Courtesy Photo The Alpena girls basketball team stands on the Detroit Pistons center court logo. The Wildcats traveled to play a game at the Palace of Auburn Hills, home of the Detroit Pistons on Friday.

PETOSKEY — The Alpena hockey team continued its solid play as the Wildcats earned a Big North Conference victory on the road against Petoskey on Saturday.

Alpena wasted little time putting pucks in the net as they scored two early goals in the first period. The first goal came off of the stick of Lars MacArthur who redirected a shot and tipped it in for the goal as Ben Budnik picked up the assist.

Five minutes late Nick Esch scored on a breakaway as he assisted by Cody Sumerix and Cam Cosbitt.

After taking a 2-0 lead after one period, Alpena extended the lead to three as Evan LeTourneau found the back of the net under a minute into the second period off of a rebound as Colby Plowman and Esch assisted on the goal.

The Northmen added its first goal shortly after, but Alpena eventually regained its three goal late in the period as LeTourneau scored another goal with an assist from Budnik.

Petoskey again cut into the lead with just 54 second remaining the second as the Wildcats held a 4-2 lead heading into the third and final period.

Despite the Northmen scoring two goals in the period, Alpena added two of its own and just dominated play much of the game. Esch and Aaron Nowak picked up the third period goals for the Wildcats and Plowman, Sumerix and Shane Hamp each had an assist in the period.

Alpena outshot the Northmen 51-10 in the game and both goaltenders, Dakota Meyer and Noah Kent each shared time in net during the Wildcats victory.

Walled Lake

Western 34,

Alpena 27

AUBURN HILLS–Playing the second game of a back-to-back, the Alpena girls basketball team couldn’t match its effort from Thursday and lost to Walled Lake 34-27 on Friday at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

The Wildcats (9-4) had previously played and beaten Gaylord at home on Thursday.

“The experience of a lifetime for both teams, a competitive game filled with great sportsmanship and smiles,” Alpena co-coach Kelley Miko said. “We hope to continue the relationship with Walled Lake Western and see a future game happening.”

Alpena trailed 7-2 after one quarter, struggling to keep up with the Warriors’ quickness. But the Wildcats rallied with triples from Kourtney Jones and Shelby Seaver to close the deficit to 14-12 at halftime.

Walled Lake led 26-14 after three quarters.

Jones led Alpena with nine points and hit an NBA three-pointer at the buzzer to the end the game. Seaver added seven points.

“It is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I wanted all of our girls to enjoy the moment. We told our kids going into the Walled Lake game we were playing everyone on our team equally minutes-wise,” Alpena co-coach Steve McCourt said. “I wanted all of our players to cherish this opportunity.”

Alpena returns to conference play against Petoskey on Tuesday at home.