Elk Rapids in line for LMC showdown with win over TCSF

Feb. 16—ELK RAPIDS — Bob Schneider would tell his teams to "play hard, play smart, and have fun."

The Elks did that Tuesday night in a 59-30 win over Traverse City St. Francis on the night they honored Schneider, the 17-year Elks girls basketball coach who died Jan. 7 of this year.

Members of the current Elks presented flowers to the surviving Schneider family members — wife Martha, son Bobby and daughter Tricia — in a ceremony before the game.

Often referred to simply as "Schneid," Bob Schneider put Elk Rapids on the map — to say the least — in the late 1980s and into the 1990s. The 20-year teacher helped the Elks win nine conference titles in a row, six districts, six regionals and claimed state runner-up in 1992. He became a member of the Elk Rapids Hall of Fame in 2006.

Jana Morton played on the '92 team and is the mother of current Elk Rapids junior Lilly Morton.

"I had heard a lot about those teams," said Elk Rapids head coach Mike Brown, who moved to the area in 1996. "I've been here 14 years and that's something we've strived for — to put up banners, championships and just fill the rafters."

The Elks' Lake Michigan Conference title last year was the first since Schneider's nine, and Tuesday's win could set them up to win back-to-back titles for the first time since that streak.

Harbor Springs (11-1) and its freshman phenom Olivia Flynn travel to Elk Rapids (12-1) on Thursday with both teams sporting just one loss in the LMC. The Elks lost the last game by one point on a buzzer-beater. The Rams do have another conference game, a Monday game at Charlevoix.

A district title, though, likely runs through either St. Francis (12-5, 10-3 LMC) or No. 3-ranked Glen Lake (18-0).

"You can't look past anybody, especially for a third time," Brown said of a rematch with St. Francis.

Four of the Elks landed in double figures with Morgan Bergquist leading the game with 16 points. Lauren Bingham and Logan Reasoner both scored 11, and sophomore Kendall Standfest netted 10 — capped off with a stepback 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer.

The Elks led the entire game, up 18-9 after one, 31-14 at halftime and 42-24 after three.

"We're really excited," Standfest said. "This shows our potential and how good we can be as a team if we play together. We can go pretty far if we play like that."

St. Francis was led by Maggie Napont with 13 points. Gwyneth Barmer had seven.

The loss put the Gladiators out of contention for the LMC.

"Certainly, I think tonight we were outplayed," St. Francis head coach Adam Warren said. "We played against a really good team. We need to learn from that. We've got three more games to get ready for districts and based on what I'm looking at, we're probably going to be playing them again."

Those three teams for St. Francis are Charlevoix on Friday then Lake Leelanau St. Mary on Monday and Alpena, Feb. 23.

Thursday's game for the LMC tips off at 7 p.m. in Elk Rapids.

Follow Andrew Rosenthal on Twitter @ByAndrewR