Plymouth girls cagers snap three-game losing skid
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BOYS BASKETBALL
PLYMOUTH 73, CHURCHILL 41: A 26-0 edge in the second quarter and Anthony Crump’s 23-point night lifted the Wildcats to a comfortable KLAA Black Division win on Jan. 9.
Also playing well in the win were Justin Reynolds (12 points) and Joey Robb (11 points).
For the Chargers, Luke Jaroszewicz and Taji Hall scored 12 and 10 points, respectively.
“Great team effort,” Plymouth head coach Mike Soukup said. “The boys got after a very athletic group in Churchill. Coach (James) McCulloh has his guys hungry and ready to go.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
CANTON 50, FRANKLIN 29: Ashley Criscenti and Alex Bohn each scored 12 points Jan. 9 to pace the visiting Chiefs (5-2, 4-0 in the KLAA Black Division). Criscenti also tallied 10 rebounds for a double-double. Helping the Canton cause with eight points was Abby Sokol, while Alaina Heitmeyer added six points and 10 rebounds.
For the Patriots (3-5), Olivia Napier tallied 12 points while Ashley Deguise scored eight.
“Tonight, everyone on the roster got into the scoring column and it was a great team effort on both ends of the floor,” Canton head coach Rob Heitmeyer said.
PLYMOUTH 57, CHURCHILL 31: A balanced attack sparked the Wildcats to this KLAA Black Division win Jan. 9. Garnering double figures for Plymouth (5-3, 1-2) were Chantal LeDoux (15 points), Angela Schmidt (12 points) and Elle McCaslin (11 points).
Macey Reese and Nasya Thomas scored eight and six points, respectively, for the Chargers (3-4, 0-3).
"I was pleased with our energy and execution from the tip,” Plymouth coach Ryan Ballard said. “This is a carryover from a great practice the day before.”
PLYMOUTH 65, ALLEN PARK 36: Chantal LeDoux and Ella Riley each scored 13 points as the Wildcats (4-3) snapped a three-game losing streak with a non-conference win Jan. 4 over the host Jaguars (1-4).
Sydney McCaig chipped in with 12 points for Plymouth, which led 36-16 at halftime and 52-29 after three quarters.
Grace Kubik tallied a game-high 20 for Allen Park.
"We've had a great week of practice," Plymouth coach Ryan Ballard said. "It certainly showed tonight with our effort and execution. Angela Schmidt (six points) and Audrey Kananen (six points) provided us with some key minutes and made a lot of plays that do not show up in the box score."
Plymouth returns to KLAA Black Division action beginning at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 9 at home against Livonia Churchill for Swish Sister 5000 Night.
BOYS HOCKEY
HOWELL 4, NORTHVILLE 3: On Jan. 9, goalie Calvin Kantola made 31 saves as the host Highlanders (5-7, 3-2) downed the state-ranked Mustangs (7-4, 3-2) in a KLAA Gold Division game.
Josh Farr, Billy Eskola and Nolan Smith each recorded a goal and assist for Howell, while Wes Smith had the other goal.
HOUGHTON 3, NOVI 0: Dawson McKay tallied a goal and two assists and goalie Will Stier notched the shutout to lead the the Gremlins (7-5-1) to a non-conference win Jan. 6 over the Wildcats (5-9) and Dee Stadium.
Houghton, ranked No. 5 in Division 3, also got goals from Brendan Erickson and Taavi Rajala.
HANCOCK 9, NOVI 1: Teddy Randell racked up four goals and one assist, while Alex Nordstrom chipped in with two goals and three assists as the Bulldogs (9-2), ranked No. 1 in Division 3, rolled to a non-conference win Jan. 5 over the Wildcats (5-8) at Houghton County Arena.
Hancock, outshooting Novi 46-14, also got got offensive production from Trevor Tcida (two goals), Colton Salani (one goal, two assists), Jakob Vetton (two assists), Austin Salai (two assists) and Teddy Perrault (two assists).
Alex Scarozza scored for Novi with an assist going to Maanas Sharma.
STEVENSON 7, SALEM 2: The No. 2 team in Division 2, Livonia Stevenson, raced out to a 6-0 lead Saturday and coasted to this KLAA Black Division victory at Redford Ice Arena.
Cole Parkhurst scored twice for the Spartans, while Julian Decina tallied one goal and three assists. Also helping the Stevenson cause with one goal each were Jake Beaune (also two assists), Austin Adamic, Vinny Decina and Jayden Spears.
For Salem, Garrett Christie and Alex Schaumburger scored. Chipping in with assists were Sean McCormack, Tyler German and Colin Goleniak.
Making 21 stops for Stevenson was the winning netminder, Will Tragge. Finishing up between the pipes in the third period was Eric Polzin. Rocks’ goalie Austin Goleniak took the defeat.
SALINE 4, CHURCHILL 3: A three-goal second period by the host Hornets proved too much in this Saturday non-conference matchup at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube.
The Chargers were led by Conor Burnette and Carter Swider, who each chipped in with a goal and an assist. Churchill’s third goal was registered by Seth Kucharczyk. For Saline, Connor Wright and Brendan Murphy each tallied a goal and an assist.
PLYMOUTH 3, SOO 0: On Saturday in Sault Ste. Marie, the Wildcats blanked the hosts behind a 14-save shutout performance by junior goalie Josh Montroy.
Scoring goals for Plymouth were Jacob Back, Tim Baldwin and Jack VanDenBeurgeury (who also had an assist). Single assists were picked up by Nathan Stoneburg, Shane Aigner, Tommy Casari and Jake Blake.
SALEM 2-1 UP NORTH: The Salem Rocks won two of three games over a three-day span in Traverse City.
On Dec. 28, Salem lost 7-5 to Saginaw Heritage at Centre Ice Arena, despite Colin Goleniak’s hat trick.
But the Rocks bounced back on Dec. 29 with a 5-4 win over Bay Reps and capped off the annual trip on Dec. 30, with a 5-1 victory over Midland.
Against Bay Reps, the Rocks received single tallies from Garrett Christie, Alex Schaumburger, Tyler German, Dante Doute and Devan Grayshaw. Splitting time between the pipes were goalies Austin Goleniak and Max Van Wert.
Salem then posted the win over Midland, sparked by multi-point games by Tyler German (two goals), Schaumburger (goal, assist) and Colin Goleniak (goal, assist). Adding a single goal was Anthony Gattoni.
Stopping 28 of 29 shots for the victory was goalie Austin Goleniak.
WRESTLING
FRANKLIN STRONG: Livonia Franklin had strong showings over the long holiday break, with a pair of second-place finishes and one championship in three tournaments.
The Patriots went second at the Pinckey team tourney and followed up by winning the 27-team Salem Elks Invitational. Franklin (14-3) then had a second-place finish at the Melvindale tourney.
Coach David Chiola listed the following wrestlers as starting off on the right foot this season: Jager Kwiatkowski (12-4), Russ Rusnell (24-3), Howie Whitaker (18-9), Johnny DiPonio (26-2), Marino DiPonio (19-3), Erick Reaves (21-7), Emmanuel Willie (15-1) and Jake Swirple (24-4).
“We’re starting to jell together as a team,” Chiola noted. “Some guys have a ton of varsity experience and some are wrestling varsity for the first time. There are also a few weights where we alternate kids. Some weights we have pretty good depth, but other weights we have none.
“Coming out of the break I’m just going to look for each wrestler to improve individually so the team as a whole can improve. The postseason will be here before we know it.”
SALEM SIXTH: Salem placed sixth out of 18 teams Jan. 6 at the 43rd annual Dave Elliot Invitational at Clinton High School.
Leading the Rocks was heavyweight Jake Giorgi, with a second-place medal. Placing third were Mason Opie (112), JaQuan Baker (152); in fifth place was Ali Kobeissi (135); both Collin Schultz (119) and Dom Valdivia (145) came in sixth.
“Jake Giorgi has been a hammer for us all year and lost to a tough kid in the finals,” coach Jeremy Henderson said. “JaQuan Baker had a good day as well taking third, and the only way to place high in these tournaments is to wrestle back from losses and we had quite a few take 5th and 6th which is good.
“Everyone won at least a match today and that does your team well when it comes to team points.”
GIRLS GYMNASTICS
ROCKFORD INVITE: Canton (134.575 points) placed fifth at the 14-team Rockford Invitational on Jan. 6. Taking the top spot was Rockford, with 142.975 points).
Zoe Graves led the Chiefs with Division 1 scores of 9.025 on floor exercise (first), 8.75 on balance beam (second) and 34.125 in the all-around (second). Meanwhile, Rachel Socha (8.775 on vault, 8.75 on balance beam), Nehal Harish (8.525 on vault), Bree Kalinsky (8.45 on floor), Katherine Najduk (8.45 on vault) and Annika Wang (8.45 on beam) had solid showings.
“It was a nice balanced team performance, with 17 scores above 8.0 out of our 20 in the meet,” Canton coach John Cunningham said. “The team has a lot of work to do to get back to the 140 team score goal, but counting three falls on beam and one on bars in this meet makes our score deceptively lower than it could have been.”
BOYS SWIMMING
NORTHVILLE 116, HOWELL 70: The state-ranked Mustangs (4-0, 2-0) won eight-of-12 events on Jan. 4 to down the visiting Highlanders in a KLAA Gold Division dual meet.
Individual double winners for Northville included Travis Nitkiewicz in the 200-yard individual medley (1:57.86) and 100 breaststroke (59.46), along with Kirk Maibach in the 50 freestyle (22.56) and 100 freestyle (49.74).
Other firsts came from Trevor DeGroot in the 200 freestyle (1:46.98) and Jason Nitkiewicz in the 100 butterfly (54.06).
The foursome of Arthur Greenlee, Travis Nitkiewicz, Kirk Maibach and Craig Maibach also won the 200 medley relay (1:40.68). Northville's 200 freestyle relay team of Greenlee, Cameron Heaven, Jason Nitkiewicz and Kirk Maibach was also victorious.
Howell's firsts came from Emily Enderbrock, 1-meter diving (167.55 points); Hunter Gubeno, 500 freestyle (4:54.64); and Tyler Caudy, 100 backstroke (56.72). Henry Bauer, Gubeno, Caudy and Braden Gregory captured the 400 freestyle relay (3:25.97).