Dominant 2nd half powers Posen to regional final
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ROGERS CITY -- Karl Momrik's message for his Posen girls basketball team at halftime on Tuesday was simple.
Take better shots.
It didn't take long for the Vikings to get the message.
Powered by some halftime adjustments, the Vikings outscored Harbor Light Christian 20-4 in the third quarter and rolled to a 67-25 win in a Division 4 regional semifinal in Rogers City.
The win advances the Vikings (21-1) to a regional final for the first time since 2014. They'll face Pickford (18-2), who defeated Engadine in the other semifinal.
Game time is 7 p.m.
Posen was slow out of the gate Tuesday, but used its defense to frustrate the Swordsmen early and led 26-14 at halftime.
At Momrik's urging, the Vikings came out reenergized in the second half, dominating Harbor Light on both ends of the floor. Posen led 46-18 after three quarters and outscored Harbor Light 21-7 in the fourth quarter.
"We started a little slow, but at halftime we really made some adjustments; just basically getting down there and taking better shots," Karl Momrik said. "(The message was) just take it one possession at a time and when we settle it down and take good shots, we're a tough team."
Makayla Kamyszek -- coming off a career high, 40-point performance last week -- led Posen with 26 points. Twenty two of those came in the second half and 13 came in the fourth quarter as the Vikings kept dumping the ball inside to Kamyszek and Harbor Light could do little to stop her.
A balanced scoring effort backed up another suffocating defensive performance by the Vikings. Ella Szatkowski added 12 points, Elizabeth Romel had 10 and Faith Cousins and Ava Wesner each had six.
The Swordsmen -- who scored at least 40 points in five of their last six games before Tuesday -- found no such magic in the regional semifinal. Though both teams started slow, Harbor Light never found a rhythm and missed more than a handful of easy shots in the paint.
During one sequence midway through the first quarter, the Swordsmen had a handful of second chance opportunities on the same possession and ultimately came up empty-handed.
Harbor Light made just four field goals in the first half and struggled mightily against Posen's defensive pressure.
Alaina Roush paced Harbor Light with 12 points.
Posen now turns its attention to Pickford, which won its 10th straight game on Tuesday. A win on Thursday would give the Vikings their first regional title since 2014, but Momrik knows Pickford won't be an easy out.
"It's very exciting. We're looking forward to it. Pickford's a real good team and I think it's going to be a great game," Momrik said. "We've seen film on them. This is a good team; they've very quick, they hit threes and they're athletic. It's going to be a tough night, but we'll be ready for the challenge."
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BOX SCORE: Field Goals Made/Free Throws Made/Free Throws Attempted/Total Points
POSEN (67): E. Szatkowski 5 2-2 12; E. Romel, 5 0-0 10; F. Cousins 1 4-6 6; M. Kamyszek, 10 6-9 26; A. Wesner, 3 0-0 6; A. Schellie, 2 1-2 5; M. Newhouse 0 2-2 2.
HARBOR LIGHT (25): A. Roush 3 5-6 12; J. Evoy 1 1-2 4; L. Jakeway 0 2-2 2; A. Chamberlin 2 0-1 4; S. Smith 1 0-0 3.