Traverse City Record-Eagle

Otsego County

March 19, 2009

Joburg ousted in semifinals

BY MIKE ECKERT

YPSILANTI -- In Johannesburg-Lewiston tradition, the Cardinals stretched out across the court and took a bow for their fans after the Class D state semifinal Thursday.

Only this one was different. It was their curtain call.

For the first time all season, Joburg tasted defeat as Marine City Cardinal Mooney knocked off the top-ranked Cardinals 50-46 at Eastern Michigan University's Convocation Center.

"Their defense is what caused us a lot of our problem," Joburg coach Heather Huff said. "They're a good team, no doubt. I told the girls I think we equally are as good of a team. When it's a four-point game, a few things here, a few things there, and that's the way the ball falls."

Cardinal Mooney moves on to play defending state champion New Lothrop on Saturday for the Class D state crown. The title game is a rematch of last year's state semifinal.

Joburg finished the season 25-1 with the first state quarterfinal win in school history.

"We're going to bring pride," Huff said. "There's a lot of impressed fans that we've come this far. It's something our school's never done. I know our community is so proud, and I'm so proud of them."

The game featured 11 lead changes with Cardinal Mooney's biggest advantage being a five-point bulge on two occasions in the fourth quarter.

"We played good defense, we played whole-heartedly and we did what we intended to do," Huff said.

Marine City led 48-43 with under a minute to go when Stephanie Fisher buried a 3-pointer to cut it to 48-46. However, she had to foul Rachael Torey to stop the clock and left the game with her fifth foul. Fellow starter Nikki Ormsbee had already fouled out.

"It was huge," Huff said of the foul trouble. "You've got two of your starters on the bench at the end of the game. That doesn't help."

Torey made a free throw for a 49-46 lead when Cardinal Mooney stepped into a full-court press. It worked as Joburg turned the ball over at mid-court with 17 seconds to go. Marine City then made a free throw and ran the clock out for the win.

"We picked them up full-court and told them it was somewhat of a token press," Cardinal Mooney coach Susan Everhart said. "We wanted to make sure the didn't get a three off. She happened to pick up her dribble and we went up the line on that. We had everybody in full denial and that's where she picked it up."

While the tempo picked up after halftime, it came after a defensive battle in the first half. Cardinal Mooney held a 21-17 lead at the break.

"From what I knew about them, they were putting up a decent amount of points each game," Everhart said. "We felt like if we could slow the game down for them and get them into some kind of half-court set, our goal was to one-and-done them. I thought we did a decent job of that in the first half."

Both teams used the paint in the second half for opportunities. Joburg turned to Mary Schlicher, who had eight points and seven rebounds in the fourth quarter alone. She finished with 15 points and 17 rebounds, including 10 on the offensive glass.

"A lot of times that's where we get a lot of our easy ones," Huff said second-chance opportunities. "It was very physical underneath and we like that. (However) those second-chance shots, a lot of those didn't fall for us that we typically would make."

Jessica Sewell added 10 points for Joburg while Fisher had nine.

Class D Player of the Year Sammy Theut led Cardinal Mooney with 14 points, nine rebounds and four assists while Torey -- a freshman -- had 14 points as well.

"She handled it well as a freshman," Theut said of Torey's night. "That's a very difficult position to be in at the end of the game, and she handled it well."

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