TRAVERSE CITY WEST - Mar. 9, 2010 - McBain may or may not prove repeat as state finalists, but the Ramblers showed Tuesday that while some of the faces have changed, the quality of their team has not.

McBain forced 17 Alcona turnovers in the first half while rolling to a 34-9 lead and ended the Tigers' season 66-19 in a Class C regional semifinal.

"We were worried about their full court pressure," said Alcona coach Dan O'Connor. "Apparently we should have been more concerned with their straight-up man-to-man half-court pressure.

"McBain is an incredibly solid team and their quality of play is a testament to where we need to get to if we want to get to the next level. I have a feeling that whoever wins the district here will be seeing them quite a few times in the next few years."

Mary Vanderhoef scored 16 points and AnneMarie Hamlet added 15 for the Ramblers (17-7), who face Kalkaska (23-0) in Thursday's regional championship game. McBain's seven losses have all come to ranked Class A and B teams.

Carolynn Miller led Alcona (11-12) with eight points.

"I told the girls nothing can take the district title away from (them) and that they continued to battle hard all season," O'Connor said. "That perseverance is what won them the district title and will hopefully lead them to do big things in life.

"I was lucky to get such a good group to coach my first season. I know the team and program was lucky to have the six seniors and hopefully the seven returning players and five sophomores (from a 16-4 JV team) will be ready to defend their district title next year."