District finals are set
Girls Hoops Preview: After the first two rounds, the Tuscola County area still has four teams left competing for three District Titles. Vassar, USA, Millington, North Branch, and Kingston were all eliminated in the first round, while Reese, Mayville, and Akron-Fairgrove received first round byes before being sent home in the second. Caro won Monday night before losing tonight to finish their season. So the guru is back to take a closer look at Friday night's games, since I'm still home and unable to get to deer camp. Too many teams left to skip out.
CLASS B, D-58: I said on Monday that the Final would feature a Frankenmuth-Cass City matchup, and I ended up hitting this one out of the park. Cass City (13-8) had a first round bye before getting a little revenge by eliminating Caro tonight, 38-25. Caro upset Cass City, 37-36, last Thursday night after the Red Hawks were leading by 10 at halftime. Frankenmuth (15-6) had a big lead Monday night over North Branch before staving off a second half rally by the Broncos to win 50-45. Tonight the Eagles had to go to overtime to beat Birch Run, 55-51. Friday night sould be a good game.
KEY MATCHUP: Frankenmuth's Nicole Bade plays any position she wants, and she should draw the challenge of guarding Cass City's Emily Schinnerer. Schinnerer is one of the area's leading scorers (15.7 ppg) and an all around solid player. Bade does it all: she scores, she rebounds, she runs the floor better than anyone else in the area, and she can play the post well for someone who's only 5-9. Bade and the Eagles will be lifting that District trophy when this one is done.
PICK: Chicken City 58, Birth place of astronaut Brewster Shaw 49.
CLASS C, D-88: Another final I picked correctly, although before I hurt my arm by stretching to pat myself on the back, I'll admit that this one was pretty easy. Marlette (16-6) had two relatively easy warm up games in the first two rounds, as the Red Raiders opened with a 48-45 win over Brown City before disposing of Mayville, 45-30, in the second. Sandusky (20-0) rolled to an undefeated season, and were the only GTE team to defeat Marlette, doing so twice.
KEY PLAYERS: For Marlette to win, the Raiders are going to have to get big games out of not only Kelsey Hall and Jenna Lange, but other players such as Catherine Distelrath are going to have to step it up. I don't see the Raiders pulling this one off.
PICK: The Seat of Sanilac County 56, The Heart of the Thumb 46
CLASS D, D-113: Another district final, another correct pick, only this was half right. I called it right on Owen-Gage, although I was surprised that Caseville got the upper hand on Port Hope tonight, beating the Blue Stars 38-29. Owen-Gage (7-15) needed last second heroics by Becky Schmidt on Monday night, as the senior guard hit a three pointer with just seconds remaining to lift the Bulldogs over North Huron, 39-35. Tonight the Lady Dawgs had little trouble eliminating Akron-Fairgrove, sending the Vikings home after a 53-37 defeat. Caseville (5-16) beat my pick for the finals, Port Hope, Wednesday night.
KEY MATCHUP: O-G's Becky Schmidt needs to have a big game to outscore the Thumb's leading scorer, Caseville's Rhonda Gusa. The game is on the Dawgs home court, in front of the Dawgs home crowd, and all the momentum would appear to be in the favor of O-G. I think they'll do it.
PICK: The Ocotogan Barn 46, Cheeseburger in Caseville 42
What??!! NL manager of the year was named today, and Florida's Joe Girardi won. Only thing is, Florida fired Girardi at the conclusion of the regular season. What exactly do you have to do to keep your job nowadays?
Two more days until I am singing 'Hail to the Vicotors' as the Wolverines pummel the Buckeyes. OSU is going down!!!
IT'S ALIVE, ALIVE...glad to see that a former sportswriter from the area is still keeping up on the sports activites of the Thumb. But seriously Dave, between running a paper in Wisconsin and keeping up to date on all the goings on over here, when exactly do you sleep?
CLASS B, D-58: I said on Monday that the Final would feature a Frankenmuth-Cass City matchup, and I ended up hitting this one out of the park. Cass City (13-8) had a first round bye before getting a little revenge by eliminating Caro tonight, 38-25. Caro upset Cass City, 37-36, last Thursday night after the Red Hawks were leading by 10 at halftime. Frankenmuth (15-6) had a big lead Monday night over North Branch before staving off a second half rally by the Broncos to win 50-45. Tonight the Eagles had to go to overtime to beat Birch Run, 55-51. Friday night sould be a good game.
KEY MATCHUP: Frankenmuth's Nicole Bade plays any position she wants, and she should draw the challenge of guarding Cass City's Emily Schinnerer. Schinnerer is one of the area's leading scorers (15.7 ppg) and an all around solid player. Bade does it all: she scores, she rebounds, she runs the floor better than anyone else in the area, and she can play the post well for someone who's only 5-9. Bade and the Eagles will be lifting that District trophy when this one is done.
PICK: Chicken City 58, Birth place of astronaut Brewster Shaw 49.
CLASS C, D-88: Another final I picked correctly, although before I hurt my arm by stretching to pat myself on the back, I'll admit that this one was pretty easy. Marlette (16-6) had two relatively easy warm up games in the first two rounds, as the Red Raiders opened with a 48-45 win over Brown City before disposing of Mayville, 45-30, in the second. Sandusky (20-0) rolled to an undefeated season, and were the only GTE team to defeat Marlette, doing so twice.
KEY PLAYERS: For Marlette to win, the Raiders are going to have to get big games out of not only Kelsey Hall and Jenna Lange, but other players such as Catherine Distelrath are going to have to step it up. I don't see the Raiders pulling this one off.
PICK: The Seat of Sanilac County 56, The Heart of the Thumb 46
CLASS D, D-113: Another district final, another correct pick, only this was half right. I called it right on Owen-Gage, although I was surprised that Caseville got the upper hand on Port Hope tonight, beating the Blue Stars 38-29. Owen-Gage (7-15) needed last second heroics by Becky Schmidt on Monday night, as the senior guard hit a three pointer with just seconds remaining to lift the Bulldogs over North Huron, 39-35. Tonight the Lady Dawgs had little trouble eliminating Akron-Fairgrove, sending the Vikings home after a 53-37 defeat. Caseville (5-16) beat my pick for the finals, Port Hope, Wednesday night.
KEY MATCHUP: O-G's Becky Schmidt needs to have a big game to outscore the Thumb's leading scorer, Caseville's Rhonda Gusa. The game is on the Dawgs home court, in front of the Dawgs home crowd, and all the momentum would appear to be in the favor of O-G. I think they'll do it.
PICK: The Ocotogan Barn 46, Cheeseburger in Caseville 42
What??!! NL manager of the year was named today, and Florida's Joe Girardi won. Only thing is, Florida fired Girardi at the conclusion of the regular season. What exactly do you have to do to keep your job nowadays?
Two more days until I am singing 'Hail to the Vicotors' as the Wolverines pummel the Buckeyes. OSU is going down!!!
IT'S ALIVE, ALIVE...glad to see that a former sportswriter from the area is still keeping up on the sports activites of the Thumb. But seriously Dave, between running a paper in Wisconsin and keeping up to date on all the goings on over here, when exactly do you sleep?
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