Petoskey ends marathon month of hoops with win over Boyne City

BOYNE CITY — While a lot of teams want to get games in next week to stay fresh and pack in an extra game or two in December, the Petoskey girls’ basketball team just wants to come up for air.

With eight games under their belt in just 20 days of the season, Petoskey needs a breather, perhaps an oxygen mask for Christmas.

After Thursday night, it’s coming, though they had to work past Boyne City on the road to unwrap their break first.

A team that makes their opponent work for every basket and shot, the Ramblers did that to the Northmen Thursday, though a big third quarter propelled Petoskey to a 46-29 win.

“I think we got some stuff figured out and at halftime I think we grew tonight,” Petoskey coach Bryan Shaw said. “Boyne City, if you look at their scores, Adam does a heck of a job with them and they do a lot of stuff to make you look bad. The first quarter, it took us a while, but I’m proud of the girls because I thought they did a heck of a job the rest of the way.”

The victory closed up the first chunk of games with the Northmen at 4-4 overall on the season, already having playing some of the tougher teams they’ll face this season, including Lake City, Byron Center and Sault Ste. Marie.

For Boyne City, the start of the season has now come with a 1-4 record, though they’ve competed in three straight heading in, which included holding St. Ignace to 34 and TC St. Francis and Elk Rapids to 41 or fewer.

The part that hurts the most about Thursday night for Boyne City coach Adam Stefanski was that third, when his defense broke down and Petoskey made runs and added to their lead.

“I’m most disappointed in our effort defensively in the third quarter,” he said. “We’re a team and program that hangs our hat defensively and we can’t give up 19 points in a quarter with where we’re at offensively. We’ve been consistently holding teams under 40 points in a game and that consistent effort wasn’t there.

“We’re a team that has to lock in for 32 minutes with our tough schedule and we didn’t have it in us tonight.”

Petoskey came out of half with 19 points in that third, turning a 21-12 advantage at the break into a 40-19 lead.

Things settled back down some in the fourth, with the Ramblers actually holding a 10-6 advantage, though the damage had already been done at that point.

“We play well in spurts but the consistency isn’t quite there yet,” said Stefanski. “We have a long way to go offensively and we just have to continue to work to get there.”

The game was tied at 9-9 after the first quarter, then Petoskey leaned on some solid free throw shooting in the second and six points from Kenzie Bromley to take the nine-point lead into the break.

Boyne’s offense struggled on the night, though sophomore Elly Wilcox had her stroke going, knocking down three 3-pointers to lead with 11 points.

Bromley finished with 12 points in a balanced night in the book for the Northmen, though it was just good for Shaw to see the former Big North Player of the Year get going and go six of six from the free throw line.

“If you’re a Division 1 athlete, you’re a competitor and she’s a competitor,” said Shaw on Bromley, a highly recruited softball player as well. “She hasn’t played a lot of basketball in the last six months, but we know that’ll come as the season goes. She got a lot better tonight, making her free throws and she’s leading. That’s important.”

Grayson Guy also had eight points, Lia Trudeau scored six and Caroline Guy and Haidyn Wegmann each scored five.

Boyne City will get in just a handful of days off before heading up to meet Marquette and Negaunee over the break, beginning on Wednesday, Dec. 28.

“Two great challenges for us and we’re hoping to do some team building up there,” added Stefanski. “Eventually we’ve got to get over this hump. We have to have some confidence and simply execute. We have the ability and we’ll get there.”

For Shaw and his team, it’s just time to kick the feet up for a bit, hit a reset over the next week and a half and be happy to head into January basketball with some good challenges already.

“It’s been like a mini marathon,” said Shaw with a laugh. “It’s going to feel good to have some down time and practices. We’ll be fresh in the new year, we’ll be ready to go. We had a good heart to heart tonight and we’ll be good.”

Out of the break, Petoskey first meets Cheboygan at home on Wednesday, Jan. 4.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Petoskey ends marathon month of hoops with win over Boyne City