OGEMAW HEIGHTS - Jan. 4, 2008 - Tawas Area showed for a half why its girls basketball team is still unbeaten, though Ogemaw Heights' second-half performance might have put a bit of a different spin on the Braves' 50-36 NEMC victory to open the new year on Friday.

Tawas dominated the opening half as Ogemaw found almost nothing open against the Braves' zone defense, scoring most of its points off turnovers but nothing else. Tawas fired on all cylinders in the first quarter as well, getting points from five different players in a game-opening 11-2 run. The Braves led 25-12 at the half.

"We pretty much got what we deserved," said Falcon coach Tim Hansen. "It wasn't a good Christmas break for us. We had a lot of kids gone. I saw where Todd (Kaems, the Tawas coach) didn't want to take two steps backward over the break.

"Well, we did."

The Falcons continued to struggle against the Braves' "Twin Towers" of Rachel Adaline and Molly Stoll, who gave the vertically challenged Falcons fits in the paint while building a 40-19 lead.

Ogemaw's pressure defense began to pay dividends, though, forcing a flurry of Tawas turnovers. The Falcons cut the Tawas lead to 46-32 with four minutes to play, but it could have been much closer as Ogemaw missed a number of layups after getting those turnovers.

"We had so many turnovers; we still struggle with taking care of the ball," Kaems said. "We need to have quality possessions, and that is still our Achilles' heel. We didn't get much in transition later in the game, and Ogemaw defended well."

Stoll, Adaline and Hope Kolts each finished with 11 and Gina Gerow added 10 as Tawas improved to 8-0 (4-0 NEMC) and is now all alone in first place after Standish-Sterling's loss at John Glenn. The Falcons (3-4, 2-2) were paced by Ashley Thompson with 13 and Kristi Killackey with eight.