The Beal City Girls have been stellar defending their home court this season, and that continued Thursday night following a 43-26 win over Highland conference opponent Houghton Lake.
The Aggies came into the game at 4-5 overall, 2-3 in the conference. Despite the below .500 record, Beal City has played well at home; 3-1 coming in, and haven’t lost on their own court since the very first game of the season.
Beal City came out with high level defensive intensity, not allowing any Bobcat buckets in the first 5 minutes and 15 seconds of the game, where they led 12-2. That was the score at the end of the first, where Senior Lydee Salisbury led the Aggies with 4.
In the second, the Aggies continued the defensive prowess, extending their lead to 15 at one point. A couple of shots including a big three-ball before the horn from Melanie Muringer of Houghton Lake cut the Aggie lead to 9 at the break, 21-12.
Lanie Longton led Beal with 8 at the half, and Lilly Leppert had a couple first half triples to go in with 6.
In the second half the Bobcats would go on spurts of scoring runs to cut the lead as low as 5, but Beal City would answer with layups and free throws time again, as they went on to defeat Houghton Lake 43-26.
Aggies were led by Junior Lanie Longton who finished with a game high 14 points. Both stellar Seniors Lydee Salisbury & Lilly Leppert finished with 9 apiece. All 9 of Lilly’s coming from behind the arc.
The Bobcats were led by Senior Melanie Muringer who had 14, also hitting 3 triples herself.
Beal City advances to 5-5 overall, 3-3 in the Highland, and now 4-1 at home. They will hit the road again next week with a trip to Lake City on Monday followed by another road game against Pine River on Wednesday.
Our local high school coverage continues next week on Monday the 20th at Sacred Heart High School as the Irish Girls host Gladwin.
Kyle Sandel – Buck92 Sports Director
