Clare girls fall in regional semis to Big Rapids

by BEN MURPHY

Cleaver Sports Writer

The Clare girls’ basketball team put up a pretty good fight early on in their Division 2 regional semifinal game on Monday, March 9. The Lady Pioneers eventually faded as the game went on, allowing host Big Rapids to pull away to claim a 50-33 victory and advance their season.

“We started the game off really well, we hit them in the mouth and had an early lead,” head coach Shane Kelly said. “The second and third quarter was rough on us, and we got it back to six or eight and we exerted so much energy, they ended up beating us by 17.”

Clare hit some early shots to play in front for most of the first quarter, but by the end of the opening frame, Big Rapids was ahead, 12-11. The Lady Cardinals also controlled things in the second quarter and pushed their lead to 29-19 at the half.

Clare scored just six points in the third quarter, and they had eight more points in the fourth stanza, preventing any thoughts of a second half comeback.

The Pioneers were led by Amelia Ryzyk with seven points, Kamara Cooper had five points, six rebounds, five steals and three assists and Sophia Buzzelli, Kyley Wyman, Syerra Mills and Olivia Forsberg gall had four points.

Big Rapids was led by Nuray Fricke with 24 points and Nalaya Fricke hit double figures as well, scoring 10.

The Lady Pioneers finish up the season 18-7 overall and they won their third straight district championship.

“All-in-all it was a pretty successful season,” Kelly said. “We lost a bunch of starters, a bunch of talent and at points during the season we started two freshmen and three sophomores, and we ended up starting two freshmen and two sophomores at the end of the year. The girls played hard and we played great defense and turned a lot of people over; we just struggled putting up points in the basket. A lot of the girls, this was their first year on varsity and the speed was a little bit for us at times, but we are going to get more experience, more opportunities this summer to work on that and I look forward to next season.”

© Clare County Cleaver