Black Bears victorious in rubber match against Cougars | News, Sports, Jobs

EBEN JUNCTION — A strong defensive effort by Big Bay de Noc girls basketball propelled them to a 52-28 victory over Superior Central in a Division 4 district semifinal matchup here Thursday.

The Black Bears forced 31 Cougar turnovers and turned them into 22 points.

“We knew they lost their best player,” Caragan Thill said. “We knew if we just pushed the ball fast we could run away with it.”

The Black Bears opened the game scoring the first 10 points, including five from Thill.

In the second quarter, The Black Bears extended their lead as senior Lila Morris knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to extend their lead to 22-4.

Addie Frusti answered with a 3-pointer from the wing. Moments later Frusti drove through the lane for a layup and drew a foul but missed the free throw and the Cougars cut the deficit to 22-9.

“We have really been struggling this last half of the season offensively,” Cougars’ coach Skip Rutter said. “The future is bright for us. We only lose one player. I told the girls to take this feeling and use it and get to work in the off-season so that we can hopefully improve from this season.”

The Black Bears came out of the halftime break and extended their lead to 40-19. Thill had the first nine points of the third quarter.

“I’m hoping we get to play Munising,” Thill said. “We haven’t played them yet so it would be fun to play a new team.”

Superior Central senior Sammy Johnson eared a layup after suffering an injury midway through the season.