Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
MARQUETTE — Frannie Zelinski became the latest Watersmeet Nimrod to be honored, while Emily DiGiorgio helped the Ironwood girls break a nine-year drought.
Zelinski was named to the All-U.P. Class D Second Team, while DiGiorgio was a Class ABC Second Team selection at Wednesday's 40th annual girls basketball meeting of the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.
The last Red Devil to make the All-U.P. team was Brittany Pertile in 2006. She made the Second Team in back-to-back years, also earning a spot in 2005.
DiGiorgio, a junior, averaged a double double, 15.8 points and 13.1 rebounds per game this season. She added 2.2 blockers per contest.
DiGiorgio was named Player of the Year in the Indianhead Conference East Division earlier this season.
"Besides basketball, she is a great person," Ironwood coach Tim Routheaux said. "She took the younger girls under her wing and was nice to them and invited them to stuff outside school, like a big sister.
"She wanted to change that atmosphere of our program and look out for one another."
Zelinski averaged around 14 points a game, while helping Watersmeet to a 10-10 record. That was in spite of the Nimrods having just five players at times this season.
Zelinski provided Watersmeet with senior leadership and some of the best speed and quickness in the area.
"She's really an active guard with point guard and shooting guard abilities," Watersmeet coach Norm Ellenberger said.
The last Nimrod to earn All-U.P. honors was in 2012 when Gertie McGeshick made the First Team for a second consecutive season. Also in 2011, teammate Marissa Burke was named Class D Player of the Year.
Wakefield-Marenisco junior Lauren Grace lost a tiebreaker that determined the final two spots in the Class D Second Team.
She averaged 13.6 points and 11 rebounds per game and led the Cardinals to a 19-4 season that ended with them giving eventual state quarterfinalist Crystal Falls Forest Park a very good battle in the district final.
Grace, Zelinski and North Central's (10-11) Baylee Wells tied for the final two spots. A tiebreaker vote was held and Zelinski and Wells edged Grace.
Both Zelinski and Wells were seniors this year. Zelinski received the most votes of the three.
Grace therefore received special mention along with Ewen-Trout Creek scoring machine Molly Niemi, a senior, and Ontonagon junior Lori Wardynski. Wardynski led the Gladiators to a district title.
Earning honorable mention were Bessemer senior Whitney Trcka and Wakefield-Marenisco junior Hallee Yon.
It was a competitive year in Class D with exceptional young talent.
Seven of the 17 girls making Dream Team, First Team or Second Team were seniors. The two Dream Team selections from Class D weren't seniors, St. Ignace's Abbey Ostman is a junior and Newberry's Taylor Bryant a sophomore.
Ostman already crossed the 1,000-point plateau as a junior and helped the Saints to a Class D state title last month. She was named the Class D Player of the Year, the seventh time a St. Ignace girl has won Player of the Year. Kelley Wright was ABC Player of the Year last year.
Bryant, who has a very bright future ahead, won a tiebreaker vote with St. Ignace senior Margo Brown for the final Dream Team spot. Some voters seemed unwilling to vote for two players from the same team on Dream Team, at least on the girls side. Brown, though, plans to play at Ferris State, and averaged 15 points per game. She also lived up to her nickname, Downtown Margo Brown, when hitting seven 3-points to save the Saints from an eight-point halftime deficit in the state semifinal.
Brown ended up on the Class D First Team.
St. Ignace was named Team of the Year in Class D. The Saints have won a Team of the Year award, either in Class C or Class D, the last six years. They've also gone to state all of those years.
Munising coach Matt Mattson won the Class D Coach of the Year award for leading a very young group to the regional final.
He beat out several candidates, including St. Ignace's Dorene Ingalls, who led her team back from significant deficits in the state semifinal and final. The Saints were down 20 in the second half of the state final, which they won in overtime.
Marquette senior Hunter Viitala (Northwood) won Player of the Year in Class ABC. Calumet's Lexie Rowe and Escanaba's Michelle LaFave (Michigan Tech) also made Dream Team.
Rowe had a season-high 22 points in the state title game. LaFave averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds per game while Viitala averaged 15.3 points per game.
Marquette was the Class AB Team of the Year with Calumet winning the award in Class C.
Calumet's Jeff Twardzik won Coach of the Year in Class ABC after leading the Copper Kings to the state championship in Class C. Twardzik was noted for his incredible calm in the state final, including down the stretch, despite playing powerhouse Flint Hamady. It was his first year coaching.
