Onaway girls improve to 3-0 with 58-43 win over Forest Area

ONAWAY – Onaway girls basketball coach John George knows bigger challenges are coming very, very soon for his team.

But right now, piling up wins to build confidence and belief certainly isn’t a bad thing.

In their second Ski Valley Conference matchup of the season on Friday, George’s Lady Cardinals maintained momentum by rolling to a 58-43 home victory over Forest Area.

“I thought the kids showed some guts tonight – there's a bunch of kids not feeling well out there,” said George. “Our pace was so much better in the first game than what it was tonight. I mean, good teams find ways to win, sometimes it’s not a great night, sometimes it’s not crisp, but it worked out in our favor. I’ll take that any day.”

The Cardinals (3-0, 2-0 Ski Valley) used a solid first quarter to build a 15-10 lead after one.

The big quarter for the Cardinals came in the second, when they outscored the Lady Warriors by a 22-10 margin and took a 37-20 advantage into the break.

“I think we had a couple kids get hot there and start hitting some shots – hopefully that continues,” George said. “We’ll be all set if we can hit some of those shots. We actually struggled from the floor other than inside and layups or whatever, but it’s the first night we kind of opened up hitting some 3-pointers. I think we had four or five on the night, which helps.”

Fueling the strong offensive second quarter for the Cards was sophomore guard Kailyn George, who scored seven of her game-high 22 points in the period.

“(Her shot) is kind of a little unorthodox, but up until the first couple of games she really struggled,” George said of Kailyn, his daughter. “She was like 1-for-9 or 1-for-10, something like that, but tonight she wanted to come in an hour early – she shot 200 before the game – and I don’t know. I don’t know if that helped her find a rhythm or whatever."

The Cardinals increased their lead to 51-28 by the end of three, and despite being outscored 15-7 in the last period, they did more than enough to stay unbeaten.

Sophomore Charlotte Box reached double figures with 10 points for Onaway, which received nine and eight points respectively from seniors Madilyn Crull and Aubrey Benson. Junior Sydney Peel scored five points and freshman Marley Szymoniak chipped in with four.

“I think our program is in a good spot, I really do, with all the youth that’s there,” George said. “We’ll take our upperclassmen though, too. There’s a lot of leadership there, so I’m definitely not wishing them away by any means, but we’ll see what we can do. I think in another month or two they’re going to look like juniors and upperclassmen themselves, and hopefully we’re in a good spot come districts.”

Desjanea Perkins netted 17 points to lead Forest Area, while Cheyenne Boggs scored 12.

The confidence continues to grow for the Cardinals, who finished with two more victories this week.

“Obviously we all look at schedules and we all look at conference and stuff like that, so we kind of know what’s coming up,” George said. “It’s going to get a whole lot harder next week. Hopefully with any luck, we can get in there and get two or at least split next week, go into the break and look pretty good.”

The Cardinals travel to Central Lake on Tuesday and then host Johannesburg-Lewiston on Thursday.

At the same time, George is supremely confident that his group can do some damage in conference play.

“I think we’ve got a bunch of gamers there,” George said. “You’ve got a bunch of kids like Madilyn (Crull), for example, she runs all-state (in track and field). She’s a competitor. Give me what you got and we’ll give you our best shot, and I think that’s mentality has changed a little bit, I think the culture’s changing a little bit on the girls’ side, which is definitely something we needed.

“We embrace (those challenges).”

On Wednesday, Dec. 7, the Cardinals cruised to a 72-26 home victory over Pellston.

The Cardinals were led by 14 points apiece from Crull and Box, 13 from Peel, 10 from George, and seven apiece from Szymoniak and Benson.

For Pellston, Lanie Irwin led the way with 11 points. Breanna Willis scored seven and Hailey Davis tallied six.

This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Onaway girls improve to 3-0 with 58-43 win over Forest Area