squad was too much for the hosting Lady Chiefs to overcome as the Blue Devils ran away with a 50-15 victory for their second win of the season.

The game was close through the first quarter, but an 18-0 Gaylord run in the second quarter helped the Blue Devils build a decisive 30-8 halftime lead. Defense and shot selection were key to the game-deciding run, according to head coach Kelli Parker.

“Well, we aren’t the best 3-point shooting team and we tried to shoot ourselves out of it by shooting threes,” said Parker. “I think we were zero of 12 in the first quarter, so any great offense has to go through the paint, and so I just kept telling the girls to get in the paint, so they did just that."

“Defensively, we picked up our defense and had some good buckets.”

It was a balanced effort scoring the ball, something that Coach Parker emphasized coming into the game.

“We were talking in the locker room about Jim Harbaugh and how he talks about his players, and how (Bo) Schembechler was always like, ‘The team, the team, the team,’ so I said, ‘You guys, it has to be about sacrifice, I don’t care who gets points,’” Parker said. “I think it’s the big thing with kids these days. Everybody likes to score points, that’s fun, but we all have to sacrifice for the team."

“I was proud of them tonight; it was very good.”

Senior Alexis Kozlowski led the way with nine points, followed by sisters Addison and Kennedy Wangler's seven points apiece. Hali Lenartowicz added six points, Karlee Pretzlaff and Addison McDonald added five and Meghan Keen and Alexis Shepherd both finished with four in the team's second win of the opening week.

The Blue Devils wrapped up the week with a home game against Muskegon Mona Shores on Saturday, December 3, suffering their first defeat of the season in a 43-33 loss.

The offense never found a rhythm against visiting Sailors, finishing the first quarter with a 9-5 deficit they would never overcome. Keen led the way with 11 points and nine rebounds, while Kozlowski added five points, four rebounds and two assists.

The Blue Devils, now 2-1 overall on the season, are set to host a double-header with Charlevoix on Tuesday, December 6, with the girls to play first at 5:30 p.m. and the boy's season opener to follow.

St. Mary's

A team that went to the state quarterfinals in the MHSAA Division 4 girls basketball playoffs a season ago, the St. Mary's Snowbirds come into the season with high expectations for themselves.

They opened the season over the weekend at the McBain Season Kickoff Tournament and, despite playing some tough competition from higher divisions, the Snowbirds came home disappointed with the results after dropping both games against Escanaba and New Lothrop.

Escanaba, a Division 2 team also entering 2022 with high aspirations, had too much in their bag for St. Mary's to handle as the Eskymos ran away with a 60-45 victory to pen play on Friday.

The real highlight of the tournament came in game two for the Snowbirds as they battled with a tough, Division 3 team in New Lothrop, forcing the game into overtime before eventually falling 51-46 for their second loss in a row to start the season.

The game was filled with turnovers as neither team could escape the numerous travel calls from the officials. St. Mary's led 39-36 heading into the fourth quarter, but New Lothrop held the Snowbirds to just one make from the field in the final frame as they fought back to tie the game at 43 points apiece and push it into overtime.

There, turnovers again plagued the Snowbirds while the Hornets were able to get to the foul line and convert on just enough of their free throws down the stretch to bring home the victory.

Seniors were St. Mary's statistical leaders, with Sydney Grusczynski leading with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 from 3pt range. She also added four rebounds.

Meanwhile, Macey Bebble added 13 points, three assists and two rebounds while Ava Schultz finished with eight points, 11 rebounds and one assist.

St. Mary's opens conference play on Wednesday, December 7 as they take on Fife Lake Forest Area.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Basketball roundup: Gaylord beats Cheboygan, Gaylord St. Mary's falls in overtime to New Lothrop