Girls Basketball: Bedford, Ida bounce back with impressive wins

TEMPERANCE – Payton Pudlowski's sophomore season did not get off to a strong start.

The talented Bedford guard was held to just 1 point in the Mules' season-opening loss to Saline last week.

"That was a surprise to us," Bedford coach Bill Ryan said. "She's been lights out in practice."

Pudlowski's practice energy shifted into the game Tuesday night as she knocked down three 3-pointers in the first quarter and finished with 17 points to lead Bedford to a 66-19 win over Ypsilanti Lincoln.

"Tonight, the first shot she knocked down and you just saw the confidence start to swell," Ryan said. "I'm happy for her. She's a great kid, really good teammate."

Another underclassman also found her confidence.

Freshman Peyton Behnke was held scoreless against Saline but came out firing with 13 points against Lincoln.

"Saline put their best defender on her and she had no breathing room," Ryan said. "Tonight, she looked dynamic. She had some nice takes to the hole and she's part of that group of guard that got into seams, made the extra pass and just made life easier on everybody."

Victoria Gray added 6 points and a team-best 11 rebounds for the Mules (1-1), who led 23-3 after the first quarter and 42-15 by halftime.

"It was nice to win a game with a little bit of breathing room even though we're not at full strength," Ryan said. "Our shooters got some good looks in rhythm and knocked some of the rust off."

Bedford ; 23 ; 19 ; 19 ; 5 ; - ; 66

Lincoln ; 3 ; 12 ; 2 ; 2 ; - ; 19

BEDFORD: V. Gray 1 4-6 6, Pudlowski 6 (4) 1-2 17, A. Gray 2 (2) 0-0 6, Hensley 2 0-0 4, Nadolny 2 (2) 0-2 6, Behnke 4 (1) 4-4 13, S. Gray 3 2-2 8, Smith 2 2-3 6. Totals 22 (11) 13-19 66.

YPSILANTI LINCOLN: S. Clark 1 0-2 2, Brook 1 0-0 2, B. Clark 4 2-4 10, French 2 0-0 4, Huebler 0 1-2 1, LaBrean 0 0-2 0. Totals 8 3-10 19.

Ida 37, Hillsdale 27

HILLSDALE – Ida found a new gear in the fourth quarter to turn a tight contest into a double-digit victory.

Shooting woes put the Blue Streaks into a tight 21-20 game going into the fourth quarter. Ida was 4-for-31 shooting in the first half, but the team played better down the stretch. Ida outscored Hillsdale 16-7 in the fourth.

"We pressed the whole game, but then we just couldn't make some easy shots," Ida coach Tim Leonard said. "In the fourth quarter, we continued to press and we finally hit a couple short jump shots off our steals and finished with some good free throws."

Everybody contributed in the last quarter with key baskets from Katherine Hovest, Grace Capling and Kennedy Albring, and great free-throw shooting from Jessica Schrader and Alayna Sexton.

Leonard hoped the game would be a strong learning experience for his young squad.

"It shouldn't be this hard, but we're struggling," he said. "We're pretty young and we're still rushing those shots. Instead of taking that extra half-second to square up and finish, we panic and we just need to mature through that."

Hovest led the Blue Streaks (2-1) with 13 points and Capling added 9.

Ida's junior varsity won 46-39 behind 16 points from Olivia Scheer and 13 from Clare Allen.

Ida ; 9 ; 4 ; 8 ; 16 ; - ; 37

Hillsdale ; 4 ; 10 ; 6 ; 16 ; - ; 27

IDA: Hovest 4 5-6 13, Schrader 1 3-7 5, Capling 3 (1) 2-4 9, Albring 2 2-2 6, Sexton 0 4-4 4. Totals 10 (1) 16-23 37.

HILLSDALE: Dietz 1 0-0 2, Woodard 2 0-0 4, Rufenacht 4 3-5 11, Terpening 1 0-0 2, Vincent 4 0-0 8, Mueller 0 0-1 0, Francis 0 0-1 0. Totals 12 3-7 27.

Gibraltar Carlson 41, Allen Park 30

ALLEN PARK – Sophomore Abigail Carafelli matched her career high with 14 points to lead Gibraltar Carlson to its third-straight win.

Carafelli scored 12 points in the first half to stake the Marauders to a 27-15 lead. Elyse Miller and Emma Shimizu took over in the second half, scoring 6 points apiece after the intermission to carry Carlson.

Miller finished with 10 points and Shimizu added 8.

Carlson improved to 3-1 overall after dropping its season opener to Flat Rock.

Carlson ; 8 ; 19 ; 10 ; 4 ; - ; 41

Allen Park ; 9 ; 6 ; 8 ; 7 ; - ; 30

GIBRALTAR CARLSON: Fowler 2 0-0 4, Pate 1 (1) 0-0 3, Carafelli 6 (2) 0-0 14, Miller 4 2-4 10, Shimizu 3 2-2 8, Bongiorno 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 (3) 4-6 41.

ALLEN PARK: Peschke 1 0-0 2, Ma. Hool 1 2-2 4, Crosslin 2 0-3 4, Granata 1 1-2 3, Ramey 1 1-1 3, Dingman 4 1-1 9, Sizemore 1 2-4 4, Bateman 0 1-2 1. Totals 11 8-15 30.

Dexter 59, Monroe 42

Monroe was forced to try to dig out of an early hole as Dexter raced out to a double-digit lead midway through the first quarter.

"Dexter jumped on us from the get go with an 11-0 lead," Monroe coach Joe Regalado said. "From that point on, it was a catch-up game. The girls fought back hard to get within 5 points, that’s the closest we got."

Monroe bounced back in the second quarter and held Dexter scoreless, but the Dreadnaughts outscored the Trojans 20-16 in the third and the pulled away in the fourth.

Olivia Bussell scored 18 points to lead Monroe (2-2), while her younger sister, Sophia Bussell, hit five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points.

Dexter ; 25 ; 0 ; 20 ; 14 ; - ; 59

Monroe ; 5 ; 14 ; 16 ; 7 ; - ; 42

DEXTER: Blumberg 1 0-3 2, Valentine 4 (2) 0-0 10, Rodriguez 4 (2) 3-4 13, Lewis 1 3-3 5, Perry 1 1-4 3, Pnacek 9 (1) 3-3 22, Fuchs 1 2-2 4. Totals 21 (5) 14-19 59.

MONROE: O. Bussell 8 2-3 18, Faryniarz 1 0-0 2, S. Bussell 5 (5) 2-3 17, Snodgrass 2 1-2 5, Bice 0 0-1 0, Kelley 0 0-2 0. Totals 16 (5) 5-11 42.

Tecumseh 68, Milan 27

MILAN – It was a bad time for the COVID-19 virus to strike as Milan took on undefeated Tecumseh.

"We had a depleted line up," Milan coach Bobby Green said. "We have a lot of girls out sick with COVID and our whole JV was, for the most part, quarantined. We had a half a team tonight: half JV, half varsity. Tecumseh beat us pretty good. Give them credit, they played well. And they played their starters the whole game and pressed us."

Tecumseh (5-0) took control after the first quarter and led 32-15 at halftime.

Hannah Segrist scored 7 points to lead Milan, which fell to 1-3 overall.

Tecumseh ; 24 ; 8 ; 19 ; 17 ; - ; 68

Milan ; 8 ; 7 ; 4 ; 8 ; - ; 27

TECUMSEH: Zajac 7 5-6 19, Benschoter 4 0-0 10, Wilke 5 3-6 13, Moorehead 2 (1) 0-2 5, Moore 7 0-0 14, Barrett 1 2-2 4, Abbott 1 2-2 4. Totals 27 (1) 13-20 68.

MILAN: M. McCray 1 1-3 3, Stines 2 0-0 4, Segrist 2 3-4 7, Millina 1 1-2 3, Hatfield 2 (2) 0-0 6, Knox 1 0-2 2, Wourman 1 0-2 2. Totals 10 (2) 5-13 27.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Girls Hoops: Bedford, Ida bounce back to record first wins