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Tuesday May 21, 2024
Saints Win, Gremlins Fall In Girls State Semifinals

EAST LANSING----It was one win, one loss for the Upper Peninsula as the MHSAA Girls Basketball state semifinals were held at Michigan State University on Thursday.

The St. Ignace Saints beat Climax-Scotts, 42-36, in the Class D state semfinal after the Houghton Gremlins fell to Saginaw Nouvel, 44-32, in the Class C state semifinal.

In the Class C game, Houghton had a hard time scoring points in the first half. The Gremlins (22-3) trailed, 15-6, after one quarter and 23-12 at halftime.


Alternative content

Julie Filpus post-game comments.
"It goes back to shooting. We missed shots we've hit throughout the season," Houghton Coach Julie Filpus said. "Maybe they blocked a couple, maybe they got into our minds a little bit."

Jurmu and senior guard Alexa Johnson led Houghton with 11 points each, but they had a hard time against the inside presence of Nouvel's Rachel McInerney. She checks in at 6-foot-2, and had 16 points and 17 rebounds for the Panthers (25-2).

"The part that frustrated us is we feel good about our inside-outside attack. But their length affected our inside attack," Filpus said. "We had to rely on our perimeter (shooting). When shots don’t fall, we’re going to be in trouble.”

CLICK HERE  to watch the Houghton-Saginaw press conference.
CLICK HERE  for the stats from the Houghton-Saginaw Nouvel game.

In the Class D game, St. Ignace had an uphill struggle all evening long before pulling out a victory in the fourth quarter. But the Saints' experience paid off at crunch time as the girls kept their perfect season alive, with a 26-0 record.

St. Ignace's Kelley Wright. (MHSAA photo)
“It obviously wasn’t the prettiest of games,” Saints Coach Doreen Ingalls said. “But at this stage of the game, if you can win ugly, that’s a good thing. We said at halftime that we needed to step it up. We needed to win every two minutes, and win every minute by two (points). Slowly claw our way through."

Sarah Cullip was in foul trouble for most of the game and managed just four points in 15 minutes of action. Kelley Wright scored 18 points and had ten rebounds, but she also struggled at times, making just six of 20 field goal attempts.

Ingalls was happy with her team's perserverance when things got tough.

"I thought we had some kids step up at important times and make some big plays," Ingalls said. "Margo Brown, Kelley Wright, made some big buckets. We had some clutch deflections out of Morgan LaVake, and Brook Chambers really gutted it out. She hurt her ankle on Tuesday (in the quarterfinal). Gave us some minutes that we needed."


Alternative content

Doreen Ingalls post-game comments.
St. Ignace will face Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes in Saturday morning's Class D sate championship game.

It starts at 10:00, and will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Detroit, which is Channel 33 on most Central U.P. Charter Cable systems.

CLICK HERE  to watch the St. Ignace post-game press conference.
CLICK HERE  for the stats from the St. Ignace-Climax Scotts game.






Choose team:
Date Time Opponent Score Record
12/19
7:30 PM
Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils
78 - 43 (W)
1/9
7:00 PM
Charlevoix Rayders
74 - 24 (W)
2/4
7:30 PM
Manistique Emeralds
60 - 19 (W)
3/5
6:00 PM
Pickford Panthers
67 - 23 (W)
3/7
7:00 PM
Posen Vikings
74 - 68 (W)
3/12
7:00 PM
at Forest Park Trojans
70 - 54 (W)
3/14
2:50 PM
Climax-Scotts Panthers
42 - 36 (W)
3/16
10:00 AM
Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes
59 - 44 (W)
27-0



Saints Bring Basketball Championship Back To U.P.
Saturday March 16, 2013