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Soaring Eagles get split in cage debuts

Mike Mattson | Daily Press Hannahville’s Ruby Troxell (10) drives in for a layup as Ella Crowell of Mackinac Island defends. Troxell scored a team-high 14 points in the Soaring Eagles’ 42-27 victory.

HANNAHVILLE — The Hannahville boys’ and girls’ basketball teams raised the curtain on the season at home Friday night.

The girls cruised to a 42-27 Northern Lights League win against Mackinac Island but the boys struggled in a 56-29 loss to the Lakers.

Hannahville girls’ coach Seth Miller can’t wait for an encore when it hosts Mackinac Island again today at 8:30 a.m.

“We played pretty good,” Miller said. “We’ve been playing fast in practice. It was nice to see the girls slow down and do what we wanted to do.”

Six girls scored for Hannahville, led by Ruby Troxell with 14 points. Twins Dayson and Cecilia Beaver chipped in with 12 points and 10 points, respectively.

Hannahville bolted to a 15-0 lead after one quarter and 23-5 at halftime. The Soaring Eagles put the game away in the third quarter and led 37-11 entering the fourth quarter. The Lakers finished strong and outscored Hannahville 16-5 in the fourth quarter.

Ella Crowell led Mackinac Island with 18 points.

Miller was pleased with his team’s patience and taking care of the ball. Hannahville had very few turnovers through three quarters.

“We had good team work in all phases,” Miller said. “I’m very proud of the way we played.”

In the boys’ game, 6-foot-5 Christian Styburske scored a game-high 20 points to propel the Lakers. He was complemented by Aaron Riggs with 14 points and Nick Davis with 12 points.

Mackinac Island (1-3) was playing its fourth game and looked sharper than the Soaring Eagles.

“That’s the first time in our four games we played with the lead,” Lakers’ coach Justin Gallagher said. “It started clicking.

“(Styburske) is a senior this year and he’s big,” Gallagher added. “We were getting him the ball in some good spots.”

Turnovers hurt the Soaring Eagles. They had 16 turnovers in the first half and finished with 30.

“We really haven’t practiced that much, maybe seven, eight times,” Hannahville first-year coach Mark Gauthier said. “But overall, I can’t be mad because we’re a young team. If we made some more shots here and there it could have been closer. That’s a good team over there. They beat us in the paint all night.”

Joe Larson, an eighth-grader, had a successful debut and scored a team-high 15 points with three assists for the Soaring Eagles. Seniors David Welling and Ira Meshigaud each added four points. Welling also had five rebounds and four steals and Meshigaud five rebounds.

Gauthier said his team made some good adjustments after halftime. He hopes the Soaring Eagles can improve when the two teams meet today after the girls’ game.

Guarding Styburske will be a challenge again today.

“He’s 6-5 and our tallest guy is 5-10,” Gauthier said. “I was impressed by him.”

GIRLS

Mackinac Island 0 5 6 16 — 27

Hannahville 15 8 14 5 — 42

Hannahville — D. Beaver 12, C. Beaver 10, Troxell 14, Ortiz 2, Phileman 2, Malinowski 2. FT: 1-4; F: 7; Fouled out: none; 3-point field goals: Troxell.

BOYS

Mackinac Island 20 11 12 13 — 56

Hannahville 5 13 4 6 — 29

Mackinac Island — Davis 12, Riggs 14, Styburske 20, Kromer 4, Hepker 2, Morse 2, Mosley 2. FT: 4-11. F: 4; 3-point field goals: none.

Hannahville — Larson 15; Ortiz 3, Welling 4, Meshigaud 4, Sagataw 3. FT: 1-5 F: 14; Fouled out: none; 3-point field goals — Larson 3, Ortiz 1, Sagataw 1.

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