Gaylord hoops swept in trip to Petoskey
The trip to Petoskey was one to forget for Gaylord basketball as the girls let a halftime lead slip away while the boys couldn't keep up with Petoskey's pace.
Dylan Jespersen
PETOSKEY ― Two different Gaylord teams traveled to Petoskey on Thursday with different goals in mind.
On one side, the Gaylord girls came in with a ton of confidence off of a convincing win over Midland on Tuesday and had a chance to prove themselves as the new team to beat in the Big North if they could upend the defending champions in the rival Northmen.
On the boys side, they looked to get back on track after a tough loss to Cadillac opened their conference schedule on a sour note last Friday night.
Unfortunately, both teams had to leave Petoskey without their goals accomplished.
The girls opened the night strong, leading the Northmen after the first quarter and at halftime, but a strong second half from Petoskey eventually sunk the visiting Blue Devils in a 44-34 defeat. Then, in the nightcap, the Petoskey boys controlled the tempo and, as a result, the scoreboard throughout the Blue Devils' 72-36 defeat to send Gaylord home with two losses on the night.
Gaylord girls start strong, second-half run lifts Petoskey
Head coach Kelli Parker and the Gaylord girls have no problem with depth, often playing as deep as 10 players in their main rotation. However, there is no question that the offense runs through seniors Meghan Keen and Alexis Kozlowski as well as junior Avery Parker. As they go, so does the Gaylord offense.
Early on, Parker got going, scoring five of her team-high 14 points in the first quarter, and it looked like she would get the offense going as Gaylord took a 12-7 lead. Keen also seemingly had things clicking early, finishing the opening quarter with four points, but the Petoskey defense would make things difficult for her after that, going scoreless the rest of the way.
That put pressure on Kozlowski to pick up more of the scoring slack, and while she contributed an early 3-pointer in the first quarter, Petoskey's defense also did a great job of running her off the 3-point line throughout the game.
Gaylord's defense was strong enough to hold the lead at 19-18 heading into halftime, but the third quarter is where that changed.
There, an 11-2 run put Petoskey ahead by nine points and gave all the momentum to the Northmen as they built a double-digit lead. Parker and the Blue Devils tried to fight back, scoring another eight points in the second half, but a dominant effort by Petoskey's Grayson Guy in the fourth was enough to put the game away.
Parker led Gaylord in points (14), free-throw attempts (six) and free-throws made (five). Kozlowski finished with eight points while Petoskey limited Keen to just four. Alexis Shepherd had five points and Kennedy Wangler added three.
Gaylord's record drops to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in Big North play. They are scheduled to travel to Lake City on Tuesday, December 20 to wrap up the December portion of their schedule.
Northmen run away with season's first rivalry matchup
After the disappointing result against Cadillac last Friday, the Blue Devils' boys knew they had their hands full traveling to Petoskey on Thursday, a team that had started the 2022-23 campaign 3-0 and looked as dangerous as any Northern Michigan team.
However, they knew they had some extra help as Gaylord's leading scorer from last season, Luke Gelow, returned to the lineup after missing the Cadillac game with a shoulder injury.
His presence was a welcome one as he poured in nine early points in the first quarter to help Gaylord stay close, trailing 17-11 after quarter one.
From there, it was all Petoskey.
An 11-2 Northmen run to start the second quarter pushed the Gaylord deficit to 14 points, and things never quite got turned around. Petoskey went up 36-21 by halftime, and a 9-0 run in the third quarter put the game away for good.
Gelow led the team with 18 points, while Luke Enders added 10 points in the double-digit loss.
With a 1-2 overall record and 0-2 record in the BNC, Gaylord will have one more matchup before wrapping for the December break. They are set to host Grayling on Tuesday, December 20, concluding the 2022 portion of their schedule.