Pickford ends great season for Vikings at regional final
by Richard Lamb–Advance Editor
A hot-shooting Pickford Panthers team ended Posen’s season at the regional finals. The Pickford girls connected on 13, 3-point attempts by four different players to take a 72-44 win over the Vikings before a packed house at Rogers City High School (RCHS).
Pickford guard Madison Thurmes set the tone for the game on Pickford‘s first possession, nailing the first of her five 3-pointers in the first half. She finished with 24 points. Posen used a box-and-one defense aimed to stop Pickford’s Kennedy Guild, who had a big game in the regional semifinals, by having defensive specialist Elizabeth Romel blanket the Pickford scorer. That strategy held Guild to just two points in the first quarter, but allowed space for other outside shooters.
Posen later switched to a zone and later a man-to-man defense.
“We tried everything defensively but we just got beat by a better team. That team is awesome. We just couldn’t stop the 3-pointers. They only had two the other night against Engadine in the regional semifinals. Wish we could have played them the other night,” said coach Karl Momrik.
Posen used the strategy that had gotten them 21 wins on the season. That is to beat the ball inside, crash the offensive boards and hit free throws. With point guard Faith Cousins picking the defense apart with sharp passes, and behind Makayla Kamyszek’s 12 points, Posen took a 20-17 lead at the end of the first quarter. Trailing 17-10 with 2:50 left in the quarter, Kamyszek hit two free throws and Ava Wesner made the second of two attempts from the line. Then Romel set up Ella Szatkowski for a jumper and Szatkowski followed that with a 17-foot jumper to tie the game at 17-17 with 45 seconds left in the frame.
Romel’s 3-pointer from the right corner, directly in front of the Pickford student section, gave Posen a lead, bringing loud cheers from the Posen fans.
Two inside shots from Kamyszek to start the second quarter gave Posen it’s largest, and last lead of the game at 24-17 with 6:20 left in the second quarter.
Then things heated up for the U.P. powerhouse. The Panthers went on a 21-2 run over the next 4:30 to go up 38-26. The only Posen points came from a put-back shot from Szatkowski at the 4:20 mark of the quarter. Pickford hit five 3-pointers in the big run, to take a 39-28 lead at halftime.
Things didn’t get better for the Vikings, so used to wearing down opponents in the second half of games. This night at RCHS the third quarter saw Pickford expand its lead while limiting the Vikings to eight points in the quarter while the Panthers put up 21.
Pickford scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter putting the game out of reach.
Posen fans had something to cheer about in the final minutes as seniors Abi Schellie and Sophie Romel drained 3-pointers.
But the season of tremendous highs ended on a sad note as Pickford claimed the regional championship.
“We are so proud of our kids. They kept fighting right until the end. They had a great season with 21 wins, not many teams can say that,” Momrik said.
Kamyszek led the team with 24 points while Szatkowski added eight.
The coach had praise for his team, including seniors Kamyszek, Elizabeth Romel, Abi Schellie and Sophie Romel, along with exchange students Sara Cecconello and Carlota Julia.
“What a great group of kids, but we all move on. They move on to college and we will be rooting for them there. I told them how proud we are and we wish Pickford good luck,” Momrik said.
Although missing the seniors from this season, Momrik is looking for big things from next year’s squad with sophomore Szatkowski, who is approaching 1,000 career points and juniors Faith Cousins, Ava Wesner, Mia Newhouse, Sofya Hincka and Madison Kamyszek set to step up.
Pickford moves on to play Baraga, a 61-47 winner over Carney-Nadeau last night. That game is to be played in Negaunee Tuesday. The winner of that game has a date at the Breslin Center to play in the Division 4 semifinals against the winner of the Gaylord St. Mary vs. Fowler game.