The first quarter? That went about as well as the Munising girls basketball team could have hoped. The second quarter? That was another story unfortunately, as the Lady Mustangs were outscored by St. Ignace by 18 points in that frame, leading to Munising falling 54-33 in their Division 4 regional championship game at Newberry.
“The second quarter, we were outscored 20-2, I probably should have burned a couple timeouts there and tried to slow it down, but it got away from us,” head coach Matt Mattson said. “We played a good first quarter. The second quarter we got outscored 20-2 and we never recovered from there.”
Bailey Corcoran started the game off with a short-range shot that fell through for two points. A transition basket by Emmy Crisp kept them ahead 4-2 and an offensive rebound and put-back by Julia Prunick had the score at 6-3.
Crisp followed that by knocking down a 16-footer, and she followed that with another field-goal to make it a 10-3 advantage. Corcoran closed out the frame with a lay-up to give the Mustangs a 12-5 lead entering the second.
“We were breaking their press (in the first quarter),” Mattson said. “The pressure got to us after that a little bit, it is not that they were turning us over so much, but we took poor shots and we were out of rhythm offensively. We were just a little out of sorts, missed some shots we normally make and they had a huge run.”
The Lady Saints opened the second quarter on a 13-0 run, to give themselves an 18-12 lead. Corcoran stopped the bleeding momentarily, getting a mid-range jumper to fall, but St. Ignace rolled again after that, using a 7-0 spurt to lead 25-14 at the half.
Munising’s offensive woes continued in the third. Corcoran had their only two fieldgoals in the frame; her first coming with the team down 28-16 and her second with them facing a 35-19 deficit.
Crisp split a pair of free throws in the final moments of the third, though St. Ignace held a commanding 37-20 lead entering the fourth.
Crisp did get 10 points in the final quarter; six of which from the free throw line. Corcoran also added three free throws.
The Mustangs had Crisp finish the game with 18 points and Corcoran added 13. Prunick aided the team with two points.
The Lady Saints, led by hall of fame head coach Dorene Ingalls, had Jillian Fraser lead all scorers with 22 points. Addison Cullen scored 13, Allison Cece added six and with four each was Gabby Adams and Cadence Cullen. Tayah Shepard added three points and Avery Visnaw contributed two.
“I’m so proud of the girls,” Ingalls said. “We started off a little rough, but we just dug deep after that first quarter. We felt like if we didn’t reach and give up too many easy ones, then it was a matter of time before our offense starts stepping up. Fraser stepped up, I’m so proud of her, that is one of the best games she has ever played. Everyone stepped up at different times… everyone stayed locked in.”
The Mustangs wrap up their successful season with a 21-5 record. They’ll graduate seniors Crisp, Jailen Hancock, Sabryna Smith and Prunick.
“My seniors, they didn’t win a game in elementary basketball, so to come out and win 21 games as seniors, win a district title and get to a regional final is amazing,” Mattson said. “I’m proud of our seniors, I’m obviously disappointed with the outcome, but we have a good core coming back and hopefully we can get over this regional hump.”
Corcoran should lead a strong cast of returning players, leaving Mattson hopeful of another strong run next winter.
“Corcoran will be coming back and Kate Mattson plays a lot, and we have an eighth grader coming up that will be a post player for us,” Mattson said. “Tessa Salo I thought had a great year, Olivia Cotey has practiced with us as a fifth quarter player all year, Elizabeth Wing is going to be able to help us go eight or 10 deep next year. Hopefully we have similar results and hopefully we can get past this regional hump.”
