Cardinals rally past Lumberjills

WAKEFIELD - Wakefield-Marenisco continued to steadily move towards basketball respectability with a come-from-behind 44-37 win in a crossover Indianhead Conference game at the Cardinal Gym on Monday night.

"It was a game of two evenly-matched teams," Cardinal coach Pete Yon said. "We're similar teams. Drummond is real physical and rebounds well with a lot of put-backs. Our girls will be sore after this one. I'm proud of the girls. We finished strong at the end and it was a great home victory. We haven't played bad this year. We're a pretty good young team. We just have to keep up the intensity and aggressiveness like we did tonight."

Drummond coach Corey Sackman said it was W-M's aggressiveness and the Lumberjills' boat-load of turnovers that made the difference.

"Turnovers were big," Sackman said. "Wakefield-Marenisco was real aggressive and our bigs played well and were real aggressive, too. But that's the most turnovers we've had in five games. Our guards really struggled, not a good night.

"At gut-check time, W-M answered the bell. We're still trying to find someone to step up. We don't get blown out, but turnovers, free throws and not making big shots are killers."

The first and second quarters were close but not played particularly well. Shooting was as cold as a U.P. winter night (9-9 after one quarter) and turnovers abounded. Part of it was aggressive play, especially by the Cardinals, but part of it was sloppy play, too.

Drummond led 21-20 at half-time.

But Yon said he sensed W-M picking up momentum late in the second quarter when they turned up their intensity level.

With 2:58 remaining in the second quarter, the Lumberjills built a 17-11 lead, its largest of the game. The Cardinals had only one field goal for the quarter, but W-M rallied back. A pass ahead to Darienne Korpi produced a break-away layup and Kassidee Yon zipped a pass to Lauren Grace coming down the lane for a score. With 1:21 left, Hallee Yon sank two free throws and Grace scored again to tie the game at 19-19.

In the third quarter, Drummond went up 27-22, but W-M counter-punched once again. Grace ran the pick-and-roll play twice and scored a basket and two free throws. Miranda Sibley rebounded her own shot and scored and freshman Rachel Obradovich rolled home a shot to narrow Drummond's lead to 31-30.

And with two passes ahead, Kassidee Yon made a lay-up as the horn sounded, giving the Cardinals its first lead of the game at 32-31.

"I thought momentum was going our way when we got the lead at the end of the third quarter," Pete Yon said. "It was gut-check time there. We got a good, strong game from out post players. Lauren Grace had a great game with 16 points. She has so much athletic ability. If she puts her mind to it, she could be one of the top scorers in the conference. Sibley and Obradovich had strong games inside. Those three really stepped it up with their aggressiveness and key baskets."

W-M clung to a 38-37 fourth quarter lead when Hallee Yon got the ball on the right side, drove to the center and sank a big 12-foot shot from the lane with 1:45 remaining. Obradovich followed with another pick-and-roll bucket and then Grace inserted the dagger by making a six-foot shot off glass with 14.6 seconds left.

Drummond's Miranda Wickman topped the Lumberjills' scoring with 14 points but was plagued by foul trouble.

Grace led all scorers with 16 points, while Obradovich notched 11.

The Cardinals won the junior varsity game

Wakefield-Marenisco (3-7, 3-6 IC) travels to South Shore on Thursday for another conference game with tip-off at 7:15 p.m.

Drummond - Miranda Wickman 14, Cora Martell 2, Ashley Mossuto 9, Hannah Kinderman 4, Cassie Krob 8. FTs: 5-9. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: none. 3-pointers: none.

W-M - Miranda Sibley 4, Darienne Korpi 2, Lauren Grace 16, Hallee Yon 7, Kassidee Yon 4, Rachel Obradovich 11. FTs: 8-22. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. 3-pointers: none.

Drummond 9 21 31 37

W-M 9 20 32 44