Alpena girls best Petoskey during Pink-Out Game
News Photo by Steve Jakubcin Alpena High School’s Faith Dragiewicz, left, takes a shot while Alpena’s Kiera Prue blocks during the Wildcats’ game against Petoskey Friday night at Alpena High. The Wildcats won the game 41-30.
News Photo by Steve Jakubcin Alpena High School’s Jasmyn Schultz, center, goes up for a bucket while Alpena’s Kiera Prue, left, watches during the Wildcats’ game against Petoskey on Friday at Alpena High.
News Photo by Steve Jakubcin Alpena High School’s Faith Dragiewicz, left, takes a shot while Alpena’s Kiera Prue blocks during the Wildcats’ game against Petoskey Friday night at Alpena High. The Wildcats won the game 41-30.
News Photo by Steve Jakubcin Alpena High School’s Jasmyn Schultz, center, goes up for a bucket while Alpena’s Kiera Prue, left, watches during the Wildcats’ game against Petoskey on Friday at Alpena High.
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ALPENA -- Friday night consisted of one of the best traditions in Alpena sports.
The Alpena High School girls basketball team (7-5, 3-2 BNC) hosted its annual Pink-Out Game on Friday, raising $1,419.35 for charity and even taking home a 41-30 win over Petoskey.
This tradition raises money from the community every year to promote breast cancer awareness.
"The Pink-Out Game is something we get excited about every year, which is amazing, because it is such a good cause," Alpena coach Laura Dubey said. "Each and every person in this gym is somehow affected by cancer, and to be able to raise money for that reason is really special to us."
Though the final score represented a low-scoring game, Alpena came out hot to start the first quarter.
All things started on defense for the Wildcats.
Reese Wisniewski, now the leader in steals for a game, season, and career, gained early momentum by terrorizing Petoskey's primary ball handlers.
Wisniewski's pressure led to several straight steals and an early 6-0 lead to start the game.
Along with Wisniewski, Avery Dubey and Faith Dragiewicz led the offense.
By the end of the first quarter, Alpena got in front to a 15-8 lead.
Although the offense was rolling, the Wildcats unexpectedly went ice cold during the second.
Several turnovers and an inability to put the ball in the basket limited Alpena to zero points in the quarter.
On the other end, Petoskey couldn't find much more success.
The Northmen only scored four points themselves, meaning the Wildcats still had the lead, despite being held scoreless.
Coming into the third, Coach Dubey told her girls not to settle on any shots and to keep moving the ball around on offense.
That advice did the trick, as Alpena then had its highest-scoring quarter of the night.
The Wildcats scored 17 points during the third, highlighted by a fantastic eight-point period from Avery Dubey.
Reaghan Fitzpatrick unpredictably added a three-pointer, presenting Alpena with a 32-21 lead in the final quarter.
The only goal left in the game was to sustain and maintain the 11-point lead.
Kiera Prue made that happen down the stretch, scoring two shots and making her one free-throw attempt.
Petoskey also tried fouling to make a late-game comeback, but two made free throws from Wisniewski shut that idea down, finishing the game with a 41-30 final.
"We had to grind this game out, which was far from pretty," Coach Dubey said. "We had some excellent effort come from Lindsey (Rondeau), Reese (Wisniewski), and Kiera (Prue) towards the end, and it was overall a group effort that got us the win."
Alpena's scoring was dominated by Avery Dubey, who scored 13 points, including two three-pointers.
Wisniewski came out as the Wildcats second-highest scorer, making eight points.