By Kalvin D. Perron
Staff Reporter
BRIMLEY — The Brimley Bays girls basketball team started off their season 3-0. Their season opener against the St. Basil Saints on Sept. 2 came down to the final 16 seconds. Bays senior guard Stephanie Freedman stole the inbound pass and dished the ball off to Meghan Routhier. Routhier hit the game-winning 12-foot jumper with only seconds left on the clock.
After a 62-4 clobbering of Wolverine on Sept. 4, the Bays travelled to Rudyard, where they beat the Bulldogs by a score of 67-43 on Sept. 7. Brimley Coach Ray Bell said this victory was one of particular significance.
“The victory over Rudyard was very special for us because the seniors on our team have never beaten them,” he said. “They played with a lot of passion, scoring 28 points in the third quarter.”
At 3-0, the Bays now had their first real challenge: EUPC rival Cedarville Trojans.
Cedarville came into Brimley without one of their top scorers, but it did not seem to affect their performance.
The Cedarville press forced Brimley into committing turnovers, which resulted in easy buckets. They dominated the Bays down low, and opened up a double-digit lead going into the half.
The Bays managed to hold the Trojans to only two points in the third quarter, narrowing their lead to five going into the fourth quarter. The Bays were unable to ride the wave of momentum and were outscored 17-8 in the fourth quarter. They lost the game 41-27 and fell to 3-1.
Brimley's schedule of four games in seven days proved costly for them. They lost their next two games to Big Bay de Noc on Sept. 11 and St. Basils on Sept. 13 and fell to 3-3. To make matters worse, they had to go into Engadine and play the U.P.'s fifth-ranked team and conference leader.
ENGADINE — The Bays went into Engadine Sept. 16 with one goal in mind: Stop the Eastern Upper Peninsula Conference's (EUPC) leading scorer Elicia Derusha at all costs. Well, they did just that.
Derusha had gone into the game averaging 20 points a game, a fact Brimley Head Coach Ray Bell was well aware of.”
“We did everything we could to stop her and it worked,” he said. “We held her to only six points.”
Bell's defensive scheme revolved around a box-and-one defense, with guards Katie Kingsbury and PJ Hopper taking turns playing man-to-man defense on Derusha.
Bell didn't anticipate the scoring outburst from freshman Shauni Rutledge, who lit the Bays up for 17 points and carried them to a 47-44 victory.
Meghan Routhier and Candace Leapley led the Bays scoring attack in Engadine with 12 and 10 points. Bays leading scorer Stephanie Freedman was also held to six points.
The Bays are led by Stephanie Freedman: 11.1 points-per-game; 4.2 rebounds-per-game; 5 steals-per-game; and 4 assists-per-game; Candace Leapley: 10.6 points-per-game; 5.3 rebounds-per-game; Molly McIntyre: 6.3 points-per-game; 4.3 rebounds-per-game; Meghan Routhier: 5.8 points-per-game and 4.7 rebounds-per-game.
