Harrison girls pick up pair of home wins

By BEN MURPHY

Cleaver Sports Writer

Playing on back-to-back nights can be a bit of a wild card. The Harrison girls basketball team made it work however, as they were able to pick up wins on consecutive nights, topping Pinconning 42-25 on Wednesday, Jan. 7 at home and on Thursday, Jan. 8 it was a 50-43 victory over St. Louis; at home as well. Both contests came in Jack Pine Conference play.

“I am really proud of the effort I saw from the girls this week,” head coach Ryan Carlstrom said. “Playing on back-to-back nights is not an easy thing to do, and being able to come away with two wins is huge for us. We are starting to play some good team a and play the way I want us to play. Playing fast and sharing the ball. If we can continue to play like this, we will be a tough team to beat the rest of the season.”

Against Pinconning, Harrison played in front the whole way, holding leads of 16-2, 26-16 and 43-30 at the quarter breaks.

Sam Hopkins led the team with 17 points and six steals, Alivia Winters had 14 points and three steals, Caitlin Kirby added 11 points and five rebounds and Lydia Kendall finished with seven points, she got her hands on 10 rebounds and also had four assists. As a team, the Hornets swiped away 19 steals on defense.

As for the game against St. Louis, the Hornets let just 16-14 after the first quarter but they pulled away to lead by double digits at the half, 28-18. They also carried a 37-27 advantage entering the fourth and finished the win out from there.

Leading the team in this one was Kendall who had 19 points, seven steals and five rebounds while Hopkins finished with nine points, eight steals and four assists. Gracie Burkhard finished with eight points and four rebounds, Janessa O’Day had six points, she tracked down five rebounds, swiped away six steals and had four assists and Kirby was able to contribute well too, getting six points and seven steals. The Hornets showed off their defensive prowess in this one as well, getting 32 steals as a team.

Harrison (3-2 overall, 3-2 Jack Pine) played up at Inland Lakes on Monday, they were at Ogemaw Heights on Tuesday, they’ll head for Farwell today (Thursday) and on Monday it will be a home game with Chippewa Hills. On Wednesday, Jan. 21 they will also hit the road for Beaverton.

“Very proud of these girls,” Carlstrom said. “We have bounced back really well after two tough losses to Meridian and Beaverton before break.”