By Greg Gielczyk
LocalSportsJournal.com
MANISTEE — The Manistee Chippewas totally dominated the Grand Traverse Academy girls’ basketball team for a 56-23 victory in a Division 3 district game Tuesday in Manistee.The two teams were supposed to play Monday night, but inclement weather in Traverse City forced postponement. The remainder of the district schedule will be played out as originally scheduled.
Manistee blew the Mustangs off the court with a 6-0 start and outscored them, 12-3 in the first quarter which set the tone for the rest of the game.
“I liked the way they were sharing the ball out there,” Manistee coach Kenn Kott said of the Chippewas. “We missed a lot of shots early on, but we had good shots. That’s going to happen during the game, as long as you get good shots it’s going to go in or it’s not going to go in. But I told them, ‘You’ve got to keep shooting. You have to take a little more time on your shot.’ I think they rushed them once in awhile. Once they settled down, they functioned real well.”
The Mustangs continued to struggle getting their shots to fall against a highly aggressive Chippewas’ defense, as Manistee shut them out, 18-0, in the second quarter to lead by a whopping 30-3 at the half. It was 43-14 after three.
Jayna Edmondson led a balanced Manistee attack with a game-high 14 points. Libby McCarthy added nine, while Abby Robinson and Allison Kelley had six apiece.
The Chippewas (10-12) face eighth-ranked Traverse City St. Francis (19-2) in Wednesday’s second game at 7 p.m.
“They’re ranked in the state, and they’ve done enough during the season to earn that ranking,” Kott said. “We know it’s going to be a battle. We’ve got to keep our heads up, and keep our wits about us. We know the game is going to be close, and it’s going to be tight. We just have to hang in there as we can and maybe make a run at the end.”
Benzie Central and Manton meet in the other semifinal at 5:30 p.m. with the two winners playing for the district championship Friday at 7 p.m. in Manistee.
