By Greg Gielczyk
LocalSportsJournal.com
MANISTEE — It was just the boost the Manistee girls basketball team needed as the Mariners got back on the beam Friday night with a solid 50-21 win over visiting Orchard View.
Still feeling the sting from a pair of lopsided losses, the Mariners established their command on the defensive end to throttle the Cardinals from the opening tip and kept them under their heel the whole game.
“We executed well on defense,” Manistee coach Kenn Kott said. “Holding a team to 21 points is hard to do. The kids showed a lot of energy, scrambling all over the floor to pester the Cardinals. Offensively, we didn’t capitalize on all of the turnovers we forced, but got the shots to fall enough to take an early lead. We maintained it with our defense.”
Manistee’s offense didn’t burn up the nets in the first half, but the Mariners didn’t need to considering how suffocating their defense was.
The Mariners outscored the Cardinals 10-5 in the first quarter and 11-6 in the second which enabled them to build a 10-point lead, 21-11, at the half.
Picking up the offensive pace after the break, the Mariners further separated themselves from the Cardinals with an 18-5 third quarter and boosted their lead up to 39-16 going into the fourth.
Jayna Edmondson scored a game-high 16 points to lead Manistee, which included four 3-pointers. Brooke Jankwietz contributed 10 points and Lindsey Gardner added eight.
Libby McCarthy led the Mariners in rebounds with eight, while Gardner and Avamae Fett had six apiece.
Alayna Edmondson dished out four assists, followed by McCarthy and Maddy Wayward each had three. McCarthy and Gardner picked off four steals apiece.
With the win, Manistee improved to 6-6 overall, 5-2 in the conference. The Mariners hit the road for their next game, traveling to Whitehall next Friday.
Orchard View fell to 3-8 overall with their third straight loss and 0-5 in the conference. The Cardinals are at Hesperia on Tuesday.
