News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Hillman’s Jessie Jones (24) goes to the basket for a layup while being defended by Posen’s Faith Cousins (13) during the third quarter of a North Star League-Little Dipper division girls basketball game on Friday at Posen High School.

POSEN — There’s just something different about a Posen-Hillman girls basketball rivalry.

Every time the two sides meet up, the atmosphere changes and the intensity level rises on the court, on the sidelines and even in the stands.

Friday’s contest between two undefeated North Star League-Little Dipper division team had just about everything you could ask for in a classic rivalry: two teams battling and an electric atmosphere, combined with the passion of players and fan bases.

In the end, it was Posen making second half adjustments, led by their senior duo of Riley Krajniak and Elena Kalbitzer along with defensive specialist Lizzy Romel propelling the Vikings to a 57-36 victory in their home gym.

Posen remains unbeaten in Little Dipper play and took over sole possession of first place in the division with the win.

“We put together a great second half. We didn’t press the entire second half, we played great half court defense when we did. We made some mistakes, but in a rivalry game that’s going to happen, both teams make mistakes,” Posen coach Karl Momrik said. “We’ll go back to the drawing board and we’ll continue doing our best to improves and getting ready for next weeks action.”

The Vikings got off to a fast start, scoring the final 13 points of the first quarter to grab a 15-4 lead after one and Posen had all the momentum early on its home court.

The Vikings scored the first two baskets to begin the second quarter and extended the lead to 19-4. But Hillman made adjustments, gained confidence and the late stages of the first half belonged to the Tigers as they ended the half on a 20-8 run and cut the lead to 27-24 at the break.

“I was super proud of my girls in the first half. They came out with intensity and I saw action from different players. Everybody was a threat and we knew Posen was going to trap Bailey (Schook) so we knew we had to come in ready to have different people playing and a lot of girls stepped up,” Hillman coach Jenny Taratuta said. “We played good in the first half, but in the third quarter we fell into our same mistakes of our fundamental drill of dribbling, catching a pass, being able to know where to be on a rebound and just basic stuff, nothing else. That was our downfall tonight.”

One of the keys to Posen’s lopsided victory was the Vikings shutting down Hillman’s leading scorer Bailey Schook, who was held to just two points on the night and ran into foul trouble. Schook sat most of the third quarter, which is when Posen blew the game wide open as the Vikings outscored the Tigers 18-4 in the quarter to take 17-point lead.

Romel was tasked with defending Schook and proved why she is the team’s top defender, limiting one of the area’s top players to just a single basket.

“The girls did an unbelievable job on Schook. She’s a heck of a player. Lizzy Romel just did unbelievable and that’s the player of the game right there. The job that she did on Schook, as good as that kid is was special. Any time there is a top notch player, we put Lizzy on her. Lizzy is such a good defender and that way it frees up (Elena) Kalbitzer and (Riley) Krajniak offensively so they don’t get gassed defensively. Lizzy isn’t one of our main scorers, but we don’t have to sacrifice one of our really good scorers to have Lizzy in playing defense on Schook because that takes a lot our of a person,” Momrik said. “It’s like that for any team, without your best player, you’re hurting and Hillman couldn’t afford to really get her back in because of her foul trouble and we took good advantage her being off the court before the third quarter ended. Lizzy did an unbelievable job and one of the great defensive jobs since I’ve been coaching.”

The third quarter proved to the difference and Hillman was unable to respond or mount any sort of comeback as the Vikings cruised to a big win against their division foe.

Krajniak and Kalbitzer combined to outscore the Tigers by themselves as the two combined for 40 points on the night.

Krajniak led all scorers with a game-high 21 points and was efficient from the field and Kalbitzer dropped 19 points in her first taste of the NSL rivalry.

Julia Taratuta led Hillman with 12 points.

Both teams will be off until next Friday. Posen travels to Oscoda to take on the Owls. Hillman will play at Alcona.

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BOX SCORE: Field Goals Made/Free Throws Made/Free Throws Attempted/Total Points

POSEN (57): M. Kamyszek, 2 3-3 7; F. Cousins, 2 0-1 5; R. Krajniak, 8 2-5 21; E. Kalbitzer, 7 4-5 19; L. Romel, 1 1-2 3;A. Schellie, 1 0-0 2.

HILLMAN (36): A. Hunt, 2 3-4 8; B. Schook, 1 0-0 2; K. Brumbelow, 1 0-0 2; J. Jones, 3 0-1 6; J. Taratuta, 6 0-0 12; M. Morrison, 1 0-0 2; A. Brown, 1 0-0 2; E. Crawford, 1 0-0 2.