Local Sports: SMCC's Roecker leads surge with career high

BRITTON − Not much was going right.

St. Mary Catholic Central's girls basketball team struggled to generate any amount of offense in the first half Thursday night against Britton Deerfield.

"We couldn't buy a basket in the first half," SMCC coach John Durbin said. "It was a struggle for both teams really. Even point-blank range shots were not falling for us or Britton Deerfield."

The tides turned for one team in the second half.

SMCC held the Patriots to just 5 points after the intermission and pulled away for a dominant 48-21 victory.

The Kestrels scored 12 points in the third quarter and exploded for 20 in the fourth.

"In the second half, we got the same looks we had in the first half, but they started going in," Durbin said. "That was the difference. Our defensive pressure was pretty good, but offensively getting some shots to fall was the difference."

Senior Caroline Roecker led the charge, finishing with a career-high 16 points. She scored 9 in the second half.

"She was just being a little more aggressive with the basketball tonight," Durbin said. "She got some good looks outside and made some things happen inside."

SMCC has had a different leading scorer in four of its five games this season. Five different players are averaging 5 or more points per game, but Roecker leads the squad at just 8.2 per game.

"That's kind of how we like it," Durbin said. "It seems like somebody different steps up every game. There are 3-4 players capable of getting in double figures any given night. It's just who has the hot hand."

SMCC improved to 4-1 overall.

The Kestrels also won the junior varsity game 40-18 behind 19 points from Abby Lechy.

SMCC: Turner 3 (3) 0-0 9, Roecker 6 (2) 2-4 16, Mossburg 2 (1) 3-4 8, Potcova 2 0-0 4, Hamilton 2 0-0 4, Dalten 0 1-2 1, LaPrad 1 0-0 2, Carlton 1 (1) 0-0 3. Totals 17 (7) 7-9 48.

BRITTON DEERFIELD: Prielipp 0 2-4 2, Alivia Salenbien 3 0-0 6, Alayna Salenbien 1 (1) 1-2 4, Molnar 4 0-0 8, Nighswander 0 1-2 1. Totals 8 (1) 4-8 21.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Carlson evens record

GIBRALTAR − All 10 players on the roster scored as Gibraltar Carlson defeated Lincoln Park 50-18 Thursday to even its record for the first time this season at 4-4.

Arianna Pate led the Marauders, scoring all of her game-high 13 points in the first half.

"It was a good overall effort," Carlson coach Kristin Fabrizio said. "It was nice to see a lot of our players get in today. ... We have six new athletes on the varsity team and it was nice to give them a little bit of experience."

GIBRALTAR CARLSON: Kemokai 1 3-3 5, Tolstyka 1 0-0 2, Fowler 0 2-2 2, Pate 5 (2) 1-1 13, Carafelli 1 0-0 2, Wallace 3 3-6 9, Boller 3 0-0 6, Shimizu 1 0-0 2, Neely 2 1-2 5, Bongiorno 1 2-2 4. Totals 18 (2) 12-16 50.

LINCOLN PARK: Ross 3 2-4 8, Span 1 (1) 0-2 3, Marshall 2 (1) 2-4 7. Totals 6 (2) 4-10 18.

Bedford still perfect

TECUMSEH − Tecumseh has logged wins over three Monroe County Region teams already this season. Bedford made sure it would not be four as the Mules won 60-53 Thursday.

Bedford led 17-8 after one quarter and held off a Tecumseh surge in the second quarter that saw the Indians pull within 25-22 by halftime. The Mules kept the game just out of reach in the second half.

"Really nice win for our team," Bedford coach Bill Ryan said. "We played four strong quarters of basketball. Tecumseh is a good team that will have a lot of success this year. We managed the basketball well and our balanced scoring was a key factor in the win."

Victoria Gray led Bedford (6-0) with 16 points and 14 rebounds, Payton Pudlowski scored 16 points, Peyton Behnke had 12, and Nyah Mullins added 10.

BEDFORD: Pudlowski 4 (2) 6-8 16, Hensley 1 4-6 6, Behnke 4 (3) 1-2 12, V. Gray 6 (1) 3-4 16, Mullins 3 4-6 10. Totals 18 (6) 18-26 60.

TECUMSEH: Zajac 8 (5) 6-7 27, Bullinger 2 (2) 0-0 6, Schlorf 2 (2) 0-2 6, Wilke 2 0-0 4, Moorchcal 2 (1) 5-6 10. Totals 16 (10) 11-15 53.

Slow start hurts Monroe

GROSSE POINTE WOODS − Monroe was scoreless in the first quarter and struggled to recover as Grosse Pointe North won 53-30 Thursday.

Grosse Pointe North led 42-14 going into the fourth.

"It was a timid start for us in the first quarter," Monroe coach John Mason said. "We played much better in the second half, but it wasn’t enough."

Sophia Bussell hit five 3-pointers and scored 21 points for Monroe (2-6).

GROSSE POINTE NORTH: Winowiecki 3 1-1 7, Liagre 1 0-0 2, Borowski 4 0-0 8, Babcock 11 3-4 25, Arnault 4 (1) 0-0 9, Ruiz 1 0-0 2. Totals 24 (1) 4-5 53.

MONROE: Neddo 1 (1) 0-0 3, Roberts 2 0-0 4, Leach 1 0-0 2, Bussell 8 (5) 0-2 21. Totals 12 (6) 0-2 30.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Mules win fourth

TECUMSEH − Bedford made a defensive switch in the second quarter to slow down Tecumseh and win 63-56 Thursday.

Tecumseh led 19-13 after the first quarter, but Bedford held the Indians to just 5 points in the second quarter to cut the lead down to a single point.

"The game got off to a hot start with both teams hitting shots in the first, but once things settled down it became a real rock fight," Bedford coach Jordan Bollin said. "We switched to a zone defense in the second quarter which really seemed to slow them down."

Free throws helped Bedford secure the win in the second half. The team was 29-of-33 from the charity stripe led by Andrew Hollinger who hit a school record 15-of-15 from the line. He finished with 17 points.

Tommy Huss led the Mules (4-1) with a career-high 19 points.

BEDFORD: Huss 6 (4) 3-4 19, Eighmey 3 0-0 6, Behnke 1 2-2 4, Campbell 4 3-5 11, Hollinger 1 15-15 17, Wolf 0 6-7 6. Totals 15 (4) 29-33 63.

TECUMSEH: G. Mossburg 2 (2) 0-0 6, Hunt 1 2-4 4, Cheneuey 4 (2) 3-5 13, R. Mossburg 1 (1) 0-0 3, Benschoter 2 0-0 4, Zajac 9 (7) 1-3 26, Alcock 0 0-1 0. Totals 18 (7) 6-15 56.

LaRocca sparks Summerfield

MANCHESTER − Tyrus LaRocca gave an all-around effort with 13 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals to lead Summerfield to a 58-48 win over Manchester Thursday.

Summerfield pulled away in the second quarter to lead 39-21 at halftime.

Tyler Dafoe added 23 points to push the Bulldogs to 4-1 overall.

SUMMERFIELD: LaRocca 3 (3) 4-6 13, Gault 2 (1) 5-6 10, Kalb 1 0-0 2, St. John 3 (1) 0-1 7, Dafoe 7 (4) 5-5 23, Myshock 1 1-2 3. Totals 17 (9) 15-20 58.

MANCHESTER: McGuigon 5 6-10 16, Campbell 2 0-0 4, Horkey 2 (1) 0-0 5, Kelly 9 0-0 18, Lutton 1 0-2 2, Johnson 1 1-2 3. Totals 20 (1) 7-14 48.

Rams break record

DEARBORN − Flat Rock hit a school-record 12 3-pointers to take down Dearborn Advanced Tech 59-40 on Thursday and improve to 6-0 overall.

Graham Junge (14 points), Tim Murphy (12), and Odin Nemeth (1) were all in double figures for the Rams.

Flat Rock's JV team won 49-26.

FLAT ROCK: Nemeth 3 (3) 1-2 10, Giroux 2 (1) 0-0 5, Liedel 2 0-0 4, Godfrey 3 (3) 0-0 9, Murphy 6 0-1 12, Muheisen 2 (1) 0-0 5, Junge 5 (4) 0-0 14. Totals 23 (12) 1-3 59.

Fourth quarter lifts Milan

YPSILANTI − Tied 27-27 going into the fourth quarter, Milan found its offensive groove and escaped Ypsilanti with a 50-46 victory Thursday.

Milan outscored Ypsilanti 23-19 in the final period with 9 points by Trey Chmielewski, who was 6-for-6 at the line down the stretch. He finished the game with 15 points overall.

Kyle Ballard also had an impressive performance for the Big Reds (2-4), hitting six 3-pointers to finish with 18 points.

MILAN: Ballard 6 (6) 0-0 18, Hill 1 0-2 2, Raasch 3 0-0 6, Chmielewski 4 (1) 6-6 15, Desselier 2 3-6 7, Paddock 0 2-4 2. Totals 16 11-18 50.

YPSILANTI: Brooks 1 1-1 3, Rawls 9 (1) 4-8 23, Miller 2 (1) 0-0 5, Ponder 5 (2) 3-4 15, Campbell 0 0-2 0. Totals 17 (4) 8-15 46.

Lincoln Park tops Carlson

LINCOLN PARK − Lincoln Park pulled away from Gibraltar Carlson in the second half for a 50-32 victory Thursday.

Lincoln Park led 19-14 at halftime but outscored Carlson 16-4 in the third quarter to take the lead for good.

Roy Braddy scored 10 points to lead the Marauders, who remain winless on the season at 0-7.

LINCOLN PARK: S. Hagg 5 (1) 0-0 11, Carpenter 3 0-3 6, Effinger 1 0-0 2, Z. Hagg 3 (1) 0-0 7, Peralta 1 (1) 0-0 3, Williams 1 1-2 3, Tillman 2 4-4 8, Bailey 4 (2) 0-3 10. Totals 20 (5) 5-12 50.

GIBRALTAR CARLSON: Kemokai 1 2-4 4, Braddy 3 (1) 3-8 10, Davis 1 0-1 2, Anderson 1 (1) 2-2 5, Jones 1 (1) 0-0 3, Zachary 0 1-2 1, Przytula 3 1-2 7. Totals 10 (3) 9-19 32.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Local Sports: SMCC's Roecker leads surge with career high