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Mackinaw City gifts themselves a Christmas title, beat Inland Lakes

drew kochanny, the petoskey news-review
·4 min read
Mackinaw City senior forward Madison Smith drives to the hoop and scores in front of the Inland Lakes defense in the first half of Wednesday's game.
Mackinaw City senior forward Madison Smith drives to the hoop and scores in front of the Inland Lakes defense in the first half of Wednesday's game.

MACKINAW CITY — Defense always travels.

It’s something the Mackinaw City girls’ basketball team never forgets.

Mackinaw City guard Marlie Postula brings the ball down the court while keeping an eye on a teammate in the first half.
Mackinaw City guard Marlie Postula brings the ball down the court while keeping an eye on a teammate in the first half.

Even on a night when the Comets didn’t have to worry about traveling, they pulled their defensive effort out of the bag when regular shots weren’t always falling against Inland Lakes.

Hosting the Bulldogs in the championship of their annual Christmas Tournament Wednesday, Mackinaw City built a lead, leaned on its defense, then answered a run late by Inland Lakes and again held it together defensively to earn a 62-43 victory.

“Most of the girls buckled down defensively and then did what I wanted them to do offensively,” Mackinaw City coach Jake Huffman said. “The effort that they put out here, this (Inland Lakes) team scored 78 points last night and we held them to 43. That type of defensive effort is so huge.”

The tournament also came with a 62-15 win over Manistique for Mackinaw City, who then defeated Brimley in a 50-46 final on Wednesday.

Inland Lakes earned a 78-56 win over Brimley to open the tournament. Mackinaw City also broke out the festive Christmas themed uniforms and the student section sang Christmas tunes throughout the night.

Inland Lakes' Natalie Wandrie tries to pull up for a shot with Mackinaw City's Larissa Huffman (12) defending.
Inland Lakes' Natalie Wandrie tries to pull up for a shot with Mackinaw City's Larissa Huffman (12) defending.

All around, Huffman was pleased with the competition and what his team got out of the couple days once again.

“The girls played great,” he said. “What a great tournament for us. I said going in that all four teams could win it. We had a big victory last night against Manistique, then they turned around and beat Brimley tonight.”

For Inland Lakes coach Daryl Vizina, a test against the Comets was expected, though the execution in certain areas to combat that test just broke down.

“One of the three things we pride ourselves on are turnover differential, we want to win the offensive rebound battle and we also want to get to the line more than our opponent,” said Vizina. “I’m pretty sure we lost the rebounding, they hit the glass super hard. They’ve got good players and they deserve to win. We have a lot of players that haven’t played varsity basketball. We have a few that have, but they got a true test tonight. I think we have a lot of room for improvement.”

Mackinaw City got off to a 16-12 advantage after the opening quarter, getting six early points from Larissa Huffman, while Ryann Clancy for the Bulldogs also put up six early.

Mackinaw City guard Gracie Beauchamp drives the ball down the court late against Inland Lakes Wednesday.
Mackinaw City guard Gracie Beauchamp drives the ball down the court late against Inland Lakes Wednesday.

Mackinaw City then went on a 12-0 run at the start of the second quarter to build a 26-12 advantage. The lead then stayed right around eight to 10 points for the Comets until Huffman brought herself to the free throw line late and gave Mackinaw a 35-23 advantage at the half.

In the second half, every little run by the Bulldogs was then answered by Mackinaw City, as Marlie Postula hit some big shots for the Comets in the third and the lead remained 49-32 heading to the fourth.

Inland Lakes guard Tara Clancy sees an outside shot she likes and pulls up for it in the second half.
Inland Lakes guard Tara Clancy sees an outside shot she likes and pulls up for it in the second half.

Inland Lakes then inched a little closer with a 14-2 run between the third and fourth, bringing the advantage down to eight.

Mackinaw City closed the door to that and later closed the game on an 11-0 advantage to bring home the title.

“It got really interesting in the fourth for a while,” said Huffman. “They got on a nice little run that we knew was going to come sooner or later. Then we responded with a 10-0 run and buckled down defensively. We had to wrestle that momentum back. That’s a nice team and they’re tough. They’re going to win a lot of games this year.”

Larissa Huffman led on the night with 21 points, 16 rebounds, six assists and two blocks, while Gracie Beauchamp came through with 11 points, seven rebounds and two assists. Postula also had 11 points and five rebounds, Madison Smith had 10 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two blocks and Julia Sullivan had seven points and seven rebounds.

Mackinaw City players Larissa Huffman (left) and Marlie Postula celebrate the victory at the final buzzer Wednesday.
Mackinaw City players Larissa Huffman (left) and Marlie Postula celebrate the victory at the final buzzer Wednesday.

For Inland Lakes, Clancy finished the night with 14 points, Brooklyn LaBrecque scored eight and Natalie Wandrie scored five, a night after putting up 40 points against Brimley.

"They played great defense on her,” said Vizina on Wandrie and the Comet defense. “She didn’t get any easy looks and then they just packed it in when she went to the hoop.

“I think one of the things we’ve got to work on going forward is having some more balanced scoring. Over Christmas break we’ll have some time to work on our offense.”

Mackinaw City improved to 6-0 with the victory and will next head to Pickford out of the winter break on Wednesday, Jan. 4, while Inland Lakes moved to 4-3 on the season – all three losses coming against tough teams – and will next head to Mancelona on Jan. 4.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Mackinaw City gifts themselves a Christmas title, beat Inland Lakes