Nothing to stop her
Woughter rallies Trojans past ’Cats
The Alpena girls basketball team had no answer for Margot Woughter on Friday.
The Traverse City Central senior scored 40 points including 13 in the fourth quarter to lead the Trojans past Alpena 62-55 in a Big North Conference contest at Alpena High School.
With the game tied 47-47 after three quarters, Woughter took over. She continually drove the lane, drew contact and got to the free throw line, where she sank key shots to push Central ahead. Woughter went 8-for-10 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter and was 11-of-15 for the game.
It was Woughter’s ability from the field that ultimately allowed Central to prevail. She hit a shot with 4:02 left to tie the game 54-54 and put Central ahead for good with a triple with 3:20 left.
Woughter’s big night tied her with Wendy (Merriman) Sherwin for the program’s single-game points record.
“When we sat Emma (Jore) on the bench with four fouls, she kind of took over,” Alpena coach Erin Andrews said of Woughter. “She’s a good player.”
A free throw from Maddie Voltz pulled Alpena to within two, 57-55 with 3:02 left, but a basket from Ashley Bohn off a pass inside from Woughter two minutes later gave momentum back to the Trojans. Alpena had a hard time getting separation to get shots off in the time remaining and was left to walk away disappointed.
The loss soured one of Alpena’s best efforts of the season and came as a setback in its quest to win the conference title. The loss drops Alpena to 6-5 overall and 3-3 in Big North play.
“I’m a little disappointed. We played so well. That’s the best defensive game we’ve played doing the help side defense, but if you go (11-for-15) from the free throw line, there’s not much I can do with that,” Andrews said.
For nearly 22 minutes Alpena controlled the game, despite the Trojans’ best efforts to keep things close. Alpena led 36-33 at halftime and led by six halfway through the third quarter.
In a sign of things to come, Woughter caught fire and went on a personal 8-0 run to give Central its first lead of the game. Alpena rallied to tie the game at the free throw line after Central was whistled for a pair of fouls in the final five seconds of the quarter.
The two sides traded free throws early in the fourth quarter before a basket from Jade Schultz gave Alpena a 51-49 lead with 5:57 to go. Alpena was dealt a setback when Schultz and Jore were forced to sit for several minutes in the final quarter with four fouls each.
Despite that, it was Jore who gave Alpena its last lead of the night, converting a three-point play with 4:37 left and giving the Wildcats a 53-51 lead.
Jore had 14 points for Alpena and Schultz led the Wildcats with 17. Shelby Seaver added 10 off the bench.
After suffering a 61-50 loss to the Trojans earlier this month, Alpena caught the Trojans by surprise and led off the game with a 12-2 run. The Wildcats forced turnovers and pushed the ball inside as Jore and Schultz helped Alpena get out to a fast start.
“We took them by surprise a little bit and that’s what we’ve wanted to do,” Andrews said. “I know our kids have the ability to do that, we just have to do it for the whole four quarters.”
Schultz hit a buzzer beater to give Alpena a 25-17 lead after one quarter and her basket later in the second quarter put Alpena up by 11.
The Trojans kept things close and made two key buckets just before halftime. Woughter scored with four seconds left and then Carina Stewart stole the inbounds pass and scored, shrinking Alpena’s halftime lead to three points.
Friday’s loss drops Alpena into a third place tie in the Big North, but the Wildcats aren’t prepared to go quietly just yet. Alpena has five conference games remaining, including one against league leader Petoskey.
“(After this loss) you have to take away the good things we did, which we did a lot of good things. We scored 25 points in the first quarter. I don’t think we’ve done that all year,” Andrews said. “We’ve just got to play for four quarters.”
Alpena plays at Ogemaw Heights on Thursday.
Alpena’s JV team defeated Central 38-30. Abby Funk led Alpena with 16 points and Allie DeRocher added nine.
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TC CENTRAL (62): M. Woughter 11 11-15 40; T. Kenney 1 0-0 2; M. Goodwin 5 0-0 10; S. Hill 2 0-0 4; C. Stewart 1 0-0 2; R. Farmer 1 0-0 2; A. Bohn 1 0-0 2.
ALPENA (55): T. Foster 0 0-1 0; K. Jones 0 1-2 1; J. Schultz 7 3-4 17; M. Voltz 2 4-6 8; S. Seaver 2 6-8 10; E. Jore 4 6-7 14; J. Leeck 0 0-2 0; D. Prevo 2 1-2 5.
James Andersen can be reached via email at sports@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5694. Follow James on Twitter @ja_alpenanews.