STANDISH-STERLING – Dec. 7, 2007 – Standish-Sterling's girls basketball team had every chance to put away Ogemaw Heights in Friday's North East Michigan Conference contest.

Despite spending what felt like all night on the foul line – their 56 free throws, plus 17 by Ogemaw Heights, did lengthen the game to more than two hours – it took a standout performance by SSC senior Alyssa White to get the Panthers past Ogemaw 65-60.

White scored a school-record 36 points, including 10 of the Panthers' 15 made field goals. That included four 3-pointers, including three during a critical third-quarter stretch, and was 12-of-20 from the free throw line.

“That was a special game, to have those kinds of points put up,” said SSC coach Kevin King. “I'm sure it's something she'll never forget. And we needed every one of those tonight. It's a tremendous accomplishment when you consider all the college-level players that have played here.”

The previous school record is believed to have been 31 points put up by Carrie Bell, who watched her mark go down while sitting on the SSC bench as King's assistant.

“It's definitely the most since I've been coaching (since 2001),” King said. “I called (former SSC coach) Howard Colberg and he didn't remember anyone hitting 30.”

“She's a nice player,” said Ogemaw coach Tim Hansen. “You've got to hand it to her. She shot the lights out, and as much as we were shouting from the bench to locate her, we didn't do enough to get a hand in her face.”

The lead changed hands through most of the third quarter, but each time the Falcons went up, White responded a triple, giving the Panthers leads of 41-39, 44-43 and 47-46. The last one came in response to a Colleen Wren 3-pointer and gave SSC the lead for good, though hanging onto it wasn't easy.

“Each of those 3-pointers you could tell were going in as soon as they left her hand,” King said.

The Panthers gradually extended the lead to as many as 10 in the fourth quarter, though their 8-of-20 free throw shooting in the period didn't help. The Falcons, though understandably taken back by the 56-17 disparity in attempts, may have been better off with things as they were as they hit only four of their free throw tries, including 3-of-8 down the stretch.

The Falcons made it interesting in the final 20 seconds with a pair of steals that they converted into quick hoops by Keshia Allen and a trey by Jacie Lucas that cut SSC's lead in half, but were too late to finish off the comeback.

Allen led the Falcons (1-2, 1-2 NEMC) with 19 points, with Thompson adding nine. Lindsay Nelson added 12 for SSC (3-1, 1-0).

“The first thing I told the girls when we got to the locker room was how proud I was of them,” Hansen said. “They kept battling and didn't give up. They got a hard lesson at John Glenn about physical play, and this game was physical.”

One thing Hansen wanted to address, however, was his team's tendency to get off to a slow start. SSC threaten to end it early, breaking out to an 11-0 lead as Ogemaw piled up fouls early.

“We got down big early on Tuesday also,” Hansen said. “We need to get off to better starts. Even against Oscoda we took three minutes to score.”

The Panthers still led 33-18 midway through the second quarter, but the Falcons ended the half with a 17-2 run that tied it at 35-35 at the half. Most of those points came off Thompson's penetration into the paint as she picked up assists dishing to Allen, Wren and Kristi Killackey for most of her team's points. Allen finished off the half with a trey that sent the Falcons to the locker room with all the momentum.

“Ogemaw just kept on coming,” King said. “Our start was perfect, but I think we got fatigued, and that affects your shots and free throws. We learned about ourselves tonight. Heather Robinson made some huge strides handling the ball.

“If you play Ogemaw, you'd better be ready to run the floor and shoot some free throws.”