Alpena girls get running clock style victory at Tawas
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TAWAS -- Alpena already had a comfortable 19-point lead at the half of its non-conference girls basketball at Tawas on Tuesday.
That wasn't good enough for the Wildcats though, as they opened the third quarter with their best play of the night, going on a frenzied 21-2 run to force a running clock and ultimately came home with a lopsided 52-11 victory.
"We struggle with coming out and playing four quarters, so I said we had to go and show that we are playing all four quarters," Alpena head coach Laura Dubey said.
Her team apparently got the message, as they opened the second half with quick buckets in the paint by Avery Dubey and Allison Urlaub to start the streak.
Reese Wisniewski converted an and-one play that made it 36-8 and she also knocked down a three at 43-8.
Urlaub followed that with a fastbreak basket, and Franciska Treiliha ushered in a running clock at 48-8 by swishing home a three pointer from the top of the key.
Tawas did end the run with a basket before the frame ended to make it 48-10 entering the fourth. A running clock ate away at most of the final quarter, but it was highlighted by a Megan Dubie and-one play that helped put a final stamp on the victory.
Alpena similarly defeated the Braves back in December, in its season opener; however, Dubey felt this one was perhaps the better of the two.
"I watched tape on Tawas and I thought that they improved quite a bit since the beginning of the season," she said. "They have some really good players, a strong defensive team and they came out and played (well)."
To Tawas' credit, it did make things difficult early on for the Wildcats. Alpena led just 5-3 through the first four minutes of the game, before a 9-0 run; capped by a three by Dubey, allowed them to end the frame up 14-3.
Alpena padded its lead in the second as well, and once again got a quarter ending trey, this time getting one from Wisniewski to swish through for a 25-6 halftime lead.
Wisniewski led the Wildcat offense with 12 points, Dubey knocked down 11 points, including nine from behind the arc, Urlaub finished with nine, Treiliha and Alayna Trelfa put in six points each, Jenna Leeck had four, Dubie scored three, and Madison Linton put in one.
"(The offense) was nice to see, we have a deep bench and we have some scorers on the team." Dubey said. "It was good for them to get back in and score some points because we have a big game coming up against Cadillac."
The win pushes their record to 8-6 on the year, with the key Big North Conference date at Cadillac looming Friday.
The Wildcats lost their meeting with the Vikings back in December; a contest they led by eight in the final minute, before a late rally and three pointer forced overtime and eventually a tough-to-swallow overtime loss.
"We are coming back with a vengeance Friday," Dubey said. "That was what we were talking about in the locker room, I said (Wednesday) be prepared because we are watching game tape and seeing what we did wrong the first time, we'll nip that in the bud and be ready to beat them at their house on Friday."