News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Alpena senior Allie DeRocher (2) takes a running jump shot over Traverse City Central defender Sophia Simon (11) during the second quarter of a Division 1 district quarterfinal girls basketball game on Monday at Alpena High School.

ALPENA — The old saying goes, it’s hard to beat a team three times.

After sweeping the regular season series against Traverse City Central, the Alpena High girls basketball team had opportunities to snap a lengthy postseason losing streak in Monday’s Division 1 district opener.

But turnovers and the inability to close a game cost Alpena its chance to win a playoff game for the first time in seven years as the Wildcats lost a 44-43 heartbreaker to the rival Trojans.

“It was a tough one. I just felt like we couldn’t get any of our layups or good shots to fall and they (Central) put a lot of pressure on us and we just weren’t strong enough to pull through,” Alpena coach Erin Andrews said.

Despite have a huge advantage in the free-throw department, Alpena was unable to cash in on its opportunities at the stripe to take the game over.

The Wildcats shot 35 free-throws to Central’s 15. 

Alpena’s inability to make the free shots throughout the game proved costly in the final minutes.

The Wildcats held a 41-38 lead with two and a half minutes to play, but couldn’t settle in and seemed to panic down the stretch, committing costly turnovers.

Central regained a lead after Grace Maitland made a jumper with just under two minutes to play to make it 42-41. 

Alpena got back to the stripe with a minute and a half left to play and Jenna Leeck cashed in on a pair to put the Wildcats in front 43-42.

The Wildcats quickly committed a costly foul that allowed Sophia Locricchio to tie the game after splitting a pair of free throws.

Alpena turned the ball over on the ensuing possession and was again hit with a foul. Maitland went to line and made one of two attempts to give Central the 44-43 lead with 47 seconds to play.

Alpena slowed its offense down on their next possession, moved the ball around and set up Avery Dubey with a good look that rattled out, but the Wildcats were able to control the rebound a call a timeout with 3.5 seconds left.

The inbound was tipped away as a few precious seconds ticked off the clock.

With 1.1 seconds remaining, the Wildcats inbounded the ball to Allie DeRocher, but the clock had started early and the buzzer went off as soon as DeRocher touched the ball.

After the referees huddled, 0.9 seconds were put back on the clock, giving Alpena one more opportunity.

The Wildcats drew up about as perfect of a play as a team could with the time remaining. They got the ball in the hands of DeRocher, but her shot was just off the mark as Alpena’s season came to an end.

“It was a good look and that was the play we had drawn up. If she would have had time to take one more dribble, that’s a shot I’d have Allie take any time. I wanted the ball in her hands, in the hands of my senior and if anyone was going to make that shot it was going to be Allie,” Andrews said. “It was a crazy year with a crazy ending. I told the girls this has been a crazy year full of on and offs and being told we may or may not play and for them to stick with it and be happy about playing and being out there says a lot about the girls on this team.”

DeRocher finished her career at Alpena with a team-high 10 points and Reese Wisniewski added nine points.

After a back-and-forth first half the in which the largest lead was just four points, Central’s Halli Warner began to heat up, scoring 10 of her game high 18 points in the third quarter, including a pair of threes to help the Trojans open up a 33-23 advantage midway through the quarter.

The Wildcats responded in a big way, scoring nine unanswered points to end the third and cut the deficit to just one heading into the fourth quarter.

Alpena took the lead after Ellie Clarke banked in a three to begin the fourth and give the Wildcats momentum.

“I thought when we hit that three to give us a lead in the fourth, I thought we were really going to build on that and take the game over, but we made some decisions that were not so great and the capitalized one those,” Andrews said. “We just weren’t able to settle into any kind of offense. Our press kept us in it for a while because we were able to get steaks and make easy layups, but we just weren’t able to settle into our offense.”

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

TC CENTRAL (44): H. Warner, 6 2-2 18; B. Royston, 2 0-0 6; K. Welch, 1 0-0 2; S. Simon, 1 0-4 2; A. Hill, 4 1-2 9; G. Maitland, 2 1-4 5; S. Locricchio, 0 2-4 2.

ALPENA (43): A. DeRocher, 4 3-10 11; A. Urlaub, 0 2-2 2; J. Gray, 1 3-5 5; J. Leeck, 2 2-2 6; R. Wisniewski, 2 3-4 9; A. Dubey, 0 4-6 4; O. Precord, 1 3-6 6.