LocalSportsJournal.com
PENTWATER — Pentwater’s girls basketball team hadn’t played in 28 days, and it showed Thursday night in a 47-24 loss in the West Michigan D League to Manistee Catholic at Pentwater.
Pentwater stayed close to the Sabers throughout the first half, trailing 15-10 at the end of the first quarter and 9-4 in the second for a 24-19 halftime score.
The Sabers kept a comfortable lead throughout the second half as well, outscoring the Falcons, 12-6 in the third to stretch their advantage to 11, 36-25 and then finished with a 11-4 run in the fourth.
“We were very rusty, and struggled to match MCC’s intensity, especially in the first half,” Falcons coach Joe Gorton said. “We hung around for a while, but we were just a step slow and shots weren’t falling the way we needed them to.
“It was a rough one tonight, but it was nice to finally get back to game action, and hopefully, we can get our game legs back because we have a tall order coming up.”
The Falcons also suffered a blow in the second half when Charlie Swanger, who had been their main sparkplug up to that point, went down with an ankle injury early in the third quarter.
But the Sabers outscored the Falcons, 23-10 in the second half.
Swanger finished as the Falcons’ leading scorer with nine. Aubrie Adams and Sam Schaefer added four apiece.
Regan Leiffers paced the Sabers with 15 points, Regan Leiffers contributed 12 and Elizabeth Logan added 11.
Catholic improved to 4-5 with its second straight win. The Sabers moved to 3-1 in the league and resume league action Tuesday with a road trip to Walkerville.
Pentwater slipped to 3-2 overall and is 2-2 in the league. The Falcons are back in actionTuesday when they host Mason County Eastern in another WMD matchup.
