In the battle of unbeaten girls basketball teams, the visiting Norway Knights left Munising with a victory, defeating Munising 3720 on Friday, Jan. 6.
Norway is a very good basketball team, very good defensively,” Munising Head Coach Matt Mattson said. “We had a lot of self-inflicting wounds but a lot of that was due to their defense, so give them a ton of credit.”
Despite having eight seniors on their roster, the Knights relied heavily on its lone freshman starter Lauren Adams to run the offense, scoring nine of Norway’s 11 first-quarter points. The Knights sprinkled in three-pointers to keep the Mustangs spread out enough for driving and passing lanes for Adams and Andi Carlson to get to the hoop. Norway held a five-point advantage after one.
Munising struggled against the Knights defense all night. Norway set up in a full court press, setting up a diamond of four defenders all in the back court, draining what seemed minutes of clock every possession. If the Mustangs broke the press, Norway’s zone eliminated a number of offensive opportunities.
“Their press is good, which doesn’t speed you up,” Mattson said. “They continued to trap in the half court, so it was hard even when we broke the press to get into our sets. That’s their philosophy and they’re doing a great job of it. They’re undefeated for a reason.”
Despite the pacing, Munising continued to grind out possessions resulting in the team reaching the bonus with 6:44 remaining in regulation. However, Norway was able to hold strong on defense and pull away late for the victory.
Adams led all scorers with 17 and Carlson added another 13 for the Knights. Bailey Corcoran led the Mustangs with 10.
Munising established a losing streak by facing a difficult Bark River Harris (6-4) squad on Wednesday, dropping the contest with the Broncos 43-30. Munising came out flat in the third, getting outscored 13-4 in the quarter. Corcoran led the Mustangs in points again with 10.
The Mustangs (7-2) will be on the road for their next two games, travelling to Carney Nadeau (6-2) tonight and Manistique (3-6) on Tuesday, Jan. 17. Munising will return home for a game against Rapid River next Friday.
