Petoskey girls maintain BNC lead with win over Alpena
PETOSKEY — One of the toughest things opposing teams struggle with against the Petoskey girls’ basketball team is knowing who to prepare for.
A lot of teams will head in focused on one or two opposing players, but that’s not quite so easy to do against Petoskey.
On any given night, anyone within the Petoskey lineup can fill up the scorebook and that’s what happened Friday night when Alpena visited Petoskey.
Against the Wildcats, eight different players scored for Petoskey, including three in double figures and four with eight or more points in a 53-28 victory.
“We’re playing better and we saw it tonight, a lot of girls contributed and that’s what we look for,” Petoskey coach Bryan Shaw said. “Alpena’s struggling record wise, but that’s Alpena as usual and the same team that’s given us problems the last few years. So it’s a nice win for us and keeps us in first place.”
The win brought the Northmen to 12-7 overall on the season and most importantly, moved them to 7-1 in the Big North Conference, which keeps them atop the league standings with two games to go.
It wasn’t exactly a big start to the night for Petoskey, as they led just 12-9 following the first, but a strong first half from Hope Wegmann continued in the second for the Northmen and helped ignite things.
Wegmann nailed a 3-pointer in the second to build a 17-11 lead, then Caroline Guy got going with five quick points, including a 3-pointer that made it 24-16 at the half.
Guy added another 3-pointer in the third and Lia Trudeau also got involved to help give Petoskey a 38-24 lead at the end of three quarters.
That balance for Shaw’s group could be seen throughout the third, with multiple subs and the Northmen not skipping a beat.
“The girls came out and played really well in the second half,” said Shaw. “Certainly our starters can score and then we’ve got three, four or five off the bench that can. If we run Lia and Caitlyn (Matelski) out in place of Grayson (Guy) and Kenzie (Bromley), they pick it right up and play well. It’s really fun right now. The girls are playing together and we’ve had some great practices.”
Between the close the third and start of the fourth, Petoskey put tougher a 17-3 run that helped build a 47-24 lead, which Alpena never climbed out of on the night.
Grayson Guy, Caroline Guy and Lia Trudeau all finished with 12 points, with Caroline adding four assists and three steals. Hope Wegmann also scored eight and Haidyn Wegmann had four assists.
Petoskey has just three games left on the season, with a visit from Cadillac up next on Friday, Feb. 17, which will come as another BNC doubleheader and the annual Hall of Fame induction night.
Following Cadillac, Petoskey will also travel to Sault Ste. Marie and wrap league play at TC Central.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Petoskey girls maintain BNC lead with win over Alpena
