Harbor girls top St. Ignace, boys fall; Rams raise money for grief-stricken Escanaba

HARBOR SPRINGS — Enter the Harbor Springs High School gym on any given night and you’re going to see orange.

But, on Monday night when the Harbor Springs girls and boys basketball teams welcomed in St. Ignace, orange took on a bigger meaning than just Harbor Springs’ color and a bit more of it showed up.

On Monday, orange was also worn in support of Escanaba High School.

While the Eskymos might not have been on the court, the Eskymos' athletic community was on the minds of many, as it was rocked by a tragic event over the weekend when Gerald, 47, and Tara Weaver, 46, were killed while heading to their son's Esky basketball game in Sault Ste. Marie. The Weavers had three children, all who attended or currently attend Escanaba High School.

Harbor Springs athletics – like other programs around Northern Michigan have pledged – stepped up Monday to raise money for the Weaver children, with a dash for cash taking place during both the varsity boys and girls games and all proceeds from Monday’s games going to the Weaver family.

In Monday’s action on the court, the Harbor Springs girls returned to form after a previous loss out on the court, topping St. Ignace in a 70-47 final for a quality non-conference victory.

“It was a special night,” Harbor Springs girls’ basketball coach Amy Flynn said. "It was nice that the community was out here supporting Escanaba.”

Against the Saints, Flynn was pleased to see her girls get back to their winning ways and she leaned on seniors Hailey Fisher and Sierra Kruzel to help lead the team Monday night.

“We’re coming back to where we started,” said Flynn. “We kind of had a little lull. What impressed me were our seniors. Hailey brought energy and Sierra finished shots down below. They had synchronized senior leadership. Everyone just stepped up and did their part. I was really happy.”

Harbor led in a 20-16 game after one quarter, then really broke the game open in the second behind a 21-3 advantage, leaning on nine points from Olivia Flynn.

By halftime, the Rams led in a 41-19 game.

While they might not be the St. Ignace of previous seasons, Flynn knew heading in they’re still a Dorene Ingalls coached squad that had won nine games already.

“They’re tough,” said Flynn. “I think if you can get above them mentally first and have that advantage, that helps in the long run.”

Harbor Springs kept their foot down out of the half, with Kruzel coming through with a massive third quarter that included 10 points to help make it a 57-38 advantage heading to the fourth.

Olivia Flynn led the Rams with 30 points, Kruzel scored 24 and Fisher added seven. Freshman Bryleigh Rummer also added six points.

For St. Ignace, Jillian Fraser and Tabitha Shepard each scored 10 points.

Along with the night being a special event to come together for the Escanaba community, Flynn was happy to have a doubleheader against a husband and wife duo who are just as competitive at coaching their teams as her and Harbor Springs boys’ coach and husband, John Flynn. Doug Ingalls also coaches the St. Ignace boys varsity.

“There was a family feel tonight,” added Flynn. “It was very special tonight with Dorene and Doug and husband-wife, husband-wife. Hopefully we can make it a tradition like this for years to come. They’re great people and we’re both really competitive, so it makes for a great game.”

Harbor Springs (13-2) will next head to Kalkaska on Thursday, Feb. 2 for a Lake Michigan matchup.

BOYS BASKETBALL 

St. Ignace 76, Harbor Springs 45 

HARBOR SPRINGS — The Harbor Springs boys’ basketball team knew heading into Monday’s game against St. Ignace that their shots would have to be on against a high-scoring Saints squad.

Unfortunately for the host Rams, they weren’t and St. Ignace came away with a 76-45 final.

“We’re playing the right way, the shots just didn’t fall, but we just have to keep getting better,” Harbor Springs coach John Flynn said. “We’re young and learning. We didn’t get the outcome we wanted, but we can’t let this hang over us.

“We battled and St. Ignace came in with some good players, they had some role players that stepped up and made shots.”

It came as the fifth straight game of scoring over 75 points for the Saints, who have also now scored over 70 points in nine games this season.

For the Rams, once the 3-pointers weren’t dropping, the lead grew greater and greater for the Saints.

“We can’t be relying on just 3-pointers,” said Flynn. “We had a number of open looks and they didn’t fall.”

A 3-point contest took over much of the opening quarter between the two, with Harbor’s Rider Bartel hitting a pair and Braeden Flynn and Jack Clancy each nailing one, though they still trailed in a 20-16 game at the end of the first.

The Saints then continued to knock down shots in the second and put together a run that built a 41-21 advantage at the half, one they only added to in the second half.

Bartel led with 16 points for Harbor and Flynn scored 14 points. There were a couple other players John Flynn thought stepped up in the loss as well.

“I thought Tyler Piper really played well, rebounding, then Colin Lang, he actually had a real good game tonight as a sophomore up,” added Flynn.

For St. Ignace, Ethan McLean scored 11, Tyrel Matson had nine and Kevin Frazier had six points.

Harbor Springs (4-8) will next head to Sault Ste. Marie on Wednesday, Feb. 1 for a non-conference matchup with the Blue Devils.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Harbor girls top St. Ignace, boys fall; Rams raise money for grief-stricken Escanaba