Advertisement

It was a big week for the Kalkaska girls basketball team. The Blazers beat Houghton Lake, 49-33 and Roscommon, 71-53 in non-conference action and rolled over Harbor Springs, 59-33 for their sixth league win in eight games.

Not only did the Blazers improve to 11-2 overall, but they got a little help from East Jordan in the league when the Red Devils upset Charlevoix. Charlevoix was undefeated in the league, and had only one loss overall, before East Jordan surprised the Red Rayders, 39-37 in a tight defensive struggle.

The Blazers still trail Charlevoix in the standings, but are in a much better position to gain a share of the title if they can win out. Charlevoix is 8-1, and Kalkaska 6-2 in the conference.

Kalkaska defeated Houghton Lake earlier in the season, and completed the series sweep with a solid win last Tuesday.

Houghton Lake came in with a 9-2 record, but couldn't find any openings in the Blazers' tight defense and never really was in the game. After building a 26-9 lead at the end of the first half, Kalkaska put things on cruise control and coach Dave Dalton cleared his bench in the second half.

The Blazers led by 20 points, 41-21 heading into the fourth period. Houghton Lake had a 12-8 advantage in the final eight minutes. Katie Krause scored 20 points and hauled down 8 rebounds for the Blazers. Kara Ponstein had a solid game with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals.

Marissa Taylor added 7 points and 8 rebounds. Megan Dunn contributed 7 points, and held Houghton Lake's leading scorer Molly Collins to 7 points.

Collins averages 20 points a game, and had 19 the last time Kalkaska played the Bobcats. She scored all 7 of her points in the third quarter last Tuesday.

"The whole team played a real good defensive game," Dalton said. "Megan did a great job on Collins, and that really turned the game our way."

Showing no ill effects from the long bus ride, Kalkaska got off to a fast start and shutout Harbor Springs, 16-0 in the first quarter last Thursday. Harbor Springs never recovered, and the Blazers never looked back. Krause paced the Blazers with 17 points, added 6 rebounds and 4 blocks. Chelsea Matley scored 14 points. Taylor finished with 9 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Dunn contributed 8 points. Khrysten Chandler grabbed 5 rebounds.

"Chelsea hasn't been quite as aggressive offensively since she sprained her ankle (two weeks ago)," Dalton said.

"She just hasn't quite had that little hop in her step. I think it's taken away some of her aggressiveness. I suggested at halftime that she be a little more aggressive."

Taking her coach's encouragement to heart, Matley came out and scored 13 points in the third period. She also had 5 steals and 7 deflections.

Roscommon played a box-and-one on Krause to start last Saturday's makeup game with the Blazers.

Krause scored only 3 points in the first quarter, but the Blazers finished with 24 overall.

So much for the Bucks' game plan to slow down Kalkaska's offensive output. They took the box-and-one defense off after the first period. Krause ended up with 23 points and had 9 rebounds. Ponstein had another solid all-around game with 13 points and 3 assists.

Dunn contributed 10 points and Matley had 6 points and 6 deflections. Taylor added 5 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Kristi Peters made the only two shots she took and had 4 points.

Kalkaska was scheduled to play at Elk Rapids on Tuesday and at East Jordan on Thursday in two big league games.