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Tigers top Rogers City in NSL nail-biter

News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Hillman’s Lyndsey Ryba scores on a layup while Rogers City’s Taylor Fleming trails her during the first quarter of a North Star League girls basketball game on Friday at Rogers City High School. The two teams wore purple shirts for the sixth annual “Play it Purple” cancer awareness game. Ryba scored 15 points and Hillman topped the Hurons 44-41 to win its eighth consecutive game and take control of first place in the NSL’s Big Dipper division.

ROGERS CITY — The top two teams in the North Star League pushed each other to the limit in the sixth annual “Play it Purple” cancer awareness game.

Hillman and Rogers City entered Friday’s contest undefeated in league play. In the end, Hillman clamped down defensively and had a little luck on its side as it held on to win its eighth consecutive game by defeating the Hurons 44-41.

“Rogers City is a very tough place to play and I think for the most part my team handled themselves pretty well tonight. It was a big game, we knew that. We tried not to put too much emphasis on it, but we all knew what this about. The fans in the area have been talking about this game for weeks,” Hillman coach John Kuzewski said. “It’s great to come out on the winning end, but I do know we have to face this team two more times also.”

After trailing 27-19 at the half and being held to just five second quarter points, Rogers City put together a strong third quarter and tied the game up at 34 apiece after three quarters.

Hillman got aggressive early in the fourth and the Hurons committed four fouls in the first minute of the quarter to put the Tigers in the bonus.

Taylor Fleming got called for her fourth foul with 6:58 left in the game and spent the next three minutes on the Hurons bench.

Hillman had several golden opportunities to break the game open, but the Tigers went 1-for-7 from the free throw line early and finished just 5-for-15 in the quarter as they allowed Rogers City chances to stay in the game.

“We had our opportunities and missed some easy shots. What hurt us the most is we had a lackluster second quarter and you can’t afford to do that against a good team like Hillman,” Rogers City coach Duane Pitts said. “I’m proud of the way our kids fought all night. The big thing is to build on this and keep moving forward.”

Hillman took a 35-34 lead when Jozie Appelgren split a pair of free throws. Just seconds after Fleming went to the bench, Lyndsey Ryba drove the lane and got a layup to fall and gave the Tigers a three point lead and forced Rogers City to call a timeout.

The Hurons responded out of the timeout as Kayla Rabeau made a jumper to cut the lead back to one.

Appelgren went back to the line and split another pair of free throws to give Hillman a 38-36 lead.

Rogers City suffered a major blow on the Tigers next possession when Rabeau hit the floor hard after being called for a blocking foul and had to leave the game with four minutes left. She was unable to return to the game, but finished with a game high 17 points.

Andrea Taratuta also split a pair of free throws to give Hillman a 39-36 lead.

Sydney Purgiel got a shot to fall on the Hurons next possession to once again cut the lead to one.

Rogers City held strong as Fleming returned to the game with three minutes left.

Both teams played strong at the defensive end late, but the biggest shot of the game came when Eve LaFleche buried a three with 2:20 left to put Hillman ahead 42-38.

Rogers City continued to fight as Jayna Hance split a pair of free throws and Fleming made a layup to cut the lead to 42-41 with under a minute left.

Ryba took the ball up the court on the ensuing possession and had her pocket picked by Hance who walked in for what looked like it was going to be a wide open go-ahead layup, but the ball rattled around the rim and out with 26 seconds left as Hillman held onto its one point lead.

The Hurons were forced to foul and Taratuta split the free throws to give Hillman a 43-41 lead.

Seconds later, Kristen Kenyon made the defensive play of the game when she stepped in front of a pass with seven seconds left and got the ball to Ryba who was fouled.

Once again Hillman split the free throws which gave the Hurons another chance to tie the game with a three, but Rogers City was unable to get a good look.

“Both teams stepped up defensively, but Kristen made that play at the end and it’s great to see as a coach because we teach staying up the floor and that’s what she did and got in the passing lane,” Kuzewski said. “Timely plays, timely buckets and free throws win these games. Usually we shoot free throws well and I’m still confident when we walk to the free throw line. We made a few big ones at the end when we needed to and we’ll always take our chances shooting as many free throws as we did late.”

Along with Rabeau’s 17 points, Rogers City was led by Fleming who added 16 points as the duo combined for all but eight of the Hurons points.

Ryba led Hillman with 15 points. Taratuta added nine points and Kenyon finished with six points.

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HILLMAN (44): B. Schook 1 0-0 3; L. Ryba 3 3-4 15; J. Appelgren 1 2-4 4; E. LaFleche 1 0-4 3; B. Jones 1 1-3 4; A. Taratuta 3 3-8 9; K. Kenyon 3 0-2 6.

ROGERS CITY (41): J. Hance 1 1-4 3; K. Rabeau 8 1-4 17; H. Fleming 1 0-0 3; T. Fleming 8 0-1 16; S. Purgiel 1 0-0 2.

Jonny Zawacki can be reached via email at jzawacki@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5690.

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