Eskymos get Marooned
Trending
ESCANABA -- Despite not playing a great first half, the Escanaba girls liked the position they were in trailing just 29-24 at halftime during Tuesday night's Great Northern Conference game against Menominee.
But it didn't take the U.P.'s top-ranked and undefeated Maroons very long to blow the game wide open in the second half, as they went on an 18-3 run to take a 20-point lead and run away with a 70-50 victory to spoil Esky's Senior Night.
After Maddy Monkevich scored on a layup on the first possession of the second half to pull the Eskymos (11-7, 4-4 GNC) within three, the Maroons scored 14 straight points, capped by a triple from the top of the key by Emma Anderson with just under four minutes left in the third quarter.
"I don't know how to explain it," Esky coach Mike Beveridge said. "We were in a good spot at half. I told the girls we're down five and we didn't play great. We had to get it going right away, we get that first bucket … and then I don't know. They're good and we didn't play very well. We tried different defenses but we were just flat."
The Maroons (19-0, 7-0 GNC) were anything but flat, picking up their defensive intensity to lead to easy offense on the other end.
"We talked about defense (at halftime)," Maroons coach Lucas Chouinard said. "That was our main focus at halftime was tightening up our defense. I thought in that second quarter we let our offense dictate our defensive pressure. We were not hitting our shots in the second quarter and we were just a little lax on defense. We just talked about tightening up the screws in that third quarter and getting off to a good start in the first two minutes, defensively. The defense will lead to good offense, and we definitely did that in that third quarter."
The Maroons coasted from that point forward, and now have a chance to finish an undefeated regular season when they welcome Marquette Friday night.
"That's a great accomplishment for these girls to be able to be in the position we're in right now," Chouinard said. "We won a hard-fought game up in Marquette, which is very, very tough to do, so we know they're going to come down on Friday night looking to be the spoiler for us."
It was a disappointing result for the Eskymos, who battled back to pull within three late in the first half after falling behind 21-9 two minutes into the second quarter.
"I don't mind us getting beat by a better team, but we got outhustled and outplayed," Beveridge said. "Those are the things that I wanted them to have a little more pride with. We'll emphasize it again tomorrow and the next day before our next game… When you're getting beat that bad on just little things that we haven't been beat on all year, (it's tough). We're better than that, but I give them credit. They're a good team."
Anderson led all scorers with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Erin Barrette chipped in 12 points and five assists for the Maroons, who held a 35-21 rebounding advantage and shot 28 for 66 from the field.
Nicole Kamin led the Eskymos with 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Mari Bink added 11 points and four boards. Esky shot just 15 for 53.
It was the final home game for seniors Taylor Ray and Marissa Wallin. Beveridge talked about what each of them has meant to the program.
"Marissa and Taylor make practices fun. They gave their heart to basketball all these years, and they're just such quality kids," Beveridge said. "I love them both. They gave their heart to basketball this year for me. Taylor being a transfer (from Bark River-Harris) was a real nice addition to our program, and she's a great kid. Marissa's a great kid, too. We're going to miss them."
Esky, which won the JV game 46-31, visits second-ranked Sault Ste. Marie Friday in its regular season finale.
Menominee 16 13 23 18 -- 70
Escanaba 8 16 9 17 -- 50
Menominee -- Hofer 9, Doyle 2, Barrette 12, Wellner 5, Nerat 6, Nolde 5, Wickstrom 3, Anderson 23, Olson 3, Caley-Nelson 2. FT: 9-14; F: 18; Fouled out: None. 3-point field goals: Anderson 2, Wickstrom 1, Barette 1, Hofer 1.
Escanaba -- Barron 4, Kamin 16, Monkevich 8, Wallin 2, Ray 7, Hughes 2, Bink 11. FT: 14-22; F: 12; Fouled out: None. 3-point field goals: Kamin, Monkevich, Ray, Bink.