Standish-Sterling's Abbye Gulvas gets past Ogemaw's Ashley Thompson for a fast break layup during the Panthers' 61-51 victory.
The Falcons' Kristi Killackey looks for room under the basket during Tuesday's district tournament game.
Linda Eyer
Kelsye Mielke scores early in the second quarter to give the Panthers an eight point lead over Ogemaw.

OGEMAW HEIGHTS - Feb. 19, 2008 - Standish-Sterling's late-season roller-coaster ride isn't over yet

The Panthers, with little time to come to grips with the loss of senior standout Alyssa White to a knee injury, got 33 points from the freshmen and sophomores on their roster to defeat Ogemaw Heights 61-51 in Tuesday's Class B district first round contest.

The Falcons, to be fair, were down three players from the team that twice gave SSC fits before losing close games during the regular season. Senior Keshia Allen, who broke her foot a week ago, scored 32 points in her two games against SSC, while White had 50 in her two games against the Falcons.

SSC coach Kevin King had just a couple days to devise a gameplan that didn't include his record-setting scorer as well as repair the psyche of his young team.

Throw in a snow day that delayed the tournament by a day -- one that King said might have helped the team's mindset more than anything -- and the need for his three freshmen to keep growing up in a big hurry, and there was no telling what he could expect from his team.

"When I look back at all the games and all the seasons, this win will always be special," he said of Tuesday's victory. "In the end it was just a gutsy performance by some young kids that could very easily have quit on the season."

"There's no 'I' in team, and they proved it," said Ogemaw coach Tim Hansen. "They're not the program they are for no reason. They weren't about to cancel the season because a great player got hurt. They're an established program with a lot of kids who do a lot of different things."

Ogemaw's pressure led to three quick Hanna Morell buckets and Ashley Thompson scored on a fast break to make it 8-2, and it briefly looked as though SSC might be in over its head.

"Those first few minutes were what I was hoping for," Hansen said. "But they adjusted to our pressure. We tried to switch up our presses. We made some mistakes, but all of our mistakes tonight were 'effort' mistakes.

"You don't like to have those, but I told the kids I was proud of their effort. They tried so hard, none of their mistakes were from a lack of trying."

Abbye Gulvas, starting her first game in White's spot, hit two free throws and a 3-pointer to get the Panthers within a point, and Heather Robinson followed with a trey of her own to give SSC its first lead at 10-8.

Kayla Hilyard's basket made it 12-10 -- a lead the Panthers never gave up, though they were never able to put the Falcons away.

Hilyard finished with eight points, but in the kind of hard-nosed performance for which she's developed a reputation, pulled down 16 rebounds, was a defensive stalwart and proved invaluable in providing help to Alli Collier on the Panthers' press-break offense.

"Hilyard set the tone," King said of his junior forward. "She decided she was going to do whatever she had to at the defensive end. Collier handled the pressure well, Lindsay Nelson had a great game, and Heather Robinson's defense, especially when she was on Ashley Thompson in the second half, were all huge."

The Panthers led by as many as nine in the first half, but Ogemaw's Colleen Wren drilled a triple to cap the scoring and pull the Falcons to within 34-29.

Collier, Hilyard and Nelson scored during a 6-0 run to open the second half, and SSC led by 10-12 points until Jordan Foster hit short jumper, Wren hit another trey and Rilee Palm hit two free throws to cut it to 49-44.

Gulvas answered with her second trey of the game to close out the third quarter at 52-44 and give SSC the momentum heading into the fourth.

The Falcons once more pulled to within five -- on a Thompson 3-pointer with six minutes left -- but the Panthers scored four quick points and held on despite making just 3-of-11 free throws in the fourth quarter.

Gulvas led the Panthers (14-7) with 15 points, with Nelson adding 14 and Collier 11

Thompson led the Falcons (9-12) with 15 points, with Wren adding 11.

"We had our ups and downs, but it wasn't a bad season," Hansen said. "We learned a lot on and off the court, and we knocked off some good teams like Whittemore and Houghton Lake.

"I'm proud that we kept playing hard and trying hard."

For King and the Panthers their wild late-season ride continues in just 24 hours against Gladwin in the 8 p.m. Wednesday semifinal, with the winner moving on to Friday's championship game against Houghton Lake or Tawas Area.

"This has been all about a young, tenacious team that won't quit," King said. "They're having fun and playing together, and they want to enjoy this for as long as they can make it last."