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Harbor Springs beats St. Francis in key LMC game, Petoskey falls to Byron Center

drew kochanny, the petoskey news-review
·3 min read
A season-high 17 points from senior Sierra Kruzel helped Harbor Springs top Traverse City St. Francis late last week.
A season-high 17 points from senior Sierra Kruzel helped Harbor Springs top Traverse City St. Francis late last week.

HARBOR SPRINGS — The first major step in the girls Lake Michigan Conference race was taken Friday night in Harbor Springs.

And it came by the host Rams.

Welcoming in Travers City St. Francis, Harbor Springs put on a strong showing throughout at both ends of the floor to earn a 52-35 victory.

It helped move the Rams to 2-0 within the Lake Michigan Conference, while delivering a loss to one of the league’s top teams. Harbor also improved to 4-0 overall on the season.

A 14-5 game after the first quarter, Harbor’s Olivia Flynn got off to hot start with eight points in the first.

Harbor then led 25-10 at the half and 38-23 after three, as Sierra Kruzel turned it on for the Rams.

Flynn finished with 22 pints, Kruzel scored a season-high 17 points and Hailey Fisher added seven points.

Harbor Springs will next take on Mesick at Ferris State on Tuesday, Dec. 20, then head to a Northville Holiday Showcase over the winter break.

Elk Rapids 39, Boyne City 26

BOYNE CITY — The Boyne City girls’ basketball team continued to hang around against tough LMC teams, though took another loss when Elk Rapids visited Friday.

The Ramblers fell in a 39-26 final, though head coach Adam Stefanski liked how his team played and continues to show improvements.

“This game showed tremendous growth for us,” said Stefanski. “We are not where we want to be yet, but we are definitely headed in the right direction and the mindset within the locker room is what you would expect out of a group of high character kids like I have. We are a team that is trending in the right direction and if we continue to work on execution, we will get over the hump.”

The Elks led in a 10-4 game after one, then 15-13 at the half and 29-19 following the third.

Elly Wilcox finished with 12 points to lead the Ramblers, Braydin Noble and Morgan Deming then each added four.

Lauren Bingham scored 14 to lead the Elks and Kendall Standfest finished with 13 points.

Boyne City (1-3, 0-2 LMC) will next welcome in Petoskey on Thursday, Dec. 22, before heading up to a Negaunee hosted event during the winter break.

Eva Guy and the Petoskey girls will regroup after a Saturday loss with a chance to add wins twice this week.
Eva Guy and the Petoskey girls will regroup after a Saturday loss with a chance to add wins twice this week.

NON-CONFERENCE 

Byron Center 69, Petoskey 46

GRAND RAPIDS — The Petoskey girls’ basketball team continued to challenge themselves over the weekend and headed to Grand Rapids to meet Byron Center.

Playing at Aquinas College on Saturday in a West Michigan Hoop Summit event, the Northmen took a 69-46 loss against the talented Bulldogs.

Byron Center went 19-3 a year ago and hasn’t dropped more than three games in a season in three four.

The Bulldogs feature 2023 Wayne State commit McKenna Ferguson and 2024 Butler commit Lily Zeinstra, who has also picked up offers from the like of Michigan, MSU, Alabama and Marquette.

Petoskey kept things in a close game early, leading 9-8 after the opening quarter, before a 25-21 lead for the Bulldogs at the half.

Ferguson then took off between the third and fourth quarters, scoring 20 of her game-high 27 points to help Byron Center pull away.

Grayson Guy led Petoskey with 12 points, Lia Trudeau scored nine and Caroline Guy, Kenzie Bromley and Hope Wegmann all added five.

Zeinstra also had 16 points for Byron Center.

Petoskey (3-3) will next welcome in Sault Ste. Marie on Tuesday, Dec. 20, before then heading to Boyne City on Thursday, Dec. 22 to wrap up December.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Harbor Springs beats St. Francis in key LMC game, Petoskey falls to Byron Center