Petoskey girls come up short in Division 2 regional semifinal
MANISTIQUE — It’s been a season of some pretty big highs and some tough lows for the Petoskey girls’ basketball team.
Coming off perhaps the biggest high of winning a Division 2 district championship late last week, Petoskey was then hit with another low Monday across the bridge.
Meeting Negaunee in a Division 2 regional semifinal in Manistique, the Northmen hit a second half wall and met the end of their 2023-24 campaign in a 43-29 final against the Miners.
“Our girls played really hard,” Petoskey coach Bryan Shaw said. “We came up here tonight to the Upper Peninsula, played against an Upper Peninsula team and really went toe to toe for the majority of the game.”
Shaw’s team again brought its defensive tenacity to hold a Negaunee team – now 24-1 with one four-point loss on the season – to deficits after the first and second quarters, including 18-16 at the half.
Petoskey took a 23-18 lead on a Haidyn Wegmann 3-pointer in the third, but that was as big of a lead that would come, as the Miners went on a run to capture a 32-27 advantage after three, then continued to pull away in the fourth behind standout Ella Mason, who scored 18 of her game-high 23 points in the second half.
Braylin Adair led Petoskey with 12 points and five rebounds.
“Braylin played just great tonight,” Shaw said. “She’s such an improved player, great player. There was a stretch tonight where she might have been the best player on the floor.”
Caitlyn Matelski also had six points and eight rebounds, along with three blocks, while Wegmann had nine points and three assists. Quinn Matthews also had four assists.
The win for Negaunee actually brings them to Petoskey up next for a Petoskey hosted Division 2 regional semifinal at 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 13 against Ludington (19-7).
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While it’s easy to get caught looking at the loss afterward, Shaw also took time to look back on a season that started on a high and had it’s good moments mixed in as well.
“We won the inaugural Coach Pollion Tournament and we haven’t won that thing in years,” he said. “That was a big step, beating big schools like Grand Ledge and Grandville. Winning a district was big too. Kingsley has won that district the last few years and it was good to beat them.
“I think the future is bright. The weight room, getting the girls in there getting faster and stronger has made a difference the last couple years. We’re starting to see that. I think the future is definitely looking bright. We’ve got girls that want to have fun and play basketball.”
Five seniors depart from Shaw’s group, including Matthews, Emily Crittenden, Sophia Lee, Olivia Dow and Lia Trudeau.
“We’re going to miss the seniors,” Shaw said. “They’re great kids and we’ve got great kids coming up, and those that are coming back next year too. But, you always hate to see the seniors go. They gave us everything they had this year.”
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The cupboards are fully loaded for a return into regionals next season for Petoskey, with six underclassmen that regularly saw the court or started back, all with some confidence to head into the postseason with.
“We walk away with that the program is improving,” added Shaw. “The JV and the freshmen had good years, so we’ve got girls coming up, but they’ve all got to get in the gym and shoot. But, I like the look of the future.”
Contact or send game stats/info to Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Petoskey girls basketball falls to Negaunee in D2 regional semifinal
