STANDISH-STERLING - Feb. 4, 2010 - When two teams and two coaches know each other as well as Standish-Sterling and Tawas Area do, and when they stakes always see to be high when they face off, a basketball contest can easily turn into a chess match.

Which is why parts of Thursday's showdown that had major NEMC title implications resembled watching chess rather than hoops.

Tawas Area, the prohibitive favorite to win the league heading into the season, put itself firmly in the driver's seat with its 35-24 victory over the Panthers. It wasn't easy: the Braves had to earn it with grit and guile rather than flash and dash. Tawas spent much of the game battling frustration as the Panthers, while not exactly pulling out Dean Smith's old Four Corners offense, chewed up big portions of the clock with nearly every possession in the first half.

Thus Tawas led 10-7 at halftime, not taking its first lead until 2:06 left in the half even though SSC went nine minutes without scoring.

"It was an awkward, game, no doubt about it," said Tawas coach Todd Kaems. "We used to love low-scoring games like this, but not right now. Standish just scrapped, put a lot of pressure on our guards and frustrated us with their offense."

The Braves did a little frustrating of their own, though. They effectively removed SSC's leading scorer, Abbye Gulvas, from the Panthers' offense, challenging SSC beyond the 3-point line even as the Panthers spread the floor and milked the clock.

That opened the door for Allison Collier, who scored all 10 of the Panthers' points through the middle of the third quarter and a team-high 13 overall.

"That was definitely Alli's best offensive game," said SSC coach Kevin King. "She battled the flu all week, but she really stepped up. Tawas did a great job of defending our shooters and she did a great job of taking what was there."

"I thought we did a great job defending the 3-point line," Kaems said. "But you sacrifice some things when you take that away, and we gave up a little more on dribble penetration than I'd have liked."

SSC's offense sputtered early in the third quarter, and the Braves' Rachel Adaline and Courtney Clothier outscored the Panthers 8-1 to take a 20-11 lead late in the third quarter. The Panthers could no longer keep it slow, but cut the Tawas lead to 23-17 entering the fourth.

But after the Panthers (12-4, 5-2 NEMC) narrowly missed a 3-pointer that would have halved the lead, Tawas scored 10 straight points, forcing six turnovers and shutting the Panthers out until the final 2:40.

The victory gives Tawas (11-3, 6-0) a two-game lead in the loss column with four league contests to play, but only one of those games comes against a team with a winning record.

"I should be ecstatic," Kaems said. "With a two-game lead, we're in really good shape. Maybe it's just that it was such a strange game, but we need to get better."

Adaline finished with a game-high 19 points, with Clothier adding eight.

"I hope we're fortunate enough to play them one more time," King said. "And Rachel, she's just great for the conference and great for the game. She's a tremendous player. We haven't been able to do too much to deal with her. I won't miss playing against her, but she really is what high school basketball is all about."