Bay City Tribune

The county’s basketball teams are starting the season with a flurry of wins, including the Sharkette’s last-minute shot to beat Bloomington and the Tigers second-place finish in Danbury’s tournament.

The wins are a hopeful indication of progress for many struggling programs that have had little success over the past several years.

Palacios’ girls are returning from a 3-27 season with nearly every start back in hopes of removing that bitter taste. The Sharkettes fell to Danbury by three points last Tuesday to open the season and followed it up with a two-point win over Bloomington Friday to go 1-1.

Audrey Kubecka made a buzzer shot after a full court pass from Jenna Treybig to win it.

“We pulled out a win in the last 3.4 seconds of the game. Jenna threw a perfect full court pass to Chelsey Kubecka, who passed to Beth Martino, who passed to Audrey, who made the shot as the clock expired,” said Palacios head basketball coach Aaron Wollam.

“The Danbury game, we played very well for having one day of practice. The kids got after it and played with a high intensity level. We actually led most of the way but Danbury made a 7-2 run at the end to beat us. When we get in b-ball shape, we will be alright.”

The Sharkettes did lead Danbury in the second quarter with a halftime score of 25-19. The Panthers caught up in the third, but Palacios still took a 34-32 edge into the fourth.

Chelsey Kubecka had eight points, seven rebounds; Martino had seven points, two steals; Christen Sandoval had seven points, four steals; Treybig had six points, six rebounds.

Palacios got behind early against Bloomington, down 15-14 after the first and 28-25 at intermission. The kept the same margin after three periods and came back to outscore them 12-7 in the fourth.

Martino led with 12 points and four steals; Audrey Kubecka had 10 point, 10 rebounds, four steals; Brittany Garcia had six points, six steals; Chelsey Kubecka had six points, 11 rebounds.

Ladycats 48, Wharton 44

Bay City’s girls improved to 2-2 with a late win over Wharton. The Ladycats won 48-44 with Nikki Mayberry posting up 17 points with four rebounds, two steals and two assists.

The Ladycats fought back from a 29-19 halftime deficit and outscored the Lady Tigers 29-17 in the second half to get away with the W.

Devan Price dropped in 14 points, five steals and three rebounds and Alyssa Dibbern had nine points with 14 rebounds and four steals.

Tigerettes 51, Danbury 32

Tidehaven won two games last week, opening with a 35-22 win over East Bernard. Emily Tsika led the charge with 11 points and seven rebounds.

Brittney Manciaz scored six and Shawnette Woods had eight rebounds.

The Tigerettes followed with a 51-32 win over Danbury on Friday. Tsika came out hot again with 11 points and nine rebound. Andrea Wiley had seven points, four rebounds and two assists and Woods had nine points and seven rebounds.

“The team played well against East Bernard. The bench was able to come out and help defensively. The girls were able to stop East Bernard by not allowing them to score in the fourth quarter,” said Tidehaven girls basketball coach J.J. Woods.

“Alyssa King came off the bench (against Danbury) and played well with 11 points, three rebounds and three huge blocked shots and two assists. Shelbee Garay played a very strong defensive game.”

Tigers second in Danbury

Tidehaven’s boys team finished in second play last weekend in the Danbury basketball tournament with two wins and a loss.

Homeschool Christian Youth Association beat the Tigers in the final game 62-48. Chance Chavez led the team in scoring with 17 points and was named All-Tournament.

The Tigers beat CSYA 75-31 with Jeremy Sanford scoring 15, Chavez 12 and Johnny Jiminez 11. Danbury fell to Tidehaven 60-48. Chavez had a tournament-high 20 points and Jiminez had 14.