Posen advances to district finals; Onaway falls to Hillman
Krajniak’s 30 points leads Posen to district final
Riley Krajniak made five, 3-pointers and scored a career-high 30 points in a 58-50 win over one of the most talented Wolverine girls’ basketball teams Posen has played in recent decades, if ever. Posen plays for a district title Friday against Hillman with a. tipoff of 7 p.m.
The Lady Wolverines were leading by four at the start of the third quarter before Krajniak’s sharpshooting from deep spurred a comeback. Her second trey of the quarter gave Posen a lead it would never relinquish.
Her next was from a corner spot, where she likes to shoot them, and when it went in, there were fist thrusts from Posen head coach Karl Momrik being thrown in the air. The lead was up to seven, 41-34, when Ella Szatkowski received a perfect pass on a fast break, took the minimum two steps and put it up and in for a nine-point advantage.
Wolverine cut it to seven with three minutes to go, but seniors shine under the bright lights of the state tournament and Krajniak continued to provide big moments with a layup and perfect 4-for-4 shooting from the free-throw line down the stretch.
Momrik gave credit to the inbound plays that garnered 13 points, including three treys from Krajniak and Madison Menzel, who outjumped everyone else in close to score four points.
“We knew they were a good team,” said Momrik. “They have been scoring in the 60s and 70s. We lost a little focus in the first half, came back with a man-to-man (defense) and played well. Took care of the ball, made the free throws and got the ‘W’. ”
Elena Kalbitzer had 17 rebounds.
Onaway suffers devastating playoff loss
The Lady Cardinals (12-9) had the lead for the first 29 minutes, 40 seconds of last Wednesday’s district semifinal against host Hillman, but not when it counted.
Onaway lost the lead on a Hillman basket by Angelina Hunt with 2:20 left and could not get it back. The final score in the state playoff game was, 42-36.
Missed free throws and layups were costly in the defensive slugfest that saw cagers flying around and coming up limping after scrambles for the ball.
The one telling stat was the 14 jump balls that were called in the contest. There also were four players, including three from Hillman, who fouled out. There was a total of 44 fouls (Hillman 25, Onaway 19), but don’t blame the officials because most watching the game believe there could have been many more fouls called.
On top of all that, Onaway was missing starter Nicole Larson due to illness and another key contributor, who was out with a dog bite injury and was not suited up to play.
It’s the second year in a row Hillman has bounced the Onaway girls from the playoffs.
“I thought we played good enough to win,” said Onaway head coach John George. “Unfortunately, certain people could not score tonight. There was a lid on the hoop or something.”
Onaway was 12-for-31 (4-for-16 in the fourth) from the free-throw line, while Hillman was 11-for-21 for the game.
“(Free throws) are something that we have been consistent with all
Players called up from the junior varsity got significant playing time in the first half and turned in quality minutes, of which, George was pleased to see.
Taylor Larson finished with 10, followed by Breya Domke with nine and Jill Chaskey with eight. Bailey Schook was the leading scorer for Hillman with 13.
Playing their last basketball games for Onaway were Malaisha Van and Malaurie McLean. Jordan Larson had been out with a concussion for several weeks and was on the bench providing support in street clothes.
The focus in the locker room after the game was on the seniors and picking up the pieces from an extremely tough, season-ending loss.