MILAN – It had been three weeks and two days since St. Mary Catholic Central’s girls basketball team last took the court.
The Kestrels had only four games before the holiday break. They were the last team to start their season and one of the last to return in the new year.
Understandably, there was some rust to knock off.
After trailing through most of the game Monday night at Milan, SMCC rallied in the fourth quarter for a 36-30 victory.
“We got off to a good start but then struggled in the second quarter,” SMCC coach John Durbin said. “I think our long layoff had an effect. Our last game was December 18, so it’s been a while.”
Milan led 19-17 at halftime and stretched its lead into a 6-point advantage heading into the fourth. SMCC outscored Milan 14-2 down the stretch.
“Defense was the key in the fourth,” Durbin said. “We needed some stops and to convert on offense. Got a couple nice baskets and got to the free-throw line to help seal it. But it was our defense that got us back into it. We switched it up a bit and tried to force Milan to speed up.”
Mariah Stines had the lone basket for Milan in fourth as the Big Reds dropped their sixth-straight game following their season-opening overtime win over Ypsilanti Lincoln. Allie Millina led Milan (1-6) with 14 points Monday.
Eight different girls scored for SMCC (3-2), led by a season-high 12 points from Audrey Cousino.
SMCC ; 8 ; 9 ; 5 ; 14 ; – ; 36
Milan ; 9 ; 10 ; 9 ; 2 ; – ; 30
ST. MARY CATHOLIC CENTRAL: Turner 2 (1) 0-0 5, Kuehnlein 1 (1) 2-2 5, Roecker 1 0-0 2, Leslie 1 1-1 3, Conant 1 0-0 2, Keshen 0 4-4 4, Cousino 6 0-2 12, Dalton 1 1-5 3. Totals 13 (2) 8-14 36.
MILAN: Obey 2 1-2 5, Stines 2 0-0 4, Segrist 2 1-2 5, Millina 5 4-4 14, M. McCray 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 6-8 30.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Airport survives Bears
Airport was forced to repeatedly shake off an oncoming Jefferson team to win 45-30 Monday night.
Jefferson rallied to tie the game in the second quarter after Airport took a 15-12 lead through the opening period. The Jets closed on the half strong to take a 32-20 lead into halftime. Jefferson again rallied in the third quarter before falling behind for good with just 1 point in the fourth.
“We started fast and Jefferson came back and tied it up,” Airport coach Darrell Mossburg said. “We closed the half on a good run. Second half late we started to attack and get to the line. Jefferson is going to win some more games.”
Lauren Pitock scored 22 points to lead Airport, which improved to 4-3. Abby Roberts had 10 points for Jefferson (3-4).
Airport ; 15 ; 17 ; 5 ; 8 ; – ; 45
Jefferson ; 12 ; 8 ; 9 ; 1 ; – ; 30
AIRPORT: M. Szuper 2 5-6 9, T. Szuper 2 (2) 0-1 6, Monske 0 1-2 1, Pitock 5 12-15 22, Boyless 1 0-0 2, Rodak 1 0-0 2, Mumbower 1 1-4 3. Totals 12 (2) 19-28 45.
JEFFERSON: R. Roberts 1 (1) 0-2 3, Ledger 0 1-2 1, Hintz 1 0-0 2, A. Roberts 3 (1) 3-4 10, Masserant 2 (2) 3-4 9, Costas 2 1-2 5. Totals 9 (4) 8-14 30.
Flat Rock falters
GROSSE ILE – Grosse Ile went on an 18-4 run in the third quarter to pull away from Flat Rock for a 53-29 victory Monday night.
“We were hanging with them in the first half and I thought after a few adjustments defensively we could continue to compete,” Flat Rock coach Brian Kryk said. “Grosse Ile came out in the third and their pressure resulted in some turnovers that led to easy buckets. They got going quick and we just let them get too much momentum.
Addison Kopp scored 7 points and Matajia Cerroni added 6 points and 6 rebounds for Flat Rock. The Rams fell to 1-7 overall and 0-3 in the Huron League.
“Grosse Ile has a very balanced attack with their posts and perimeter play,” Kryk said. “Defensively they forced us to make too many mistakes and we have to fix that if we want to compete with good teams like Grosse Ile.”
Grosse Ile won the junior varsity game 35-24.
Grosse Ile ; 18 ; 10 ; 18 ; 8 ; – ; 53
Flat Rock ; 10 ; 9 ; 4 ; 6 ; – ; 29
GROSSE ILE: Wright 2 2-2 6, Johnson 1 0-0 2, Frucci 1 (1) 1-2 4, Christnagel 3 (2) 0-0 8, Kirk 7 (3) 0-0 17, Weatherly 8 0-0 16. Totals 22 (6) 3-4 53.
FLAT ROCK: Goldobin 1 0-0 2, Cerroni 3 0-2 6, Kopp 3 (1) 0-0 7, Mysliwiec 2 (1) 0-0 5, Somerset 2 (1) 1-4 6, Beaudrie 0 3-4 3. Totals 11 (3) 4-10 29.
REC SOCCER
Deportivo Monroe wins opener
Humberto Hernandez scored with about three minutes left to lift Deportivo Monroe to a narrow 4-3 win over Queens Park Strangers opening night of the 10-team Monroe Indoor Coed Soccer League at LevelUp Training Sunday.
Casey Watterworth, Dan Laming and Andy Schlicklin scored and Mark Bovair, Savannah Diroff and Steven Ludwig played well for Strangers.
Monroe 2 better than 1
Emily Eshenroder scored three goals and Alexis McMahon added two to lead the Monroe 2 team to a 5-3 win over Monroe 1 in the High School Girls Indoor Soccer League at LevelUp Training Saturday.
Cecelia Ortega (2) and Zoe Leach scored for Monroe 1.
In other games, Kelsey Beggs and Nora Kinsey each scored three goals and Sarah Netter added two to lead SMCC to a 9-1 win over Dundee.
