By John Raffel
Correspondent
MCBAIN – McBain Northern Michigan Christian lost to Roscommon on Tuesday 43-27.
The Comets trailed 11-5 after the first, 17-8 at halftime and 35-17 after the third.
Leading scorers were Jada VanNoord (13), Emerson Tossey (4), Maria DeRuiter (3) and Elly Bennett (5). Top rebounders were VanNoord (6) and Ava Johns (4).
“VanNoord led all around tonight in points, rebounds and assists,” NMC coach DaNay Tossey said. “She helped generate some turnovers early that we were able to capitalize on but as a team we just didn’t have the numbers to keep up that pressure. That made the difference tonight, they played high pressure defense and were able to keep that on for 32 minutes. Our girls were able to get the ball up the floor without turning it over a lot but had a hard time converting when we were at an advantage offensively and beat the press.
“We were prepared for them to spread the floor well and shoot outside and we defended that well but they adjusted and their post presence was strong tonight. There’s no doubt that these girls play with grit and work so hard but we’ve got to work smarter too, I started seeing them do that in the fourth quarter. We plan to come out strong against Manton (at home) Friday, hopefully all healthy.”
The Comets are 0-3. They lost to Beal City 42-31 on Dec. 8.
Leading scorers were Emerson Tossey (8), Maria DeRuiter (8), Elly Bennett (6) and Jada VanNoord (4).
Rebounders were Emerson Tossey 7, Maria DeRuiter 4, Melanie Bennett 3
“Her stats don’t show it but Jada VanNoord did a great job pushing the ball up the court under pressure and creating play throughout the game,” Tossey said. “All our guards did a great job getting the ball into the paint tonight where we had some size advantage at times but we had a hard time converting, especially in the first quarter.
“Shots were not falling in the first half but we were determined to make the 2nd half count, and they did. Beal has some nice outside shooters and were able to hit five threes in the first half and only two in the second, and that slowed their momentum and we ran an effective press late in the fourth quarter to cause some turnovers, but it was a little too late to get back in it for a win. Overall the girls worked hard the entire game and left with their heads held high.”