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D-D-D-DEFENSE! Bark River Shocks Menominee
 Click the thumbnails to see photos, videos, and listen to post-game comments from Cara Zawacki and BR-H Coach Matt Richer. BARK RIVER---The Bark River-Harris Broncos girls basketball team used strong defense Friday night to upset the Menominee Maroons, 37-33, in the MHSAA Division Three district championship game in Bark River. It was BR-H's first-ever district championship as a Division Three school, after many years as a Class D/Division Four school.  But the Broncos frustrated the Maroons all night long with a 2-3 zone, and at the end, they literally packed the defense into the paint to prevent Maroons center Kennedy Olson from scoring. "Not a whole lot of people gave us a chance," BR-H Coach Matt Richer said. "I told the girls 'believe in yourselves, you can do anything'. We got it into the fourth quarter, and we knew we had a chance. Then they started to press a little bit and they caught up, but what a feeling. I'm so happy for my team. It's just awesome. I've got a great group of girls." "I'm so, so happy," BR-H senior Cara Zawacki said. "We were the underdog coming in, everyone said. But we knew we had it. We knew we would give it our all and we would come out with a win if we worked hard tonight." The Maroons jumped off to a 5-0 lead before the Broncos got a couple of baskets from Zawacki and Alaska Peterson to take a 18-16 lead at halftime. The Broncos made their move in the third quarter, cashing in on a couple of turnovers with Zawacki scoring on the baseline twice. Early in the fourth quarter, BR-H had a 31-23 lead. But after a sweet move by Zawacki on the baseline to build that eight point lead, the Broncos did not score another basket for more than five minutes. They relied on their defense and the uncharacteristically-cold shooting from the Maroons to keep a slim lead down the stretch.  "She's their best player, and we were like, she's not going to pass the ball," Richer said. "They were down, and they needed to score. So, we were, send the house to her. We weren't gonna let her beat us. One of them girls was gonna beat us with a shot outside, She wasn't gonna beat us down low." "We just worked really hard on defense," Zawacki said. "Our defense is what won us that game." Zawacki had a game-high 14 points to lead the Broncos. Lauren Zawada added eight. For Menominee, Olson had 12 points and Anna Axtell knocked down two early triples and had eight points altogether.Menominee had only two baskets the entire second half, along with ten free throws. If BR-H was an underdog Friday night, just wait until next Tuesday in the regional semifinals. The Broncos will be an even bigger underdog as they face the Calumet Copper Kings, who are 20-2 on the season, with their only losses coming to Escanaba and Houghton. Tuesday's game is set for 6 p.m. at Marquette High School. It will be broadcast live on FM-93.5 and AM-600, as well as on-line at www.rrnsports.com.  |
