McKinley leads girls, Jeffers leads boys in two SVC wins for St. Mary's
GAYLORD ― Before the madness of March basketball can hit, some conference champions need to be crowned.
With the final month of the regular season underway, both the St. Mary's boys and girls basketball teams are entering the most pivotal part of their schedules.
Both teams entered February atop the standings in the Ski Valley Conference, and both are looking to stay in control of their own destiny as they make their final run through their conference matchups and bring home a championship before the postseason starts.
Both teams had opportunities to stay on that track this week, with the girls traveling to Forest Area and the boys hosting Bellaire, and both accomplished their goal, with the Lady Snowbirds coming away with a 61-26 on Monday and the boys finishing off a 64-57 win on Tuesday, keeping them both in first place as the regular season begins to wind down.
Emma McKinley stays hot from behind the arc
A team as dominant as the Lady Snowbirds (14-2 overall, 12-0 SVC) is bound to have quite a few top-tier players that can turn in high-level performances on any night. That is certainly the case for the St. Mary's girls basketball squad.
Night in and night out, head coach Pat Schutlz can usually count on seniors Macey Bebble and Ava Schultz to provide most of what the team needs, but other players, like fellow seniors Emma McKinley and Sydney Grusczynski, have found nights where they can stand out and show that they can perform with the best in the conference.
In the past two games, it has been McKinley stepping up, big time.
Mainly, the senior has found her rhythm from behind the arc as she has turned in five 3-pointers in back-to-back games, this time putting up 21 points in the girls 61-26 win over Forest Area on Monday.
McKinley was all over the stat sheet on Monday, turning in seven rebounds, seven steals and three assists along with her team-high 21 points. Schultz also had a big night, finishing with a double-double with 16 points 11 rebounds and three steals. Bebble finished with nine points, seven steals, four rebounds and four assists, while Emma Glasby had five points and six rebounds.
This marks 12 straight victories for the Snowbirds as they eye important matchups with Onaway, Johannesburg-Lewiston and Inland Lakes in the next two weeks.
Snowbirds handle early deficit, cruise to victory
While the Snowbirds boys have been just as dominant as the girls have in conference play, some of their wins have been a little less easy to come by.
That was true on Tuesday as an improving Bellaire Eagles squad gave St. Mary's an early scare, but the Snowbirds were able to overpower them eventually in a 64-57 victory for their tenth SVS victory.
Bellaire led by as many as seven points early while taking a four-point lead into the second quarter, but the Snowbirds were able to jump right back ahead to take a 33-24 lead by halftime. Brody Jeffers and Gavin Bebble led the way, accounting for 13 of the team's 19 second-quarter points as they took control of the scoreboard and the game.
From there, the Snowbirds never trailed, and while the Eagles never went away, the steady presence of Jeffers and Bebble helped the St. Mary's team put the game away.
Jeffers had a team-high 22 points, with Bebble right behind with 21.
Now 14-2 overall and 10-0 in SVC matchups, the boys are hoping to stay ahead of Onaway (11-1 SVC) and Inland Lakes (9-5 SVC) with six conference matchups left on their schedule.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: McKinley leads girls, Jeffers leads boys in two SVC wins for St. Mary's
