Revenge of the Redskins

Sandusky beats Harbor Beach in regional semis, avenges final regular season loss
BY CHRIS OGRYSKI
EDITOR

Editor's Note: To hear more comments from Schock, check out our audio of the interview at:
http://www.box.net/shared/f1p88r1i4e.
Harbor Beach ended Sandusky’s chance for a league championship. Sandusky ended Harbor Beach’s dream of a regional title.
The Redskins had a chance to win a share of the Greater Thumb East crown if they won their final game of the regular season. Instead, the Pirates decided to play spoiler and knocked off Sandusky 43-35, holding the Redskin’s Marissa DeMott to nine points in the loss.
Yesterday, Sandusky returned the favor, beating Harbor Beach 54-42 in the regional semifinals at Montrose.
While the Redskins played early on like a team that had been there before, the Pirate’s lack of post-season experience showed as the Harbor Beach players seemed intimidated by their surroundings. The Pirates trailed 10-3 after the first and were behind 26-15 at the half.
“We haven’t been here before, so it was something new,” Harbor Beach coach Marilee Schock explained. “We really were not mentally up or ready to go.”
“We were out of sync the entire first half,” she added.
But conversely, Sandusky got off to a fast start as DeMott scored eight of her game high 32 points in the first quarter. “Defensively we did not key in on her like we needed to,” Schock admitted.

"A couple of girls have already asked, ‘When does the season start?’ They are ready to go again."
Harbor Beach coach Marilee Schock on her team's enthusiasm about the 2009-2010 season.

“She is so quick off the dribble either way, left or right. She is such a quick shot and it is tough to play defense on that,” Schock added.
“If you pick her up full court, she is going to take it right to the hole and draw a foul. If you don’t stay with her, she is going to shoot a three off of a triple-staggered screen.”
The second half was much of the same, as Harbor Beach continued to struggle to get momentum offensively. Every time the Pirates strung together a score or two, the Redskins answered back to maintain their 10-12 point lead.
Harbor Beach did get as close as eight twice in the second half, trailing 29-21 with 4:40 remaining in the third and 36-28 with 1:45 to go in the quarter. But after that, Sandusky’s lead would never get under 10 the rest of the way. “We missed a lot of easy shots,” she said. “(And) we didn’t get second shots.”
While the loss proved to be a disappointing end to an otherwise successful season, Schock believes in the long run the setback could pay dividends…huge dividends. “This was a great opportunity for our young kids; it is a stepping stone to what we are going to do next year,” she explained.
She added, “This is a great experience coming here and playing under these conditions: traveling a long distance, changing your routine and playing on a totally different court then we are used to playing on.”
Harbor Beach should have several players who can take advantage of this experience as they potentially return seven of 10 girls from this year’s team (they lose three seniors in Alicia Seltz, Whitney Cook and Kaylee Lochrie), including six players who will be seniors during the 2009-2010 season.
With this year’s success, there is already a buzz amongst the girls about what can be accomplished during the next school year. “A couple of girls have already asked, ‘When does the season start?’ They are ready to go again,” said an excited Schock.
She is confident that with a good mix of returning and new players next year, her squad will be more than capable of winning a district and competing in regionals. “That experience is huge,” she said.
“It is priceless,” she added. “Next year when they get in this situation, they will have been there.”

Sandusky 54, Harbor Beach 42
Sandusky 10-16-14-14--54
Harbor Beach 03-12-15-12--42

Sandusky: K. Jensen 0 0-2 3, L. Krause 1 0-0 2, M. Hale 5 0-0 10, M. DeMott 9 8-8 32, J. Stauffer 0 1-2 1, E. Hale 3 0-0 6 Totals: 18 (3) 9-12 54

Harbor Beach: H. Grekowicz 2 0-0 7, A. Seltz 0 2-2 2, T. Kraft 3 2-2 8, W. Cook 1 0-0 2, H. Wilson 4 5-11 13, B. Woycehoski 2 2-6 6, K. Lochrie 0 4-4 4 Totals: 12 (1) 15-25 42

Three-pointers: Sandusky (M. DeMott 2, K. Jensen 1); Harbor Beach (H. Grekowicz 1)