Mayville’s Miranda Zaremba puts up a shot in a game earlier this year. Zaremba led the Wildcats with five points, and four rebounds in the loss to Imlay City. (photo by Kevin Gregory)
Tom Gilchrist and Mike Gallagher
Advertiser Staff
IMLAY CITY — Mayville girls basketball coach Dave Patterson figures a basketball court is a basketball court, even inside the 2,500-seat Imlay City gymnasium where his Wildcats played Monday night.
Problem is, the baskets appeared pretty big, too, to the hometown Spartans, who made 60 percent of their field-goal attempts in a 66-10 win over the Wildcats.
“Without question, it was one of our better shooting nights,” said Imlay City coach Mike Banyas, whose squad outscored Mayville 37-0 in the second quarter. Imlay City junior forward Ashton Combs scored 16 of her game-high 29 points in that quarter. Her teammate, junior guard Ella Merlo, tallied all 13 of her points in that period — including a trio of 3-point shots.
“They shot well. They were too quick for us,” said Mayville coach Dave Patterson. “They’re an older ball team where we’re still young, and making young mistakes. We didn’t shoot well. We didn’t play well tonight.”
Miranda Zaremba led Mayville with five points and four rebounds. Freshman teammate Lauryn Frenzel scored three points and made three steals.
“We come over here and we look at this facility and, yeah, they’re intimidated a little bit, but still, we need to learn how to play on the road,” Patterson said. “They’ll do that once they get older.”
Three of Mayville’s starting five players are sophomores. By comparison, Imlay City started only one underclassman — freshman guard Abby Schefka.
Patterson didn’t attribute the loss to the arena or his team’s youth, though.
“I think it was the fact that we shouldn’t be playing Imlay City,” Patterson said. “We’re not that quality of a team to be playing Imlay City.”
Imlay City High School’s enrollment of about 650 students is more than three times the enrollment of Mayville High, which has about 210 students according to Patterson.
The Wildcats made only six percent of their field goals on Monday, connecting on two of 32 shots. Imlay City, meanwhile, made 29 of 48 shots.
“I didn’t think they were that good of a shooting team, but they were,” Patterson said.
Imlay City upped its overall record to 6-11 with the victory. The Spartans are 3-6 in the Blue Water Area Conference.
Mayville fell to 1-14 overall, and hosts Vassar on Thursday. “We can play with Vassar,” Patterson said. “We go to Peck (Feb. 26) and we played Peck well when we played them at home.
“Then we play Caseville on Monday at home, and then we have Owen-Gage coming up (at Owendale on Feb. 27), so we have some games coming up that we have a shot at winning.”
Millington 52, Vassar 38: The Cardinals extended their winning streak to six games Tuesday night as they knocked of the Vulcans on the road. Millington’s two point halftime lead was pushed to five points by the end of the third quarter. In the final quarter the Cardinals outscored Vassar 16-7 to preserve the victory. Molly Wolfington and Haley Trickey both scored 15 points for Millington, with Wolfington adding six assists and five steals. Ashlee Chema added 11 points for the Cardinals. Rebecca Huizar scored a game-high 16 points for the Vulcans. Millington (10-7, 7-4) hosts Bridgeport on Thursday, and Vassar (4-11, 2-5) travels to Mayville.
Saginaw Nouvel 43, Reese 37: In a matchup that featured two Michigan Miss Basketball canidates, Nouvel’s Laurel Jacqmain and Reese’s Reyna Frost, the Panthers got the better of the Rockets, handing them their fourth loss of the season. The Rockets held a 28-26 lead after three quarters, but a 17-9 scoring run in the fourth quarter by the Panthers sealed the victory for Nouvel. Frost led Reese with 21 points, 22 rebounds, and six blocks. Jacqmain scored 21 points also, and grabbed seven rebounds. Reese (13-4, 7-0) will have a chance to clinch a share of the Greater Thumb West Conference title when they host USA on Thursday.
Caro’s Sarah Brown takes a shot in a game against North Branch. Brown scored 11 points in the win over Bad Axe, and made three 3-pointers in the second half.
Caro 43, Bad Axe 33: The Tigers ran away with this game in the fourth quarter Tuesday night, as they earned a non-conference victory on their home court over the Hatchets. Trailing 29-27 entering the final quarter, Caro outscored Bad Axe 16-4 to grab the win. “We hit some shots in the fourth, and our defense really picked up,” stated Caro coach Jeff Sauser. Sarah Brown scored nine of her 11 points in the second half, making three 3-pointers for the Tigers. Melissa Cockerill added 11 points for Caro, and Kayla Beckrow scored eight. Kayla Essenmacher led Bad Axe with nine points. “This is a huge win for us,” said coach Sauser. Caro (8-9, 6-5) will return to conference action, as they travel to Frankenmuth on Thursday.
Akron-Fairgrove 53, Cass City 47: The Vikings traveled to Cass City Tuesday night, and picked up a non-conference victory over the Red Hawks. Akron-Fairgrove led at halftime by only two points, 26-24, but outscored Cass City 15-11 to extend their advantage to six points. The Vikings were led by Emily Wagner, who scored a game-high 18 points, while Megan Hiser and Abby Reif both contributed eight points. Sayge Cuthrall led Cass CIty with 14 points. Akron-Fairgrove (7-9, 3-4) travels to Pinconning on Thursday, and Cass City (3-14, 0-8) visits Deckerville.
Kingston 32, Peck 24: Jenna Boyl scored 12 points and Cassidy MacGuire added eight for the Cardinals, who won at home Monday by pulling away in the third quarter. Shelby Fletcher scored nine points for Peck, which trailed 12-11 at halftime.
Armada 46, Marlette 40: The host Tigers led by 12 points after three quarters Monday night and held off the Red Raiders, who were led by Haley Cross and MacKenzie Kelly with 13 points apiece. Cross hauled down 15 rebounds and Kelly collected 10 rebounds.
Bangor John Glenn 56, USA 29: John Glenn led 32-11 at halftime en route to the home victory Monday over visiting Unionville-Sebewaing Area. USA’s Samantha Ewald led the Patriots with 10 points. John Glenn’s Jenai LaPorte broke her school’s career scoring record in the game by scoring 12 points. Cassidy Boensch added 18 points for the Bobcats.