News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Alcona’s Megan Grove (2) gets a shot blocked by Tawas defender Hannah Brust (24) during the second quarter of a girls basketball game on Tuesday at Alcona High School.

LINCOLN — Executing late was the story that led the Alcona girls basketball team to a hard fought victory over a talented Tawas team on Tuesday.

The Tigers made adjustments and came up big late to earn their third consecutive victory with a 56-47 win over Tawas at Alcona High School.

“It was a big win for us tonight and I’m really happy for the kids because Tawas has been tough on us for the past few years and it was good for our seniors to pull that win out, but more importantly our entire team played real well and our plan worked well tonight,” Alcona coach Mark Feldhiser said. “We did a good job getting the ball down low tonight and we really did everything we wanted to do tonight and we did what we needed to in order to come away with the win.”

The two teams played a back-and-forth first half and Alcona had trouble slowing down the Braves dynamic superstar Morgan Kaniszewski who put Tawas on her back in the first half, scoring 19 of the Braves 27 first half points as Tawas trailed the Tigers by two at the half.

Despite the Tigers double teaming and putting the pressure of Kaniszewski to start the second half, Tawas was able to find offense in other spots early, taking a lead back and went into the fourth quarter ahead 40-37.

Alcona picked it up both offensively and defensively late as the Tigers were not only able to slow down Kaniszewski, but also held the rest of the Braves in check as they opened the fourth going on a 13-0 run, holding Tawas scoreless for over six minutes.

“We thought if we stayed after Morgan with some of our better players we would be able to slow her down a little bit and we did because she missed some shots at the end of the game,” Feldhiser said. “Morgan is a fantastic player and I told my team all week that we have to be focused in on her and slow her down. She will be playing at the next level somewhere that’s for sure, but I was happy with the way we executed our game plan tonight and limited her in the second half.”

Other than shooting free throws toward the end of the game, Alcona played almost a flawless final quarter and outscored the Braves 19-7 to open the new year with an important nine point victory over Tawas.

“We’re in a three game stretch that will be the toughest part of our year with Tawas, Rogers City and Hillman on the schedule to open up the new year and to get the first one out of the way was huge and it will give us confidence moving forward. It took us a little bit, but I think we’re getting it together,” Feldhiser said.

Alcona was led by Brittany Decker and Taylor Livingston who both scored 16 points apiece in the win. Kendra LaFave displayed some sharpshooting as she added 13 points.

Kaniszewski led all scorers, pouring in a game high 26 points to lead the Braves. Kayla Costigan scored six points and both Madison Kettlewell and Julia Frank chipped in with four points each in the losing effort.

The Tigers improve to 4-3 and will be tested again on Friday when they travel to Rogers City to take on the undefeated Hurons.

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ALCONA (56) — M. Grove, 0 1-3 1; T. Livingston, 7 2-5 16; K. LaFave, 5 0-2 13; M. Lane, 1 2-4 4; R. Warner, 2 0-3 4; B. Schultz, 1 0-2 2; B. Decker, 6 4-8 16.

TAWAS (47) — C. Bolen, 1 0-0 3; M. Kettlewell, 1 2-2 4; K. Costigan, 2 2-2 6; A. Henry, 1 0-0 2; H. Blust, 0 0-2 0; J. Frank, 2 0-2 4; A. Bifard, 1 0-0 2; M. Kaniszewski, 7 8-15 26.

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