Happy New Year: Dragon Ladies Recap

Written Friday January 7th, at 9:37 AM

Hey all, happy new year to all, been so busy with both basketball seasons going on and now Special Olympics basketball season is in effect. If Thursday night against North Farmington proved something, then the Dragons could be a factor down the line as we head into March.

During this time we did the blog, the Ladies were 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the OAA Red however in their trip for Troy on December 9th, they were no match for the Colts, despite playing without power forward Marissa Secontine. The Dragons fell 63-31 as they were blitzed right off the bat with the Colts outscoring the Dragons 26-8 in the first quarter and never got better from there.

Next was the Red Hawks from Troy Athens on December 17th at Troy Athens, turnovers and missed opportunities in the first half doomed the Dragons from start to end. Also not helping was the Red Hawks had a big girl in Sinclair Russell, who is being looked at by several division one schools. Russell scored 16 points to lead the Red Hawks attack. Troy Athens outscored the Dragons 10-2 in the first quarter and fell to the Red Hawks 45-31, dropping their league record (OAA Red) to 2-2 and 3-2 overall.

To open the new year the Dragons had a tough assignment as they dealt with the undefeated Waterford Kettering Captains on Tuesday Night at Lake Orion. Waterford Kettering is a young and dangerous team, they played the ultimate team game, sort of like the 2004 Detroit Pistons when they won their NBA Championship over the Los Angeles Lakers.

With a strong chaotic defense, causing havoc to the Captains the Dragons controlled the first half with their style of game, works-man like. They hailed a 18-16 lead at the half, then Kettering's defense took over the rest of the game, along with some timely three point shooting. The Dragons played well defensively but just couldn't muster a run down the stretch while the Captains mustered a 26-9 run to close out the game, winning 42-27. The Dragons dropped to 3-3, 2-2 in the OAA Red.

The Dragons got back to their winning ways Thursday night when North Farmington came to town, trailing 24-16 at the half the Dragons limited the Raiders to just ten points the entire half, and beat the Raiders 42-34. Leading the charge was Laura Turnbull grabbing 13 points while Marissa Secontine added 12 points. Jasmine Harris led the Raiders with 14 points, who had four three pointers in the game.

The Dragons will be back on the road for four games, staring with Tuesday Night when they will travel to Rochester and take on the Stoney Creek Cougars. The Cougars come in with a 2-4 record, and 1-4 in the OAA Red, all of their losses this season have been by three points or less. Stoney Creek is led by their star player Gabby Yurik, in every game this season Yurik has scored in double figures, including a monster 42 point game in a loss to Troy Athens, earlier in the season.

The Cougars are a three point shooting team and love to spread the floor but also they do have a rebounder in freshman center Lauren Voss, who was huge in their 50-45 win against Rochester Adams and their small forward Keri Scipione was also huge, having a huge fourth quarter when Yurik and guard Kara Kovack were struggling that night against Rochester Adams. Yurik scored 18 points in a heartbreaking 52-49 loss to Troy. Kovack, another guard had 12 points with four three pointers against the Colts. Tuesday should be a good one.

On Friday the Dragons will travel to Clarkston to take on the Wolves of Clarkston. Clarkston has been led by the three headed monster known as Anna Manilla, Delaney Kenny, Lindsay Reppuhn. Reppuhn in her last two games against Chippewa Valley (win 51-41 over the Big Reds) and Pontiac has scored 30 points, 15 in each game, both were wins. Manilla has been strong at the point guard position this season while Kenny has had some big games early in the season for the Wolves. In Clarkston's win over Pontiac (48-46) the Wolves needed a late three pointer from Christina Jokisch to take that one over the Phoenix. The Wolves come in with a 4-3 record with a 3-3 record in the OAA Red, the Wolves do play Troy on Monday at Clarkston before the Friday showdown. This game should be yet another interesting one on the plate for the week.

GO GREEN