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Patriots’ season ends against Lake City

Photo by Ben Murphy Westwood’s Madelyn Koski gets to the basket for a layup with Lake City defenders raising their hands early in their Division 3 state quarterfinal in Gaylord Tuesday.

GAYLORD — A nine-point lead in the second half. A heavy dose of momentum.

The Westwood girls basketball team seemingly had Lake City right where it wanted it in their MHSAA Division 3 quarterfinal game in Gaylord on Tuesday night.

But the Lady Trojans closed the third quarter on a 13-4 run and had just enough extra in the fourth quarter to hand the Patriots a heartbreaking 50-46 season-ending setback.

“We have a special group here, which makes this tough,” Westwood head coach Kurt Corcoran said. “There are really no words to say to make this sound good, there is really no sugar to put on top right now.

“I thought we outplayed them the majority of the game, but we had about a four- minute stretch there that we had some uncharacteristic turnovers, and just had a lid on our basket for awhile that allowed them back into the game. It’s just unfortunate.”

A frantic tip-in at the halftime buzzer by Ellie Miller lifted Westwood to a 26-22 lead at the break and the Patriots got five quick points by Madi Koski to start the third. Koski was able to get a 3-pointer from the right corner to fall and followed with a slice through the middle of the Trojan defense for a flip-in to make it 31-22.

Facing its biggest deficit, Lake City called timeout shortly after the run. The Trojans came out of the stoppage switching from a man-to-man defense to a 1-3-1 zone, with 6-foot-2 center Rylie Bisballe using her length on top. Corcoran believed this change in tactics was a game-changer for Lake City.

“We went up by nine there in the third and I thought we’d be able to put them away,” he said. “They switched to that zone and even though it wasn’t an aggressive trap, Bisballe is big and she made it tough for us on top of that zone and took away some passing lanes.”

The Trojans pulled within 31-26, and though a steal and fast-break hoop by Tessa Leece stopped the bleeding momentarily at 33-26, the Patriots could only add a pair of free throws by Jillian Koski over the rest of the quarter. That allowed the Trojans to work the score back to a 35-35 deadlock entering the fourth.

“They do play good defense and their zone really slowed us down,” Corcoran said. “We went four or five possessions without even a shot on the bucket. We were passing to nobody and had a couple of travel calls.”

Lake City took a 37-35 lead early in the fourth for its first lead since late in the first quarter, and while a Karlie Patron 16-footer quickly retied it, the Trojans swung back with its only triple of the night to surge ahead 40-37.

Leece knocked down a pair of free throws to tie it again at 40-40 with 4:12 to play, though the Trojans went on a quick 6-0 burst that was capped by a putback basket by Bisballe to make it 46-40 with three minutes to go.

Natalie Prophet and Leece hit late 3s that trimmed the Trojan lead, first to 46-43 and then to 48-46, but Lake City answered each trey with a pair of free throws, including two in the final seven seconds that iced the result.

“Our game plan coming in was to take Bisballe out of the game and I thought we did a good job on her,” Corcoran said.

“I really have to credit (Makayla) Ardis and (Olivia) Bellows for stepping up for them and they also hit their free throws down the stretch when they needed to.”

The Patriots had a solid start, opening on a 9-2 run that was sparked by a pair of buckets by Madi Koski and capped with a short lay-in by Patron.

Lake City responded with a 10-2 run to pull ahead 12-11 late in the period, but Madi Koski sank a 3 from the top of the key to put the Patriots ahead 14-12 after one.

Leading the way for the Patriots was Madi Koski with 15 points as Leece netted 10.

“Tessa and Madi have been doing this for years, those two run the show,” Corcoran said. “I am kind of spoiled because I have come to just expect it from those two. We had really good production from everyone, though, having seven girls score. We just needed one more of those shots to fall in, but it just didn’t fall our way tonight.”

Prophet finished with nine points, Patron added six as Jillian Koski, Miller and Nelson finished with two apiece.

Westwood finishes the season at 24-2 and since it is without a senior on its roster, hopes to take another step towards its quest for the Division 3 final four next winter.

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