News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Alpena’s Shelby Seaver (21) takes a shot while being defended by Viking defenders Kylie Christensen (34) and Morgann Kanouse (5) during a Big North Conference girls basketball game on Friday at Alpena High School.

The Alpena girls basketball team came into Friday night’s game against Cadillac atop the Big North Conference standings, but the Wildcats suffered a tough 47-42 loss on their home court.

“It was a tough game and it’s always tough to lose at home. We want to win a conference title and protecting home court is essential,” Alpena co-coach Steve McCourt said. “Our kids came out a little flat tonight, but kind of rallied late and despite the loss, I think we learned something about our team tonight.”

The entire first half was a close, back-and-forth battle with the biggest lead of the half was five points. Both teams opened the game a bit slow on the offensive end, but it was the Vikings who had the upper hand early. Every time Alpena came close to tying or taking the lead in the opening quarter, Cadillac had an answer in what was a trend that continued throughout the course of the game.

After trailing by one going into the second quarter, the Wildcats took their first and only lead of the game early in the quarter, going ahead 13-12.

The lead didn’t last long as Cadillac’s Kylie Christensen helped the Vikings regain the lead as she scored eight of her game high 22 points in the second quarter as Alpena struggled to slow her down much of the night.

“I think we tried to hard to stop her and ultimately that hurt us. We found out that we could play her straight up,” McCourt said. “We had a game plan going in and we did make some adjustments because she is a good player, but I think our post players are just as talented as she is.”

Despite a nice second quarter by Christensen, Alpena only tailed by two as Kourtney Jones hit two big three-pointers late to tie the game at 21, but Christensen’s final basket of the quarter gave the Vikings a two point halftime lead.

The third quarter hurt the Wildcats the most as Cadillac came out of the break on fire, scoring eight of the first 10 points to take a 31-23 lead early in the third.

The Vikings also went on an 8-0 run over a four minute stretch to take a 12 point lead late in the quarter before Alpena scored the final four points to cut the lead back to single digits.

Despite trailing by double-digits, the Wildcats refused to go down without a fight as they did everything they could to claw their way back into the game. Jasmyn Schultz scored five straight points late and helped Alpena cut the deficit to just three with 1:26 left in the game.

Cadillac began to play keep away and the Wildcats were forced to foul. Mikayela Johns made two big free throws to put the Vikings back up five.

After a timeout, Alpena’s Maddie Voltz scored a quick two to cut the lead to 45-42 with just 13 seconds left to play.

Another Wildcat foul sent Hope Emington to the line. Emington made the first and missed the second, but Christensen came up with one of the biggest plays of the night in grabbing the offensive rebound before being tied up with a jump ball and the victory going to the Vikings.

“A positive out of this is that these back-to-back games are going to get us in shape for future situations that we have. This was a challenge for us having two tough games in a row. The girls came out and gave us their energy and sometimes you just need to get a shot to fall or catch a break late in these close games,” Alpena co-coach Kelley Miko said.

Along with Christensen, Johns added 14 points and Alexus Little chipped in with eight points in the win for Cadillac.

Shelby Seaver led the Wildcats with 14 points on the night. Jones added eight points and both Schultz and Emma Jore collected six points apiece.

With the loss, Alpena falls to 6-2 overall on the year and is 2-1 in the BNC.

The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Wildcats as they are back in action on Tuesday when they host Big North rival Traverse City Central in a pivotal conference matchup.

“We believe that all games are a must win and Tuesday’s matchup is no different. We have to go in fighting and preparing that we need to win and want to win,” Miko said. “We set the standard high and we’re not going to lower it.”

The Alpena JV team was victorious on Friday, defeating Cadillac 37-30. Mollie Girard led the Wildcats with eight points. Melanie Wahoski added seven points and Amanda Johnson chipped in with five points in the winning effort.

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CADILLAC (47) — H. Emington, 1 2-6 5; K. Poulos, 0 0-2 0; A. Little, 4 0-0 8; M. Johns, 5 2-3 14; K. Christensen, 10 2-4 22.

ALPENA (42) — T. Foster, 1 0-0 2; K. Jones, 3 0-0 8; M. Voltz, 1 0-0 2; S. Seaver, 7 0-0 14; J. Marwede, 1 2-2 4; E. Jore, 3 0-0 6.

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