Slow start sinks Cheboygan girls in home loss to East Jordan

CHEBOYGAN – The last thing the Cheboygan varsity girls basketball team needed was a slow start on Monday night.

Unfortunately for the Lady Chiefs, that’s exactly what occurred.

And while the Chiefs showed improvement over the final three quarters, they weren’t able to overcome a lackluster first quarter in what ended up being a 50-24 non-conference home loss to East Jordan.

The offensive struggles continued early for the Chiefs (0-3), who weren’t able to knock down shots and committed several turnovers.

On the East Jordan side, the Red Devils (2-1) got off to a strong start behind the play of senior center Lindsey Cross, who scored six of her game-high 18 points in the opening period to help build a 12-2 lead. The East Jordan defense frustrated the Chiefs, whose first points of the contest came on a layup from junior forward Bella Ecker with two minutes to go in the first.

“Eventually we got into our groove, we tried a few different things,” said Cheboygan coach Walter Hanson. “There’s a few things we still need to work on and refine, probably looking at readjusting and having a couple quick sets before we get into the flow of things to get us a little bit more comfortable and a little bit more calm.”

Behind the play of Cross and a couple of timely 3-pointers from junior Alley Whiteford, the Red Devils took a commanding 26-9 lead into the break.

Hanson credited the defensive play of his team, which did all it could to contain Cross, the tallest player on the court.

“On our (scouting report), I was worried about her (Cross),” Hanson said. “She was big and tough. She liked to post up really hard and she had some really good moves. I thought Kenzie Burt, Kinsey Carpenter, Bella (Ecker), Becca (Blaskowski), and even Jordan Ashley had moments. They really crashed down and helped out on her.”

Despite not being able to close the gap in the second half, the offensive play of the Chiefs did improve. Burt – who went scoreless in her opening two games to start the campaign – scored seven of her team-high nine points over the final two quarters.

“That was good for her (Burt) and good for us as a team,” Hanson said. “She’s still trying to learn the new system and I’m going about it a little bit different. We’re still trying to figure out the happy medium and getting her comfortable with it.”

East Jordan coach Tim Smith was pleased by the solid offensive and defensive play of his team.

“We’ve got a good tall girl (Cross) and she draws a lot of attention,” said Smith. “We played the other night in (Johannesburg-Lewiston) and we were 0-for-15 from behind the arc, which was uncharacteristic for us, and tonight we made some shots and opened some things up. She’s hard to handle in there. This is a really, smart intelligent group, they take care of the ball.

“I just liked the way we defended all night. We never put them in the bonus, we defended without fouling, and that was huge for us.”

Ecker netted six points for the Chiefs, who received three points apiece from Emily Clark and Dakota Friday, two from Cassidy Jewell, and one from Cheyanne Friday.

“We’ve been talking about being more aggressive at the hoop, so I was very proud of that,” Hanson said. “I loved the defensive effort in the second half with Dakota (Friday) and Cheyanne (Friday) flying up on top in the 2-3 (zone), (Emily) Clark was up there flying around. Really happy with that effort. That’s the kind of grit that we need to get more of.”

East Jordan also received a double-digit scoring performance from June Kirkpatrick, who finished with 10 points. Lillian Stone, Lizzie Pop and Whiteford each scored six.

Cheboygan will hit the road for a non-conference clash at Grayling on Wednesday, while East Jordan hosts Harbor Springs on Friday.

In the junior varsity contest, Cheboygan captured a 43-32 victory over East Jordan.

For the JV Chiefs, Addy Baldwin led the way with 19 points, while Olivia Patrick scored eight, Mya Sachtleben tallied six, Presley Chamberlain netted four, Jaelyn Wheelock registered three, Charlotte LaJoye had two, and Madalyn Schlak chipped in with one.

This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Slow start sinks Cheboygan girls in home loss to East Jordan